Nisga'a Museum

The Nisga'a Museum (or Hli Goothl Wilp-Adokshl Nisga'a) is a museum of the Nisga'a people that is located in Laxgalts'ap, a village in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. The Nisga'a name means "the heart of Nisga'a House crests," a name that celebrates the role of tribal crests in Nisga'a society. The museum is a project of the Nisga'a Lisims Government and opened in the spring of 2011. It is a place for display of Nisga'a artifacts, sharing traditions and ideas, and a centre for research and learning.^[2] The museum's collection of Nisga’a culture is "one of the preeminent collections of Northwest Coast aboriginal art"^[3] The museum's website states: "This is our gift to each other, our fellow Canadians and the world."

Exhibits

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many Nisga’a artifacts and treasures were destroyed or removed from the Nass Valley by missionaries who established themselves along the Nass River.^[4] The Ancestors' Collection (Anhooya’ahl Ga’angigatgum’ ) houses a core collection of over 330 artifacts returned to the Nisga'a from the Royal British Columbia Museum, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, and the Anglican Church of Canada through the negotiated Nisga'a Treaty.^[5][6][7] The entrance to the exhibits is through a replica of a Nisga'a longhouse which are exhibited in four galleries:^[8]

• Transformation Gallery: an array of (naxnok or spirits) masks and a celebration of the Nisga’a performers who brought these spirits to life.
• Halayt Gallery: a display of items used by Nisga’a shamans to summon, focus, and direct supernatural forces.
• Ayuuk Gallery: a chief’s box (or hoohlgan) displaying the regalia and possessions that symbolize the social roles and structures prescribed by the Nisga'a laws and customs ("Nisga'a Code, or Ayuukhl Nisga’a).
• Living River Gallery: a display of possessions used in daily life in a traditional Nisga’a longhouse, on the land, or along the banks of the Nass River (or Lisims).

Most of the artifacts are displayed in the open with only the most delicate or valuable behind glass, all secured by motion sensors. Included in the displays are four house poles (totem poles), representing the four Nisga'a clans, that were carved specifically for the museum.^[9]

Future exhibits are planned to show both natural history and recent history of the Nisga'a people, including the struggle for the return of traditional lands and evolution into the self-governing Nisga’a Nation. Future additions are intended to include a variety of media including an audio guide, audio/visual presentation, museum book, a searchable database, archival software systems, a library and teaching centre, and a gift shop for Nisga’a art and artists.^[10]

Facilities

Planning for the museum began in the 1990's and funding was allocated as part of the treaty settlement. In September 2010 a formal repatriation ceremony welcomed the return of the artifacts to the Nisga'a, which were delivered with Royal Canadian Mounted Police escort.^[11][12] The $14 million facility opened on May 11, 2011, the 11th anniversary of the signing of the Nisga'a Treaty.^[13]

The architecture emulates traditional Nisga'a forms: the floor plan a feast bowl, the cross section a traditional longhouse, and the roof a canoe. The canoe form and its siting on a gravel amphitheater, evoking images of a beach, are also references to the motto for the Nisga'a Treaty signing: “our canoe has landed.”.^[14][15]

The facility has the only Class A climate-controlled gallery space in British Columbia's northwest (as of 2014) and has state of the art security.^[16][17]

References

External links

• Nisgaa Museum official website
• Nisga'a Museum - Nisga'a Lisims Government webpage
• Nisga'a Nation Knowledge Network
• Photo gallery on the exhibit designer's webpage