After years of planning and work, the Jilkaat Kwaan Heritage Center opened in Klukwan on May 14. The center houses what many consider the most important artwork in Alaska, the Whale House posts attributed to the Tlingit artist Kadjisdu.axch, who worked around 1800, the associated screen, feast dish and other objects.
The Whale House Collection is notable not only for the complex design of the individual components and the master design that ties them together, but also for the skill shown in execution. It takes one's breath away the moment you see it. The invaluable art has been the subject of historic photographs, academic papers and legal wrangling.
[Read more: Legal battle continues for Whale House artwork]
Around 2002 the people of Klukwan began serious planning for a facility where clan treasures could be preserved and displayed.
Executive director Lori Hotch said the center came about in stages, starting with a culture camp, expanding to a restaurant and gift shop for visitors in 2010 and then to the 12,000-square-foot building that just opened.
With funding from the state and several philanthropic groups, the village council approved constructing a shell in 2012. "It was a risk," Hotch said, "but a calculated risk. Once we built the shell, people were interested in seeing it finished."
The exhibits area of the new building includes cultural landscape maps showing ancestral territory, paintings of old villages and a display of how Chilkat travelers would have dressed when trekking over the glaciers to trade with people in today's Yukon Territory. New artwork has been commissioned from six contemporary artists. One section is dedicated to Chilkat weaving, with robes on display, a weavers room and a Chilkat Weavers Wall of Fame. In addition, there's an exhibit on contemporary subsistence practices and an electronic information kiosk, "for people who want to spend time to learn more about our history and culture," Hotch said.
Eventually, an elevated walkway will extend to the Chilkat River and interpretive signs will describe the bald eagles that throng the area in late fall and early winter. The center is a prime viewing area for the local eagle preserve. The signs were less of a priority than getting the center open and training staff, Hotch said, because eagle watchers don't show up in numbers until later in the year.
The center is partnering with Chilkat Guides, which offers raft trips through the country, which has some of the most beautiful and awesome scenery in the state.
"We had four executives from Holland America and Princess Tours come by on Saturday," Hotch said. Klukwan is well-positioned for highway traffic, being on the mainland road system just north of Haines.
But the million or so tourists who travel on the Lynn Canal every year are not to be ignored; arrangements are being pursued to bring groups from the tour ships that dock in Skagway.
The big draw for people from around the world will undoubtedly be the three clan house displays in the main building. Right now only one is open, and that's the one that has the items from the Whale House, sometimes identified as "Koh-Klux's big house" in old photographs.
(That part confuses me. Koh-Klux, spelled various ways, is among the most important Native leaders in Alaska history. But sources identify him with the 'Cinnamon' Bear clan, not the Whale House. His headstone is a traditional Tlingit bear figure. Perhaps informed parties can supply enlightenment.)
Other clan leaders have indicated they want to bring things to the center, Hotch said, but the process has to be done carefully. Some of the objects will need to be cleaned and repaired and proper display structures need be built.
"It's not just a museum, protecting our heritage," she said, "but perpetuating it."
Those driving into Klukwan will find it as the first building on the left. Actually, it will be pretty hard to miss.