Xanana Reading Room

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Xanana Reading Room
Xanana Reading Room1.jpg
Xanana Reading Room

Library type Library
place Dili coordinates: 8 ° 33 ′ 4.2 ″  S , 125 ° 35 ′ 4.7 ″  EWorld icon
operator East Timorese State Secretariat for Art and Culture

The Xanana Reading Room or Xanana Gusmão Reading Room ( Sala de Leitura Xanana in Portuguese ) is a cultural center, library and museum in the East Timorese capital, Dili . It is located on Rua de Bemori (formerly Rua Belarmino Lobo) in Suco Bidau Lecidere . The institution is named after the freedom fighter and politician Xanana Gusmão .

The one-story building was built in the 1960s and initially housed the Indonesian consulate for Portuguese Timor . Today it is owned by the East Timor state.

The Xanana Reading Room was opened in 2000 by Gusmão's wife, Kirsty Sword Gusmão , and was the first public library to open in Dili after the Indonesians left. In addition to the book rental, there is also free public Internet access and you can watch films on the history of East Timor. A small collection shows pictures and objects from the life of Xanana Gusmão. Pictures are exhibited which he painted during his detention in the Indonesian detention center Cipinang . When Gusmão became East Timor's first president in 2002 , there was no money to buy a company car. Gusmão bought a Daihatsu Taruna himself and also paid the transportation expenses for buying various vehicles for his employees. Gusmão used this vehicle from 2003 to 2007. It is now on display in the Xanana Reading Room. Behind it is the car that Gusmão was sitting in when rebels assassinated him in 2011 . Gusmão escaped unharmed.

There are regular art exhibitions and demonstrations in the Xanana Reading Room. A small shop with handicrafts and books completes the offer. After a thorough renovation, the UNESCO office also found a new location here as part of the Sentru Kulturál Xanana ( German  cultural center Xanana ) .

  • The Xanana Reading Room (2018)

  • 2005

  • Xanana Gusmão's company car from 2003

  • Gusmão escaped an assassination attempt unharmed in this Toyota Land Cruiser

Web links

Commons : Xanana Reading Room  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Flávio Miranda and Isabel Boavida: Dili's Architectural Heritage of Portuguese Origins , pp. 158, 159 & 208, 2015.
  2. ↑ Xanana Reading Room: Facebook page , accessed December 20, 2018.