The Hargeisa Provincial Museum (HPM), established in 1977 in Hargeisa, Maroodi Jeex region, Somaliland, was the country’s first museum post-independence in 1960. It emerged from a vibrant cultural movement in the mid-1970s and was part of a cultural center that included a theater and library. The museum’s design featured two concentric rings housing a meeting area and a temporary exhibition room, inspired by the traditional Somali “mundul” hut. Covering 650 m², it was constructed by local contractor Osman Dahir Adan.
Upon opening, the museum showcased an ethnographic exhibition with items largely donated by Hargeisa residents, displayed in two 20-meter-long cabinets without glass. However, with only two staff members, the collection and building quickly deteriorated, prompting a renovation in 1981. This included dismantling the large showcases and constructing 23 smaller glass cases, installing netting on windows, repainting, and cleaning the collection.
The original display of around 4,000 items was reduced to approximately 1,400, with the remainder stored. A special display featured firearms used by Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan and his followers between 1901 and 1921. Tragically, the museum was completely destroyed during the Isaaq genocide in 1988.
The following article by Stefanja Cobelj was published in September 1986 in issue 3, volume 38 of the Museum International journal.
The Provincial Museum of Hargeisa
The author: Stefanja Cobelj
In: Museum International, Volume 38, 1986, Issue 3, pp. 150–154, illus.
Date of publication: September 1986
In recent years, considerable effort has been made in Somalia to improve the country’s network of museums. Among other things, this has led to the setting up of a museum in Hargeisa, the capital of the northern province and Somalia’s second-largest town. The history of this museum may be short but it is important, for it is the first to be set up in Somalia since independence in 1960.
The story of the Provincial Museum of Hargeisa begins in 1976 when a special committee was set up to launch a campaign to collect objects for the future museum. At the same time, strong administrative support made it possible to implement plans for a museum building, so that by the following year, the museum not only had a roof but was also open to the public. This rapid progress was made possible by the active participation of the inhabitants of the area, who came forward enthusiastically to present gifts and to work on the building, and of two other cultural institutions, the National Library and the National Theatre, which are located nearby.
The museum’s construction was entrusted to Osman Dahir Adan from Hargeisa, a dynamic and gifted builder who has never been out of the country. Asked about the museum’s blueprints and building plans, he replied that there were none. He had, he said, simply designed the building in his mind and worked out the details on the site during construction to fit in with the environment and the purposes of the project. The museum building was ideally designed and adapted to the local climate. The complex, including green areas, covers a total area of approximately 900 square meters.
The structure is based on the idea of the concentric circle, superimposed on the symbolism of the nomadic tent. This is most clearly expressed in the pavilion, which lies in the center, topped by a dome of pre-stressed concrete. The pavilion is large enough (approximately 70 square meters) for minor exhibitions when it is not being used for meetings.
A narrow lawn with a concrete path separates the pavilion from the ring-shaped central museum building, built of sound material and raised above ground level to avoid the torrential flows of water during the rainy season. At the main entrance, there is a walk-through area with doors leading to the collections and to the inner circles, and the pavilion.
The museum has 650 square meters of display area divided into four halls. Conventional windows are replaced by long, narrow openings located on both sides immediately under the ceiling, enabling air to circulate in the interior and letting in enough light, while at the same time preventing the sun’s rays from reaching the exhibits. The great advantage of such a layout is that more wall space is available for the display of exhibits.
Designed in this way, the building meets current requirements; with time, however, the museum is likely to need more space, as, apart from the display area, there is enough room for only one office, a cloakroom for ancillary staff, and some storage space. The obvious solution is to build another floor onto the flat roof, camouflaging it on the outside by arches symbolizing the nomadic tent.
Do-it-yourself display
The first museum display was not organized professionally but, and to the best of their ability, by people who wanted their town to have a museum of its own and who made an enormous effort to make their wishes come true. The idea was to have glass display cabinets, but although there were two halls each with a 20-meter display cabinet, the glass panels for them were never delivered.
In the other two halls, there were smaller display cabinets, some of which were also without glass. The fluorescent lighting provided by red, yellow, and blue tubes was inefficient and very much like that used in shop windows and advertising. The material collected was placed haphazardly in the display cabinets. It had not been cleaned, there was no protection for it nor was it grouped according to themes. Apart from two attendants, a gardener, and a cleaning woman, the museum was left unsupervised, and the collection began to deteriorate rapidly.
After four years, swarms of insects and other pests were to be found under the rush-matting nailed directly to the walls. These pests also made themselves at home in the glass display cabinets. Birds were able to reach the exhibits through the broken windows. Visitors were free to handle the exhibits, and the better pieces were presented as gifts to members of various foreign delegations. All this called for most urgent action, and the Ministry for Higher Education and Culture of Somalia consequently placed the museum (and the National Library) under its protection.
