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WHEN the CASTLES WERE WHITE, II ADC HYLAND*, Zimbabwe and GEORGE W K INTSIFUL*, Ghana

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WHEN the CASTLES WERE WHITE, II ADC HYLAND*, Zimbabwe and GEORGE W K INTSIFUL*, Ghana Sub-theme B: Impact of change and diverse perceptions Sous-thème B : Impact du changement et perceptions diverses ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Section B1: Changing use and spirit of places Session B1 : Changement d’usage et génie des lieux ________________________________________________________________________________________________ WHEN THE CASTLES WERE WHITE, II ADC HYLAND*, Zimbabwe and GEORGE W K INTSIFUL*, Ghana “When the Castles were white In 1988, the Government of Ghana successfully negotiated Trade was good, flags flew a major regional integrated development programme, From the tallest towers, big guns with substantial financial aid contributions from the Fired salutes from the seaward bastions, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Ships dropped anchor in the bay frequently, the United States Agency for International Development Merchants were rowed ashore by crew-men singing (USAID). The Central Region Integrated Development Lustily; and the sounds of the waves Programme (CERIDEP) was launched in 1989, with the Breaking on the shore, drowned preservation and revitalization of three major national The muffled moans of the slowly dying.”¹ monuments – Cape Coast Castle, St George’s Castle, Elmina, and Fort Saint’ Jago, Elmina – constituting the The European Castles and Forts along the Coast of Ghana, historic preservation component of the programme for built between the fifteenth and the eighteenth centuries to which Prof. Hyland was engaged as architectural promote and defend the commercial interests of half a conservation consultant. Initially funded mainly by dozen European nations, were among the first groups of UNDP, in 1991, the USAID funding came on stream, and buildings to be designated World Heritage Properties. So the overall objectives and administration of the designated in 1979, the citation describes them as “groups programme were slightly modified, with US/ICOMOS of separate or connected buildings which, because of their being assigned overall responsibility for administering the architecture, their homogeneity or their place in the historic preservation component of the programme, while landscape, are of outstanding architectural value from the retaining Hyland as consultant, and with the Smithsonian point of view of history, art or science … that meets… the Institution, Washington, DC, being assigned overall following criteria and test of authenticity… (Criterion responsibility for the museological and interpretive vi)… directly or tangibly associated with events or living services component of the programme, under the traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and direction of Dr. Vera Hyatt of the Office of International literary works of outstanding universal significance….” ² Relations of the Smithsonian Institution. This programme, completed in 1997 and extended for a further Some cultural properties, however, carry conflicting two years, has been widely reported internationally 4 and messages for different groups of people. The forts and need not be summarized here. castles along the coast of Ghana… are undoubtedly of some architectural merit, and are significant examples of In architectural terms, the programme can be judged to early European tropical military architecture and carry have achieved its objectives, and the future of these positive messages, to Europeans, of early pre-colonial monuments, maintained and managed by their European-African encounters. To Africans of the custodians, the Ghana Museums and Monuments diaspora, however, they carry degrading messages of Board, appears to be reasonably secure. slavery and humiliation. ³ The poem, whose first stanza has been quoted above, explores the dichotomy created The subject of this paper is the changing perception of the by these conflicting messages. overall objectives of the historic preservation and interpretative services components of the programme as At the time of their designation, with the economy of its implementation proceeded, and the increasingly Ghana in severe decline, their physical condition was diverse and conflicting views that were expressed as to generally poor, and although all (apart from the Castle, what those objectives should be. As news of the Osu, the seat of government of Ghana and official programme became more widely reported internationally residence of the Head of State), were at the national level in its later years, and images of the physical under the Custodianship of the Ghana Museums & transformation of the formerly dilapidated structures Monuments Board (GMMB), resources available to more widely circulated, more and more individuals and GMMB were so inadequate for the task of regular organizations engaged in the dialogue, and the debate maintenance and repair of the 27 fortified properties and about the overall objectives of the project became sites listed in the World Heritage designation, that their increasingly acrimonious, to such an extent that the designation brought no immediate benefit to them. And custodians of the buildings, GMMB, were obliged to order so the situation remained for a further ten years: as the modifications to the project. national economy of Ghana limped forward with successive governments scraping the bottom of the barrel of national resources, so the Forts and Castles fell into increasing dilapidation and decay. Place – memory – meaning: preserving intangible values in monuments and sites La mémoire des lieux – préserver le sens et les valeurs immatérielles des monuments et des sites Sub-theme B: Impact of change and diverse perceptions Sous-thème B : Impact du changement et perceptions diverses ________________________________________________________________________________________________ The preliminary planning and preparation for the historic The facilities were put to good use during the third preservation and interpretative service components of the PANAFEST, in December 1994, by which time Dr. Ben- programme cannot, we believe, be faulted. Thorough Abdullah’s tireless advocacy of the castles as unique archival, archaeological and physical surveys of the cultural resources had captured Ethiopian film director buildings were carried but by consultants chosen for their Haile Gerim’s interest and secured his commitment to use expertise in these fields, and committees of Ghanaian the Castle as the location for his next film. The powerful scholars were established to prescribe and authenticate presence of the castle and of the harrowing atmosphere of the interpretation of the buildings, and of their role in the the slave dungeons determined in large part the scenario historical and cultural development of Ghana, before of his film “Sankofa” which hit the cinema screens of contracts were awarded for the execution of the physical North America and Europe in 1994. works and installations. Panafest III probably marked the high point of the Ben- During this preparatory period, it was clearly understood Abdullah ‘place of Cultural Encounter’ perception of the by all participants in the project that the significance and role of Ghana’s World Heritage monuments, even though value of these monuments lay not in their architectural by December 1994, General Quainoo had taken over from qualities and roles as examples of European military Dr. Ben-Abdullah as Commissioner for Culture. The architecture in the tropics, but as major focal points for the opening night of Panafest III on Saturday December 10 continuing encounter between Africans and Europeans, 1994 was a profoundly memorable occasion. All day, the and for all the developments, for good and ill, that greensward on the townward side of the Castle had stemmed from that encounter. And not only for the teemed with tourists and townspeople visiting the booths encounter between Africans and Europeans, but as of craftspeople and curio sellers who had set up shop gateways, no less powerfully evocative than the Statue of there for the period of the festival. As the evening Liberty in New York, but evoking despair, rather than progressed, a torch-light procession wound its way down hope, for the millions of Africans who crossed the Atlantic through the town to the gates of the Castle, drawing in its as slaves. There was nothing new about this perception, wake an eager audience for the opening performance. of course; the male and female slave dungeons in Cape And what a performance that was! In the first half, there Coast Castle and in St Georges Castle Elmina, and the was a dazzling performance by the Jamaican Modern “Gates of No Return” in the seaward-facing walls of the Dance Company. The second half, a captivating castles had been major points of call on the itineraries of performance of a new play about Zora Neale Thurston, by guided parties of visitors through the castles for many two actors from the National Black Actors Touring years, and many visitors had been moved to tears by the Collective of New York, whose unamplified voices, oppressive, dank and fetid atmosphere of the dungeons. 5 reverberating from the enclosing walls of the Great Court against the constant surge and spray of the ocean waves But the Government Minister responsible for the project breaking on the rocks below the seaward curtain walls, at its inception, Dr. Mohammed Ben-Abdullah, held the audience spell-bound. Never was Ben- Commissioner for Culture in the Provisional National Abdullah’s vision of the future of the Castle more Defence Council (PNDC) administration,
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