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SOROTI - Soroti City today (Saturday, May 18) hosted different dignitaries among hundreds for celebrations to mark International Museum Day.

Vice President Jessica Alupo, who presided over the vent, launched the Soroti Regional Museum before inspecting different stalls set up by different exhibitors.

This year’s theme is "Museums Shaping Knowledge for the Future" derived from the International Council of Museums (ICOM) International theme: "Museums for Education and Research".   

Vice President Jessica Alupo, who presided over the vent, launched the Soroti Regional Museum before inspecting different stalls set up by different exhibitors. (All Photos by Godfrey Ojore)

The event that attracted a number of people saw some visiting the famous Nyero rock paintings in Kumi district.

Jackline Nyiracyiza, the acting commissioner Museum was part of the team that on Friday afternoon visited Nyero rock paintings in which she called on the local authorities to protect the area from people who quarry stones.

“This is one of the tourist attractions that we need to protect from people with bad intentions such as those who want to quarry,” Nyiracyize said.

Nyero rock paintings is a cultural landscape with ancient drawings in Kees village, Nyero Town Council with paintings on the walls and ceiling, as well as several other rock shelters with no paintings but have been used by recent inhabitants as places of spiritual significance.

Local female tourists celebrate after a tour of Nyero paintings in Kumi district.

The paints feature mainly red and white geometric designs, believed to have been painted by hunter-gatherers 3000 to 5000 years ago.

“Excavated archaeological evidence from Nyero suggests a long period of occupation from the late Stone Age,” said the site manager Diana Kokoi.

Kokoi explained that students from various institutions of learning constitute the highest number of tourists followed by the Europeans.