Te Umanibong (also Te Umwanibong) or the Kiribati Cultural Museum, or Kiribati Museum and Cultural Centre, is a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

Bikenibeu Bikenibeu is a settlement in Kiribati. It is located close to the southeastern corner of the Tarawa atoll, part of the island country of Kiribati. It is part of a nearly continuous chain of settlements along the islands of South Tarawa, which a ...

on the atoll of

Tarawa Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati
''

Kiribati Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. Its permanent population is over 119,000 as of the 2020 census, and more than half live on Tarawa. The st ...

. It displays artefacts and other items of cultural and historic significance.

History

The beginnings of the foundation of Te Umanibong date to 1971, when the intention was set after a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

meeting in

Suva Suva (, ) is the Capital city, capital and the most populous city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rew ...

. This led to the foundation in 1973 of the Tungavalu Society, which was set up by islanders and people in the diaspora from the

Gilbert and Ellice islands The Gilbert and Ellice Islands (GEIC as a colony) in the Pacific Ocean was part of the British Empire from 1892 to 1976. It was a British protectorate, protectorate from 1892 to 12 January 1916, and then a crown colony, colony until 1 January 1 ...

. The society ran a newsletter called ''Banan Tungavalu,'' which was distributed from September 1974''.'' In 1975, the society held their first exhibition and a craft competition. In 1977 a Cultural Unit was formed as part of the Ministry of Education, and it became responsible for the nascent growth of cultural heritage in Kiribati. The unit focussed and documented much of the country's

intangible cultural heritage An intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is a practice, representation, expression, knowledge, or skill considered by UNESCO to be part of a place's cultural heritage. Buildings, historic places, monuments, and artifacts are cultural property. In ...

. In 1987, the Cultural Unit began to consider "the museum" as a separate section of its work, and, with the aid of two development workers from New Zealand, plans for a physical museum proceeded.

Buildings and administration

In 1990 the government of New Zealand funded the construction of a museum building in

. In order for the museum to be built, a sea wall had to be constructed to drain and reclaim the land. The building opened in 1991 and raised the profile of the organisation both within the country and overseas. At the same time as the museum was being built, a mwaneaba was constructed in the grounds. There is also a botanic garden in the grounds, with a focus on medicinal plants. As of 2014 the museum has five employees: Senior Cultural Officer, Cultural Officer, Assistant Cultural Officer, Web Advisor, and a Registry Clerk. From 2006 to 2014 the Senior Culture Officer was Tekautu Ioane. From 2014 the position has been held by Pelea Tehumu.

Collections

During the 1970s the Tungavalu Society began to establish a museum collection, this was initially based on donations from I-Kiribati and foreign workers. It was also anticipated that requests for

repatriation Repatriation is the return of a thing or person to its or their country of origin, respectively. The term may refer to non-human entities, such as converting a foreign currency into the currency of one's own country, as well as the return of mi ...

of objects held in museum collections elsewhere would be granted and would contribute to the collection. In 1979 an exhibition of Kiribati artefacts was organised as part of the celebrations of

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

. A public appeal was made for objects relating to Kiribati's history, either for loan for the duration of the display or to form part of the national collection. In addition the governments of

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

and

Tokelau Tokelau (; ; known previously as the Union Islands, and, until 1976, known officially as the Tokelau Islands) is a dependent territory of New Zealand in the southern Pacific Ocean. It consists of three tropical coral atolls: Atafu, Nukunonu, an ...

sent objects relating to their cultures as gifts to mark Kiribati's independence, resulting in Kiribati having a Pacific cultures collection. In 1997 the museum purchased eel traps from

Nonouti Nonouti is an atoll and district of Kiribati. The atoll is located in the Southern Gilbert Islands, 38 km north of Tabiteuea, and 250 km south of Tarawa. The atoll is the third largest in the Gilbert Islands and is the island where the R ...

and by 1998 there were approximately 80 objects in the collection. The museum displays focus on the material culture of Kiribati under themes which include: mwaneabas,

pandanus ''Pandanus'' is a genus of monocots with about 578 accepted species. They are palm-like, dioecious trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics and subtropics. Common names include pandan, screw palm and screw pine. The genus is classified ...

basketry Basket weaving (also basketry or basket making) is the process of weaving or sewing pliable materials into three-dimensional artifacts, such as baskets, mats, mesh bags or even furniture. Craftspeople and artists specialized in making baskets ...

, dance costumes, fishing. There is also a small display of objects relating to Kiribati in the Second World War.

Overseas collections

In part due to legacies of colonial exploitation, many objects relating to Kiribati's cultural heritage are held in overseas collections, which include: the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

;

National Museums Scotland National Museums Scotland (NMS; ) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. It runs the national museums of Scotland. NMS is one of the country's National Collections, and holds internationally important collec ...

;

Glasgow Museums Glasgow Museums is the group of museums and galleries owned by the City of Glasgow, Scotland. They hold about 1.6 million objects including over 60,000 art works, over 200,000 items in the human history collections, over 21,000 items relating to ...

;

Te Papa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa (Māori language, Māori for 'Waka huia, the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the Nation ...

;

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

; Peabody Museum;

Pitt Rivers Museum Pitt Rivers Museum is a museum displaying the archaeological and anthropological collections of the University of Oxford in England. The museum is located to the east of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and can only be accessed ...

;

Otago Museum Otago (, ; ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island and administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government region. Its po ...

; Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology;

Bowers Museum The Bowers Museum is an art museum located in Santa Ana, California, Santa Ana, California. The museum's permanent collection includes more than 100,000 objects, and features notable strengths in the areas of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, Native Ame ...

; amongst others. File:Man's dance mat from Fanning Island, Kiribati, Honolulu Museum of Art accession 2013.JPG, ''Kabae'' (man's dance mat) from Fanning Island, Kiribati, early 20th century, pandanus (

Pandanus tectorius ''Pandanus tectorius'' is a species of ''Pandanus'' (screwpine) that is native to Malesia, Papuasia, eastern Australia, and the Pacific Islands. It grows in the coastal lowlands typically near the edge of the ocean. Common names in English inclu ...

) plaiting,

Honolulu Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. It has one of the largest single co ...

(2013) File:Dance ornament of conus shell and pandanus leaf string, Kiribati, 1891 - Staatlichen Museums für Völkerkunde München - DSC08292.JPG, Dance ornament of conus shell and pandanus leaf string, Kiribati, 1891 - Staatlichen Museums für Völkerkunde München File:Display of objects from Kiribati and Tuvalu, Otago Museum, 2016-01-29-2.jpg, Display of objects from Kiribati and Tuvalu,

, 2016 File:Helmet, Kiribati, 1895 - Ethnological Museum, Berlin - DSC01264.JPG, Helmet, Kiribati, 1895 - Ethnological Museum, Berlin

References

External links

Touring Te Umanibong, National Cultural Museum in Bikenibeu
{{Authority control Museums in Oceania Museums in Kiribati South Tarawa Museums established in 1973