Bangladesh: Regional meeting of Sites of Conscience coalition probes challenges to interpreting "difficult history"
In December 1999, representatives from nine historic site museums met at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Conference Center in Italy to found the International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience (now called International Coalition of Sites of Conscience).
The founding members are ground-breaking historic site museums that define their missions in social terms: District Six Museum (South Africa), Gulag Museum (Russia), Liberation War Museum (Bangladesh), Lower East Side Museum (USA), the National Park Services (USA) representing the Women's Rights Historic District, the Underground Railroad, Manzanar National Historic Site (a former Japanese internment camp), Slave House (Senegal), Project to Remember (Argentina), Terezin Memorial (Czech Republic), and the Workhouse (England).
They are museums and sites that interpret history through historic sites, engage in programs that stimulate dialogue on pressing social issues, promote humanitarian and democratic values as a primary function and share opportunities for public involvement in issues raised at the site.
Today, after 12 years the coalition has become a major organisation with over 17 accredited member sites and 5 hubs covering all continents. There are nearly 250 institutional members in 45 countries and of course many individual members.