The end, final party in Castle Tyrol
The culmination of the Congress with a party at Castle Tyrol
Conclusion of the I. International Women's Museums Congress On behalf of the congressional operators, the conclusion of the 3-days event and the 20th anniversary of the Women’s Museum Merano were celebrated on June 13th, 2008; at the same time a resolution has been passed.
The final party with all conference members including the general public has celebrated not only the common departures, but also the 20th birthday of the Women's Museum of Merano, the oldest in Italy. Various personalities from the areas of culture, science and media have taken part in the celebration to underline the importance of the women's network with their presence.
Leave-taking and new start were celebrated informally in the courtyard and in the knight’s hall of the castle; addresses were exchanged and new plans schemed.
The well-known "barefoot midwife” and Alexander-Langer Price Laureate 2006, Ibou Robin Lim from Indonesia, joined the party and gave a short address on the importance of women's work as a contribution to peace. Obviously pleased about the celebration was the "madrina" of the congress, the Iranian Shirin Ebadi, who was accompanied by her translator Ella Mohammadi, and who was taken by surprise with two gifts:
firstly, the promise of the newly established network of women to support her with the formation of a women’s museum in Iran and to perform midwife’s work, and, secondly, with the decision of the organization Human Rights International to award a price in December to an Iranian woman of her choice. The message-bearer Adolf Pfitscher is the responsible person of the office of this organization in Bolzano.
During the occasion of her evening lecture in Merano, Ebadi had spoken about the importance of international prizes and honours to Iranian women for their protection against repressive measures of the regime and as an engine for their everyday fight for more rights.
Music: by the group Alma Terra (world music), the Gaul-singers (real folk music from South Tyrol) and by Giant Bi (The Sun), a group of Senegalese drummers.
A final resolution, which was already announced at the opening of the congress, was passed on June13th, 2008. It represents a catalogue of topics with intentions and demands as a result of the international congress. Astrid Schönweger, the scientific director of the congress read out the points of the resolution at the beginning of the evening’s celebration.For the next years, further concrete steps have been laid out to strengthen the women's network and to give women's museums more visibility.
The participants agreed upon the following time schedule: - In 2009: The second part of the 1st Women's Museums congresses with a circulating exhibition takes place in Bonn- In 2010 (May): 2nd International Women's Museum Congress in Buenos Aires launched under the programme of the worldwide 2nd International Feminist convention- In 2012: 3rd International Women's Museums congress in China Furthermore, it was decided to vigorously work on the foundation of new women's museums during the next years and to support each other. This last night, Martha Berry symbolically handed over a stone, considered to be a “stone of the first impulse” for the foundation of the first women's museum in Switzerland. Other museums should originate from this congress in Iran, Mexico City and San Francisco.
