a memorial for all wars: the Polynational War Memorial
 

MEMORIALS

Kigali memorial center, Rwanda

Type: Physical memorial
Location: Kigali
Country: Rwanda
Creator: Aegis Trust
Dedication year: 2004

Added: 1/29/2009
Updated: -

Kigali memorial center, Rwanda
Photo by Fanny Schertzer, 2007.
License: CC-BY-SA 2.5 | By: Fanny Schertzer | Source: link | enlarge
Kigali memorial center, Rwanda
Photo by Fanny Schertzer, 2007.
License: CC-BY-SA | By: Fanny Schertzer | Source: link | enlarge
Kigali memorial center, Rwanda
Photo by Fanny Schertzer, 2007.
License: CC-BY-SA | By: Fanny Schertzer | Source: link | enlarge
Kigali memorial center, Rwanda
Photo by Fanny Schertzer, 2007.
License: CC-BY-SA 2.5 | By: Fanny Schertzer | Source: link | enlarge
Kigali memorial center, Rwanda
Photo by Fanny Schertzer, 2007.
License: CC-BY-SA | By: Fanny Schertzer | Source: link | enlarge
Kigali memorial center, Rwanda
Photo by Fanny Schertzer, 2007.
License: CC-BY-SA | By: Fanny Schertzer | Source: link | enlarge

Kigali Memorial Center was inagurated on April 7, 2004, ten years after the genocide that left approximately 800 000 people dead in Rwanda. The planning and management of the memorial center was made by the UK charity Aegis Trust, an organisation that, ”works towards the prevention of genocide with survivors, decision-makers and the next generation through commemoration, education, awareness-raising and research”, after a request from the Rwandian Governement. The centre is a burial ground for around 250 000 of the victims, whose remains rest in ten mass graves in a memorial garden. It also comprises a series of exhibitions and a the National Genocide Documentation Centre.

On their web site, Aegis Trust points out the difficult task of building a memorial for an event that happened only a decade ago: "The proximity of the exhibition to the site of the actual events ´only being separated by ten years´ makes it a difficult museological challenge. The history is still emerging. This is why Aegis took the decision to call it a ´contemporary exhibit´ and built into its features the ability for it to grow and develop over time. The Rwandans are aware that they need to institutionalise their history and to formalise its educational mechanisms, hence their drive to create the centre. It also must not fix the detail too early, as every day, research is revealing new material on the genocide."

Kigali Memorial Centre
Genocide Archive of Rwanda
Aegis Trust

 

POSTED BY JON BRUNBERG ON 1/29/2009

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