This collection contains 106 memorials of Suriname sorted by district, memorial type, event, artist, keyword and the date established. The aim is to make information accessible to the public.
The collection is particularly useful for educational purposes and to initiate a discussion about the complex history of Suriname.
Memorials are an expression of the history of a country. Each memorial should be understood as an intentional creation for the public, with the purpose to commemorate an event, or a person or a specific action that is considered important in a certain historical moment. Usually memorials are established in a public space to send a message to the people. When a memorial is in a public space, opinions can be formed by the people. Through this interaction between the designers of the memorial and the perceptions of the people, the society expresses its values, opinions, tensions and solutions for problems. Therefore, memorials are a starting point to analyze the complex Surinamese society.
The Surinamese society evolved through the encounter of different cultural and ethnic groups. Every group had a place of origin in Asia, Africa, Europe or South America. The different groups created Suriname in a new space that evolved into a new society. Some memorials are created using events or persons of the past (Codjo, Mentor and Present of the 19th century but unveiled in 2003), while others are established using events or persons of the present (the statues of Johan Adolf Pengel and Jagernath Lachmon). Even though memorials were established in the past, the fact that they are being located in a public space, expresses that they are still important for the society. There are also memorials moved from public places representing the present, to places that represent the past. This is the case of Queen Wilhelmina’s Memorial, which was moved from Independence Square to Fort Zeelandia. The location, aesthetic form, the intention of the artist and perceptions of the various groups, but also moving a memorial to another location, are part of the dynamics in the history of Suriname.
Like elsewhere, every memorial in Suriname has a message, which is constantly being interpreted and reinterpreted by the society. This can increase people’s awareness of their history, of their position in the society, and of the relations between the different groups. To understand memorials is to understand the past and the present of a given society. It is a way to know what was important in the past and how the same event is interpreted in the present. Memorials give a way to understand the dynamics of the Surinamese society with its rich cultural diversity.