All museums, including the one in Fort Charles, Port Royal, will be opened to the public free of cost during the Heroes weekend, Saturday, October 19 to National Heroes Day on Monday, October 21.

Portfolio minister Lisa Hanna made the announcement Sunday at the National Heritage Week Thanksgiving Service held at Power of Faith Deliverance Ministries in Clarendon.

The initiative is part of a cultural transformation programme, being undertaken by the ministry, aimed at helping young people to get a better understanding of Jamaica’s heritage.

Minister Hanna said the cultural programme, which includes the promotion of Jamaica’s museums and historical sites, was launched “so that young people can have the knowledge they need to become better citizens of our country”.

“The idea is to use the knowledge of our history to cause our people, particularly our young people, to rediscover our ancestral pedigree and rise above our challenges and situations and advance the age-old cause of redemption of our people. We owe it to our ancestors to do this,” she stated.

She informed the congregation that three museums were opened this year — the Norman Manley Museum in Roxborough, Manchester; Seville Great House in St Ann; and the National Museum at the Institute of Jamaica in Kingston.

An exhibition on Rastafari, one of Jamaica’s dynamic cultures, is ongoing at the National Museum, she added.

Hanna invited Jamaican families to use the period of heritage celebration to visit the museums and “bask in the knowledge of our past with their children”.

“This is what we promote for National Heritage Week 2013, that families will have picnics and just take walks, or simply drive by sites of memory and rediscover the great story of our history,” she said.

There are plans, she added, to restore the birthplaces of the country’s national heroes through funds from the Tourism Enhancement Fund.

At the service, musical items were performed by the Northern Caribbean University Chamber Ensemble; 2013 Jamaica Gospel Song Competition winner, Howard Brown; and runner-up in the 2013 Jamaica Children’s Gospel Song Competition, Nigel Hector.

The church service was organised by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission.

— JIS