Nisga'a Memorial Totem Pole

The Scotsman

Nisga'a Memorial Totem Pole.  Chanté St Clair Inglis, head of collections at the National Museum of Scotland, on the project to the House of Ni’isjoohl Memorial Pole after nearly a century and return it to its place of origin in Canada.

Transcript

00:00 So I'm Shante St Clair Ingalls, Head of Collection Services at National Museum Scotland.

00:04 This is the memorial pole. It's a kind of totem pole that memorialises an individual.

00:10 That individual is Tsawwit. He is a Nisga'a warrior from the Nisga'a nation in British Columbia.

00:16 The memorial pole tells the story of Tsawwit and his family and it's been on display here

00:22 at National Museum Scotland since 1930. It's carved out of red cedar and it's 11 metres tall

00:27 and it weighs just over one tonne. The memorial pole is going to be returned to the Nisga'a nation.

00:32 Lowering and moving the memorial pole out of the museum requires a complex series of tasks.

00:39 So in order to do that safely we have to first create space around the pole and that's what you

00:44 can see here. We are currently temporarily relocating objects, protecting display cases,

00:49 to create that space. Then we will build a scaffold around the pole and use that to fit a steel cradle

00:55 to the pole and that keeps it protected throughout the move. So the pole will be safely lifted and

01:01 lowered, moved through the museum building and out of a large window and from there safely onwards

01:06 to the Nisga'a nation in British Columbia. So while we're doing all this work you still have

01:11 the opportunity to come and see the memorial pole from the balconies above us until the end of August.

01:18 [No audio]

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