In the summer of 1981, once the new museum building program in Mogadishu had been completed, the Somalian authorities asked for an extension of the working visit of the author, who was thus able to rearrange the collection at Hargeisa. This was no mean task, and it was made all the more difficult by the need to adapt a team of carpenters, painters, cleaners and others to what was a somewhat unusual task.
Naturally, all the rooms and showcases had to be emptied of their contents, which had to be taken out into the fresh air. Although the display rooms were dry, they had never been aired. All the rooms, which had been painted in blue, red, green, and yellow, were repainted white to set off the exhibits. Above all, one had to bear in mind the need to use materials available in Somalia.
For this reason, the former multi-colored lighting, which had been out of action for a long time, was replaced by a common type of light bulb, easy to maintain, not out of keeping with the appearance of the rooms, and also more luminous. The two large show-cases were dismantled and their good quality wood was re-used. This reduced the cost of materials for the museum’s permanent exhibition to a minimum. The showcases provided the timber for 116 frames for the windows of the museum building and the pavilion, which were made to keep out insects and birds, not with glass panes but with protective netting. This also allowed for a constant circulation of air.
Timber from the same source was also used to make forty-seven panels on which small objects were arranged. These panels were then displayed on the wall like pictures. Bigger, rare and more valuable exhibits were placed in glass show-cases. The timber still left over from the big glass show-cases was also used to make equipment for the storage and cloakroom areas. Twenty-three smaller show-cases already in existence were used for permanent display. They were provided with locks, were fully glassed in, and painted white on the inside.
As the display area was prepared, work proceeded on the selection of exhibits. Out of nearly 4,000 items collected, about one-third were used for the permanent display. All the items were cleaned, including those that were put into storage, and the majority were also given conservation treatment.
The collection
The exhibits on display consist mainly of ethnographical objects and items of historical interest (Fig. 18). Archaeology was not taken into consideration because systematic excavations in the area had not yet been completed. We sought to present the collection as attractively as possible, using clear design and an attractive layout, and by making sure that nothing would impede the visitors’ movement through the galleries.
All material was therefore displayed along the walls, either in glass show-cases or on panels, leaving the middle area empty, an arrangement which also made it easier to check any undesirable visitors (Fig. 19). An effort was also made to establish a chronological order, to display the exhibits as functionally as possible, and, above all, to emphasize the character and beauty of the material, highlighting shape, finish, and color.
The basic idea was to observe the way of life, which in some areas is so wedded to a tradition that dating individual exhibits is difficult; many of these are, of course, objects still in everyday use. Some of the exhibits, especially ornaments, are objects which for decades or even centuries have passed from generation to generation, are closely guarded and brought out only for ceremonial occasions.
All these objects are rationally conceived and small enough to be carried around when people are on the move, as is fairly common in a predominantly nomadic society. The largest objects are house sections, the heaviest the rush-matting used to cover tents, ploughs, and equipment for oxen; the most numerous are water-carrying vessels, travel bags, and similar items, mostly transported by camel.
Although there is not much wood in Somalia, wood nevertheless predominates among the materials used, serving to make house parts, domestic utensils (Fig. 21), personal accessories – combs, head supports, etc. – as well as a number of tools and weapons. Fibers obtained from tree bark, various grasses, and other plants are used to make string and rope and to weave containers, bags, and mats. The hides of wild and domestic animals are used to make clothes and footwear, while bladders make containers for water, milk, etc. Leather is also used to make prayer mats, shields, harnesses for cattle, and many other objects.
There is a long tradition of smelting in East Africa, where metal is used to make knives, javelins, arrows, axes, sickles, and other tools (Fig. 20). Large conch shells are used both to announce warfare between tribes and as musical instruments, while smaller shells were until recently in circulation as tender and are still used as ornaments and talismans, for decorative and magical purposes. Animal’s horns were used for defense, to carry tobacco, and powdered for use in folk medicine. There is a particularly fine range of ceramics, which have for centuries enriched the life of the Somalis.
The first gallery of the museum contains twelve panels and four show-cases with the oldest types of clothes and ornaments made of shells and animal and bird bones. Here there are also flint and shell knives and various ceramic vessels. Important are the head supports, which warriors were required to wear, and various wooden staffs, used in work or as weapons. Alongside the original early weapons, stand catapults, bows and arrows, javelins for hunting wild animals, as well as implements of defense and war. A special showcase is devoted to firearms used during the first two decades of this century by the rebels who rallied around Sheik Mohammad Abdila Hasan between 1901 and 1921.
