Dear colleagues,
As some of you no doubt have already heard, on September 30th Ann Follin, Director of ‘Statens Museer för Världskultur’ (SMVK -The State Museums for World Culture’) delivered a report to the Ministry of Culture to close the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, the Ethnographical Museum and the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities and to merge them into a new ‘Världskulturmuseum’ or World Culture Museum. In this merger, the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities would not only risk losing its identity but also the research and knowledge borne from its collections. The library is planned on being put into storage (in far away Tumba) indefinitely.
Please show your support by signing this petition to save the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities before it is too late: http://upprop.nu/NYDN
Through signing this petition we request that The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities remain in its present form and premises with its unique collections and library and not to become part of the World Culture Museum in Stockholm. We also request that The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities is once again given an experienced Museum Director with extensive and deep knowledge of the field and of the museum collections. The museum would once again be a centre for research of East Asia with focus on art, history and humanities of the past, present and future. Now more than ever it is important to learn about East Asia, a region very much in focus in a global perspective, both politically and economically.
For those of you active on Facebook, there is a public group “Rädda Östasiatiskta museet” with all the latest developments:
https://www.facebook.com/raddaostasiatiska/
Thank you for taking the time to read this important message!
Best wishes,
Sarah Davies
Amanuens at the Chinese department
Department of Asian, Middle Eastern and Turkish Studies
posted by: Irmy Schweiger <irmy.schweiger@su.se>