A critical heritage scholar, practitioner, and director of the Christianborg Archeological Heritage Project, Professor Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann, has called on the government of Ghana to speed up processes leading to the conversion of the Christianborg Castle (Osu Castle) to a museum.
According to the archeologist, the conversion of Osu Castle to a museum would help improve the tourism potential of the castle and also enrich the rich history of the once Danish Transatlantic Slave and British Colonial castle.
Speaking to Republic Press in Accra last Friday, August 4, after a community tour of some of the ancient and historical artifacts dug from the castle in a mirror paint exhibited on some of the walls at Osu by Ghanaian artists to depict the rich history of Christianborg Castle.
Prof. Engmann said so far, the Christianborg Castle has discovered 180,000 artifacts that have been expedited at the castle for the past nine years and are ready to display them to support the museum project.
She added that even though the Osu Castle is not as big as the Cape Coast Castle, its rich history is untapped adding that the nine years of expedition has uncovered that there was a village under the Christianborg Castle which many Ghanaians are not aware of.
The Christianborg Archeilogical Heritage Project which is being financed by the Millan Foundation is a community engaged archaeological heritage where local artists were tasked to mirror some of the artefacts dug at the Osu Castle on the walls to depict the culture, life and historical accounts of the Castle and its inhabitants.
The project which started in 2014 officially has two legs, the aspect where young children in the community are engaged to paints some of the artefacts discovered during the expedition, established a community library where these young ones can visit to learn to read and take archaeological classes and other aspect is where the project focuses on engaging the youth in the community through painting to resolve the unemployment, teenage pregnancy and drug addiction situation.
Explaining one of the mirror paintings of the first Ghanaian Historian, Rev Christian Carl Reindorf, the direct descendant of Carl Reindorf, Hackie Reindorf said the paint of the first historian and his family played an important role during the colonial era and was instrumental in documenting Ghanaian history.
Another paint of Victor Nanka Bruce, a journalist, politician and 3rd African Outdoor Physician was also displayed on the wall on one of the houses he came to live shortly.
Prof. Engmann is therefore appealing to cooperate organizations to reach out support and donations to support the ongoing Christianborg Archaeological Heritage Project to unearth the mystery and importance of the castle to the world.
