Historical buildings and sites are important aspects of Uganda’s tangible heritage. Within and outside Kampala, Uganda’s history can be told through historical buildings. Such buildings and sites of cultural, religious, and historical significance represent different aspects of our human existence, ways of life, architectural knowledge and skills and social organisation over different periods. Modernist architecture also provides points of references upon which the relationship between Uganda and other European countries may be told. These linkages not only enhance our shared history and identity but are importance sources of education and research.
A training of photographers and researchers on basics and specifics of historic buildings documentation has been finalized. Participants including representatives of the 3 municipal authorities (Kampala, Jinja and Entebbe) were the documentation is being carried out, University Students and lecturers (from architecture and history backgrounds), the Uganda National Museum, Buganda Kingdom, the Uganda National Commission to UNESCO, the media, European Union, International consultants on cultural heritage documentation and photography and CCFU. The training was designed to understand the context of historical buildings in the 3 cities and explore photo-documentation tools and pre-test them; and clarify the research agenda.
“As the result of the limited awareness of the importance of cultural heritage, coupled with demand for ‘modern’ structures and facilities, the rural-urban migration and rapid population growth, cultural heritage preservation has become a vital and urgent issue,” said Ambassador Pacific during the opening ceremony of the training
CCFU is currently supporting a team of researchers and photographers in the 3 cities to document the historic buildings and sites. We anticipate to produce the second edition of the ‘A map of Historical Buildings and sites of Kampala’, and maps of the other cities, a coffee table glossy publication of the buildings and sites and an application for easy navigation to these properties; and a collection of readily available information on the same.
2018 was chosen as the European Year of Cultural Heritage. This theme provides an opportunity to reflect on the valuable support provided by the European Union (in Uganda) towards different aspects of development in Uganda, the European Union (in Uganda) initiated a project in this regard. This project consists of four components, one of which focuses on Cultural Activities that aim at increasing the visibility of the EU-Uganda partnership through support to cultural heritage promotion activities on the occasion of the 2018 European Year of Cultural Heritage. Cultural heritage is an important dimension of international cooperation and through this project, CCFU, brings to the fore the relevance of cultural heritage as a source of social cohesion and mutual respect and an appreciation of development cooperation.
