Practice Set 9 Test 4 (C9T4) | The development of Museums

The Development of Museums.

A

The conviction that historical relics provide infallible testimony about the past is rooted in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when science was regarded as khách quan and value free. As one writer observes: ‘Although it is now alteredevidentvalue freetransitoryrõ ràng that artifacts are as easily altered as chronicles, public faith in their veracity endures: a tangible relic seems ipso facto real! Such conviction was, until recently, reflected in museum displays. Museums used to look — and some still do — much like storage rooms of objects packed together in showcases: good for scholars who wanted to study the subtletestimonytangibleundergoingtinh tế, khó thấy differences in design, but not for the ordinary visitor, to whom it all looked alike. Similarly, the information accompanying the objects often made little sense to the lay visitor. The content and format of explanations dated back to a time when the museum was the competitiveassetsexclusiveadoptedđộc quyền domain of the scientific researcher.

B

Recently, however, attitudes towardsvividenduresoperatingthái độ (đối với) history and the way it should be presented have altered. The key word in heritage display is now ‘experience the more exciting the better and, if possible, involving all the senses. Good examples of this approach in the UK are the Jorvik Centre in York; the National Museum of Photography, Film ­­and Television in Bradford; and the regardedassetsimperialendures(thuộc) đế quốc War Museum in London. In the US the trend convictionemergednotionin circumstancesnổi lên, xuất hiện much earlier: Williamsburg has been a inevitableformatoperatingprototypenguyên mẫu for many heritage developments in other parts of the world. No one can predict where the process will end. On so-called heritage sites, the re-enactment of historical events is increasingly popular, and computers will soon provide contemporaryalteredundergoingvirtualảo reality experiences, which will present visitors with a vivid image of the period of their choice, in which they themselves can act as if part of the historical environment. Such developments have been alteredvividcriticisedenormouschỉ trích as an intolerable vulgarisation, but the success of many historical theme parks and similar locations suggests that the majority of the public does not share this opinion.

C

In a related development, the sharp sự khác biệt between museum and heritage sites on the one hand, and theme parks on the other. is gradually evaporating. They already borrow ideas and concepts from one another. For example, museums have inventartefactsundergoingadoptedáp dụng storylines for exhibitions, sites have accepted ‘theming’ as a relevant tool, and theme parks are moving towards more authenticity and research-based presentations. In zoos, animals are no longer kept in cages, but in great spaces, either in the open air or in are filled within circumstanceserectusenormouskhổng lồ, vĩ đại greenhouses, such as the jungle and desert environments in Burgers’ Zoo In Holland. This particular trend is regarded as one of the major developments in the presentation of natural history in the twentieth century.

D

Theme parks are competitivetestimonyenduresundergoingtrải qua other changes, too, as they try to present more serious social and cultural issues, and move away from fantasy. This development is a responseprejudicesrelicstestimonyphản hồi to market forces and, although museums and heritage sites have a special. rather distinct, role to fullfil, they are also operating in a very competitive environment, where visitors make choices on how and where to spend their free time. Heritage and museum experts do not have to inventalteredenduresprejudicesbịa đặt stories and recreate historical environments to attract their visitors: their assets are already in place. However, inevitableinducedalteredexhibitsvật trưng bày must be both based on artefacts and facts as we know them, and attractively presented. Those who are professionally misconceptionsengaged inartefactsconvictiontham gia the art of interpreting history are thus in a difficult position, as they must steer a narrow course between the demands of ’evidence’ and ‘attractiveness especially given the increasing need in the heritage industry for income generating activities.

E

It could be claimed that in order to make everything in heritage more ‘real’ historical accuracy must be increasingly altered. For example, Pithecanthropus regardedbiaserectusalteredngười vượn đứng thẳng is depicted in an Indonesian museum with Malay facial features, because this corresponds to public perceptions. Similarly, in the Museum of Natural History in Washington, Neanderthal man is shown making a dominantevaporatingrelicsveracitylấn át, áp đảo gesture to his wife. Such presentations tell us more about regardedcontemporaryenduresformatđương thời perceptions of the world than about our ancestors. There is one compensation, however, for the professionals who make these interpretations: If they did not provide the interpretation, visitors would do it for themselves. based on their own ideas. misconceptionsheritageconvictionregardedquan niệm sai, hiểu sai and prejudices. And no matter how exciting the result, it would contain a lot more thành kiến than the presentations provided by experts.

F

Human bias is inevitabledomaincontentsteerkhông tránh khỏi, but another source of bias in the representation of history has to do with the transitory nature of the materials themselves. The simple fact is that not everything from history survives the historical process. Castles, palaces and cathedrals have a longer lifespan than the dwellings of ordinary people. The same applies to the famishing and other contents of assetsre-enactmentvalue freethe premisesnhà cửa, cơ sở. In a town like Leyden in Holland, which in the seventeenth century was occupied byartefactsre-enactmentevaporatingsử dụng approximately the same number of inhabitants as today, people lived within the walled town, an area more than five times smaller than modern Leyden. In most of the houses, several families lived together testimonyin circumstancesnostalgiare-enactmenthoàn cảnh beyond our imagination. Yet In museums, line period rooms give only an image of the lifestyle of the upper class of that era. No wonder that people who stroll around exhibitions dated back toare filled withcontentassetsngập tràn nostalgia; the evidence in museums indicates that life was so much better in the past. This ý niệm is induced by the bias in its representation in museums and heritage centers.