Museums in Villages as Guardians of Family Memory and Cultural Heritage (original) (raw)
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Museums "at the heart of community": local museums in the post-socialist period in Slovenia
Etnografica Revista Do Centro Em Rede De Investigacao Em Antropologia, 2007
The author tries to define the changing role of local or community museums in the last few decades, when the crisis of museum institutions became a fact and when museum institutions were very often labeled as "fossilised", "ossified" and conservative institutions, and that are now facing the ongoing fast social changes. He points out that Slovenian museums, in the last decade of socialist and post-socalist rule, have also gone through the same development. The first "incentives" for making necessary changes in museums and for using different methods and approaches came after 1980, mostly in local and regional museums, and most of the new approaches and efforts for transformation came from ethnologists. Finally, he describes his personal museum experience in three museum projects from 1993, 2000 and 2006 where he tries to "humanize" museum objects and solve some problems concerning "museum crisis".
ETHNOLOGY OF TIME: COMMUNITIES AND CULTURES, 2024
According to the definition by ICOM, „A museum is a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage. Open to the public, accessible and inclusive, museums foster diversity and sus tainability. They operate and communicate ethically, professionally and with the participation of communities, offering varied experiences for education, enjoyment, reflection and knowledge sharing.“ (https://icom. museum/en/resources/standards-guidelines/museum-definition/) At first glance, the museums in Bulgaria, and correspondingly those in Southwestern Bulgaria, adhere to the definition provided by ICOM. They are non-profit institutions and engage in research, collection, preserva tion, interpretation, and presentation of tangible and intangible heritage. However, upon closer examination and precise analysis of their structure and operations, we would have to classify museums as serving adminis trative bodies rather than serving society. According to Article 25, para graph 3 of Regulation No. N-00-0001 of February 14, 2011, concerning f ield archaeological research, public access to archaeological documenta tion is severely limited, and comprehensive access to the full range of ar chaeological materials is practically impossible. In practice, visitors have access to minimal artifacts and information, which need to be improved to create a fundamental understanding of the respective archaeological culture, settlement, or structure. There are no annual, medium-term, or long-term plans for archaeological, ethnographic, historical, interdisci plinary, or exhibition development. There is no strategy for restoration and conservation. Practically no activity is conducted regarding intan gible cultural heritage. The closure of museums in Southwestern Bulgar ia within municipal administrations and their limited resources restricts public interest in museums and their capabilities. In order to compensate for this, as well as to be attractive to society, museums shift from presen ting culture to presenting shows. Instead of authenticity, reconstruction, a product of the subjective views of specific researchers, is exhibited. The article directs the attention of museums and their activities towards the needs and resources of society. If museums have real, not fictitious, com munication with society and scientific communities, they will achieve sustainability and a real presence in cultural life.
Museum and Community. The Early Period of the Museum History in Miskolc, 1899-1914.
"...how badly we need the so much desired Palace of Culture" Collectors, Founders, Museums in Eastern Europe in the 19th-20th Century. Ed. by KULCSÁR, Valéra. Jósa András Museum, Nyíregyháza, Hungary (2020) 9-14., 2020
Today’s relevant museum paradigm focuses on the communities. The current issue is participation: how can the institutions involve the local communities in their museum activities? The participatory attitude appears in the 19th century, at the very beginning of the modern museum’s idea. The foundation of museums, their first acquisitions, their first exhibitions were dominated by the local communities, the citizen’s participation and a high degree of voluntary actions. The town of Miskolc (North-East Hungary, 60.000 inhabitants around 1900) is a typical of the community-led local museum development. The very first artefacts, artworks and antiquities were collected by the Borsod County Archive from 1833. In the second half of the 19th century the Protestant Grammar School also started a study-collection for its educational purposes, covering the fields of history, archaeology and nature history. Based on these collections, the foundation of a city museum was initiated by a local civil group, the Borsod-Miskolcz Association for Public Culture in the 1890’s. They founded a Museum Committee of 15 voluntary members in 1899, and acquired three rooms for museum purposes in the former building of the Protestant Grammar School. As a result of the enthusiasm of the Miskolc citizens, in 1901 the Borsod-Miskolcz Museum owned more than 5000 objects, offered by both private collectors and individuals. The museum had very few professionals at the beginning, like József Buday as an expert of nature history, or Kálmán Kóris as the first ethnographer of Miskolc. Until the First World War the museum was run by volunteers. They opened for the public only for a few hours per week, mostly Sundays, even though the museum was very popular among the locals, it had 6-7000 visitor per year in its first period. Later on, the role of the community was a determinant factor in the museum’s life until the socialization of the collections in the 1950’s. The very first period of the museum history can be a relevant pattern for today’s participatory tendencies.
