fp Turks and Caicos

Momentum is growing to bring the Turks and Caicos National Museum to the most visited island in the country, Providenciales.

However, museum trustees say, “Preserving the past for the future needs support from everyone.”

From its humble beginnings on Grand Turk in 1991, the Turks and Caicos National Museum has become one of the most important historical preservation centers in the country. Now the benefactors of this significant landmark are hoping to bring to life a new museum on Providenciales.

Over the last 20 years, Providenciales has become the most visited island in the TCI. Aware that it is no longer serving its constituency as well as it once did, the National Museum seeks to establish a new, specially-designed facility on Providenciales.

This new facility will come at the significant cost of $4 million. As a private organization without government funding, the museum depends on donations to make this dream a reality. U.S. citizens and U.S.-based companies and foundations do receive a tax deductions for any contribution in support of the museum.

Several fundraising events have already gotten the project off to a good start, but the museum urges more support from everyone — those in TCI and abroad — to “shape the future of the museum and be a part of history with your donation.”

The new museum will not only share the history of the country with more visitors, it will also feature many of the museum’s artifacts which are currently in storage. Such items include those connected with the Esperanca and Trouvadore shipwrecks, the mystery of the Lucayan Indians, the coming of the loyalist planters and the early years of development.

In addition, museum officials say that the new facility, which is designed to conform to international standards of security and climate control, would be able to receive on long-term loan, or permanently, repatriated unique artifacts now in storage in private collections or even in major U.S. museums.

Beyond the attraction of the historically significant exhibits, the new museum will include a research library and space for lectures or events.

Architectural drawings have been prepared and a location selected in the center of Grace Bay, the main tourism area. Organizers are now engaged in the process of approaching potential donors including the general public, private individuals, foundations and businesses for funding and in-kind donations of materials and labor to meet the costs of construction and fitting out.