The middle of the hall also houses an original Somali tent, furnished in accordance with ancient custom. Among other exhibits, there are rolls of spare mats used to protect the roof of the tent. There are also smaller mats, both decorative and functional, which characterized every good household. The top part of the tent has been left uncovered so as to enable visitors to see the wooden cupola-shaped construction, tied in a skillful and simple way to the bearing stakes, which are driven into the ground at the other end.
In this case, the natural environment is replaced by a stand displaying all the objects which as a rule are kept outside the nomad’s tent. According to custom, it is built by women; the tent in the museum was also built by a group of women from the outskirts of the town, where people still live in tents and follow traditional ways.
A people’s power and status used to be reflected in their weapons, their livestock, and in their religion. Muhammad’s teaching spread among the Somali Arabs as early as the ninth century and has put down deep roots. Even today, children start school with lessons from the Koran. They take with them wooden tablets with quotations from the Koran, and these form the basis for them to acquire their first notions of religion and the fundamentals of the Arabic language, since the Koran has not been translated into Somali (Fig, 22).
Ancient inscribed tablets are to be seen in the display, along with water-carrying vessels of extraordinary craftsmanship, used at prayer, together with leather mats, prayer beads, hand-written Korans, and carved Koran stands.
The objects displayed in the second and third galleries on twelve panels and in seven show-cases all concern nomadic life, which is still that of the majority of the Somali population today. These exhibits include a variety of mats, gourds, leather and earthenware vessels protected by wickerwork, woven and wooden vessels used to draw water from wells, and saddles and harnesses for horses and camels.
The Somali nomads make a kind of clarified butter which they also use to preserve sun-dried meat. The whole of this process is illustrated by a display of gourds, wickerwork, leather and wood. There are vessels of a variety of shapes and sizes (milking, drinking, storage, etc.).
Custom dictates that the inside of milk-storage vessels should be singed and that on the outside, magic symbols should be spelled out by means of decorative shells, woodcarving, or leatherwork decoration (Fig. 23). Over thirty types of such vessels are on permanent display (Fig. 24). The extraordinary craftsmanship with which they were made is acquiring the significance of a national symbol.
Sedentarization and urban development has transformed much of the Somali lifestyle. The fourth and last gallery presents these aspects: farm implements; tools used to manufacture products such as furniture, clothing, crockery, modest ornaments, and decorations; food vessels indicating changes in nutrition; apparel worn by richer citizens, embellished with luxurious imported silk; cotton fabrics of a great variety of patterns and enriched with rich ornaments in silver, amber, semi-precious stones and glass. This group also comprises smaller objects used by women to embellish and adorn their homes, especially embroidered wear and decorative objects of leather and metal.
Over a thousand objects have been inventoried and are on display. This task, like many others connected with the museography of the new institution, was completed with the help of voluntary assistance from foreign specialists temporarily in Hargeysa.
Obstacles to further progress
In spite of exceptionally good cooperation from officials of the Somali Ministry for Higher Education and Culture in Mogadishu, efforts to complete our preparatory task in full conformity with good museum practice were not fully rewarded. The museography had to be left incomplete. There are no captions or explanatory texts, for example. Those responsible say that these explanations will be given by museum guides, which, in some ways is the best solution.
However, as the collection neared completion, there were no such guides. Moreover, there was a great deal that should have been drawn to the attention of future personnel: how to popularize the museum, what attitude to adopt to visitors and to the material on display, how to educate people, and how to care for exhibits. An important place among those professional tasks should be given to the collection of new exhibits in the field, and to the expansion of the collection and the conduct of research.
There is no doubt, however, that the museum services in Somalia will be enlarged within the shortest possible period, especially in Mogadishu, where the need is most urgent and necessary. Matters will be significantly improved by an intake of fresh staff, especially with regard to restoration, instruction in the organization of exhibitions, and so forth.
In this way, the entire activity can be brought closer and better adapted to modern museum principles and be strengthened by mutual cooperation with related establishments beyond Somalia’s frontiers. It is also indispensable that the museum service should not confine itself to putting its house in order but should press on and expand its activities into the field of protection, excavation, and inventory of cultural monuments.
About the author
Graduated from the faculty of philosophy in Belgrade. Ph.D. in art history, Ljubljana, 1965. Degree in ethnology at Belgrade, 1973. Museum curator in Belgrade and Ptuj (Slovenia). Has organized numerous exhibitions, mainly in the field of modern art and ethnology, in Yugoslavia and abroad. Has created five museum collections, and organized, designed, translated, and compiled a large number of catalogues, introductions, studies, and specialized articles on art history and ethnology. Museum consultant in Somalia, 1981–82.
[Translated from Serbo-Croat]