Museum Representations in the Process of "Culturing" the Public in Bulgaria
Contemporary museological discourse in Western Europe questions previous approaches and constantly redefines the meaning and operations of museums. However, limited attention is given to museums in Southeast Europe. This paper explores the way history was approached and represented in Bulgarian museums and how this influenced their functioning. It is hoped that revealing little known events and information will lead to a better understanding of the country’s cultural affairs, at a time when Bulgaria has become the latest member of the European Union. The findings are a result of a Ph.D. and subsequent research.
A museum object, sacred, yet fragile – a lesson of the Croatian museum transition
Traditionally, museums have often been considered the temples of culture, places where objects and collections stored are of great importance for a particular community, society or people and even the whole of humanity. Museum institutions have been trying to distance themselves from this image for decades, moving the focus from the objects to the visitors. This transformation occurred as the awareness of the social role of museums began to change, by which museums are no longer the absolute authority and their task not merely that of the “divine” study of museum “dogmas”, but rather they acquire a participatory role, making each individual a creator of meaning and values. This transition is perceived as a positive step in the development of museological thought and activity, but one that is also often criticized because it puts the position of museums and their experts and scientists in particular fields in a precarious position. Should museums allow their authority, considered to be based on scientific principles, to be questioned by visitors, that is, laypeople? In that regard, the position of museums can be viewed through the prism of the church and its respective position in society.
ICOM Voices, 2023
Article available at: https://icom.museum/en/news/preserving-the-past-engaging-with-the-future-the-importance-of-small-local-museums-and-collections/?fbclid=IwAR0EsyxEzSMqhBsE7WzQ3\_5JKwuIyXNIYsb2jGDNexw11Qy\_PBS8urUliVI While traveling the world, we are frequently struck by the grandeur of museums that display the history and cultural legacy of entire nations. These establishments feature collections of invaluable artefacts and treasures that narrate the tales of our ancestors. In the midst of these imposing museums, it is easy to overlook the importance and wealth of small local museums and collections. These museums act as portals into the exclusive and varied cultural heritage of communities. The Heritage Collection of the City of Novska, Croatia (cro. Muzejska zavičajna zbirka Grada Novske) is one of these museums. It showcases the importance of preserving cultural heritage for future generations and the impact it can have on a community.
Bulgarian museums in the post-communist period
Museum Management and Curatorship, 2010
On the 9th of July 2009, the National Art Gallery in Sofia, Bulgaria opened its doors to welcome visitors to a temporary exhibition, entitled ‘Underground stores’. The exhibition, the first of its kind in the country, took the visitor on a journey back in time to the period of communism in Bulgaria. It seems to have provoked a sense of nostalgia in many of the older and middle-aged visitors, a phenomenon recently observed in other ex-communist countries. Using the exhibition as a starting point, this paper examines some of the reasons for the seemingly delayed reaction Bulgarian museums demonstrated in relation to interpreting and confronting this controversial period in European history. It also introduces little known details from Bulgarian museums’ past and present operations.
Narrative of Cultural Heritage: Theory And Practice – Church Of St. Nikola in Priština
Culture, No. 8, Centre for Culture and Cultural Studies, Skopje, 121-129.
Depending on the context in which the subject of past achieving a particular communication, is interpreted and used, the value of this subject is changed due to the object polysemy. Hence, we are always challenged to rethink the phenomenon of heritage. At that point we are in the domain of explanation, which means in story, narrative. But what kind of story? If we take into account that images of the past are the product of selective forgetting and active process of remembering, also being the part of the time concept narrative through whom we read and examine heritage object, than the story we make about that object is not strictly linear, it breaks rigid chronology, creating a plot that combines elements of temporal experience. The case study of this theory and focus of this paper is the 19th century Church of St. Nikola in Priština. We are to follow the life and meaning of this object in the old city center through the period of its existence. The aim is to recognize and discuss the place of the church in the cultural memory of the city, and opposite.
Communism and Museums in Bulgaria
International Journal of Heritage Studies, 2009
Despite the growing interest in Eastern European countries since the fall of the communist regimes in the late 1980s, they still remain obscure to Western Europeans. Media information on Eastern Europe focuses mainly on politics or the attractions of holiday resorts and, consequently, the history and local customs of the countries, their cultural affairs and different cultural institutions are little known. This paper describes the way Bulgarian museums developed during the governance of the Bulgarian Communist Party (1946–1989). It is hoped that revealing information on their operations within a broad historical and social context will lead to a better understanding of the country’s cultural affairs at a time when Bulgaria has become the latest member of the European Union. The findings are a result of PhD research.
- In: Tostões, Ana, and Koselj, Nataša, eds. Metamorphosis. The Continuity of Change. Lisboa: Docomomo International; Ljubljana: Docomomo Slovenia, (2018): 122-131. A diachronic analysis traces the parallel stages of transformations of Bulgarian cities during their 20th century modern development after WWI until the political transformations in 1989. Problems of safeguarding of the MoMo cultural heritage during the 1990s and until the present are discussed. An approach to compile a digital system of archival documenting and monitoring of the monuments of culture is suggested. http://docomomo2018.si/index.php/15idc-conference-proceedings