Photo: 'Free Derry Corner', as it has become known, is now one of Derry's most visited landmarks.
Plans to create a Museum of Free Derry took a step forward as the organisation behind it lodged a planning application to convert a row of four houses in the city.
Backed by the Bloody Sunday Trust, staff leading the project intend to renovate the derelict buildings in the Glenfada Park area of Derry and turn them into a museum of local history.
House numbers 55, 57, 59 and 61 were the only four dwellings left standing after the area was re-developed and still have bullet marks on them from Bloody Sunday. This was the day, January 30, 1972, when 14 people were shot by the Parachute Regiment.
Adrian Kerr, Project Co-ordinator, told the 24 Hour Museum that the new institution would seek to "provide a positive legacy out of the whole issue and the damage that it has done to the city."
The intention, he said would be to show the history of a community as "a microcosm history of the entire troubles and the background to the troubles and the causes of the troubles."
Photo: house numbers 55, 57, 59 and 61 are the only remnants of the area as it was in the early 1970s, which was redeveloped some time ago.
Referring to the area of the city known as the Bogside, Free Derry was, for a short period in the early 1970s, a no-go area for British forces in Northern Ireland.
Symbolised by a mural painted in 1969 on the gable end of a terraced house stating 'You Are Now Entering Free Derry', the area drew international attention during the notorious Battle of the Bogside and Bloody Sunday.
According to Adrian, funding is in place to set up the first phase of the museum. This will include artefacts such as posters, leaflets and banners that tell the story of the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland up until Operation Motorman in 1972, when the British Army entered the area bringing Free Derry to an end.
With its famous murals, the area has now become one of Derry’s most popular tourist attractions and now, explained Adrian, is the time for the residents to explore their own history.
"It’s very much a community based project," he said, adding that it would be a chance for the people of the area to tell their own story.
Photo: 'Free Derry Corner' as it looked in 1969.
"It’s necessary for everybody to do that" he said. "The first step towards getting them to understand each other is that each side has to tell their story. It starts a whole process of engagement and dialogue."
The museum could be open as early as this time next year when staff will then start looking at attaining registered museum status and creating the next phase of the project, which will trace the area’s history from 1972 to the present day.
Chris Bailey, Director of the Northern Ireland Museums Council told the 24 Hour Museum that his organisation is more concerned about the sustainability of a new institution than the message of its content.
"We would encourage people to investigate their own heritage and history and if, in doing so, they feel there’s a need and demand to sustain it, we give them every assistance," he said.
"I think we have a tendency here not to tackle controversial issues that have arisen from the political situation here," he added.
Photo: a civil rights banner used to cover the body of a victim on Bloody Sunday, which will go on display at the museum.
"Some museums have done that and we are not censorious in terms of what messages go out, but they should be presented appropriately and in a way that will excite people, stimulate them and encourage repeat visits."
The idea that the museum might create controversy or be a cause of concern to other communities is something that Adrian Kerr refutes.
"It’s in no way inflammatory," he said. "This is a community telling its story and putting it out there for other people to see it."
"We would want people who would disagree with the story being told to look at it and react to it. We would hope that this museum encourages others to do the same and in years to come we can act as a catalyst for other people."
"We are going to tell this story from one community’s perspective, but we have to acknowledge the fact that there are other perspectives."
