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| This issue of Museum International, which is devoted to historic house museums, strives to take into account the current state of the art which encompasses various aspects: the definition, criteria, conservation and restoration problems as well as management of visitors' flows. |
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The creation in 1998 of the International Committe for Historic House Museums (DemHist) by the International Council off Museums (ICOM) was, on the one hand, the recognition of a specific category of museum and, on the other, the beginning of an international reflection on the subject. Since then two scientific meetings have taken place, the first one in July 1999 in the Peterhof Palace in St Petersburg and the second in November 2000 in Genoa (Italy), which focused primarily on debating key criteria for the management and conservation of house-museums.
This issue of Museum International, which is devoted to historic house museums, strives to take into account the current state of the art which encompasses various aspects: the definition, criteria, conservation and restoration problems as well as management of visitors' flows.
Since historic house museums often differ widely in nature and size depending on the diversity of their cultural, political and social contexts, the need for clear and operational classification criteria is the prerequisite for the setting up of common scientific and museological rules and conservation techniques. Originally defined as royal palaces and major private houses, whose artistic values were their distinctive features, the notion of historic houses has more recently been applied to houses of famous people, artists' studios or premises of high historical importance. The trend came mainly from the United States where major national heroes' houses, such as Jefferson's at Montecello, were transformed into museums and commemorative monuments to the glory of the heroes' achievement for the country. In fact, historic houses are meeting places where history and the person who writes it come together. Historic house museums deal mainly with the knowledge and representation of history.
In this current issue, many authors have stressed the evocative power of historic house Museums and the value of an intuitive approach to knowledge. Such an approach eventually raises the question of the certification of the scientific discourse displayed and conveyed by these museums. The dialectic between history and fiction, mainly addr essed by the study of how history is written, that is, the relationship between history and literature, finds a new field of exploration with the museological reflection applied to historic houses. The attempt by museologists to build new abstract categories for historic house museums which are not based on an analysis of their objects, reveals the need to clarify the very difference between truth and fiction and their dynamic relationship.
Similarly, the dynamic close linkage between the building, the collection and the owner’s personality in historic house museums has an impact on conservation and restoration proceedures and methodologies. The variety of conservation concerns, ranging from security problems for open-displayed objects to major interventions on architectural structures, requires a systematic organization and planning of intervention with different levels of priority. In some cases, the above-mentioned dynamic linkage can lead to the search for authenticity in the appearance and new technical solutions for ensuring the sustainability of the restoration.
Finally, due to the tact that private houses also contribute to bringing a poetical, non-conceptual dimension to urban environment, social life and access to culture, historic house museums are often privileged targets for cultural tourism and ultimately must face an exponential growth of visitors' flows and appeals for cultural merchandising. All these are pertinent questions, whose answers will be found partly in scientific analysis and partly in cultural policy orientations. While the museological discussion on historic houses concentrates on an extremely specific category of museums, nevertheless it also stresses the museum's key role in the pursuit of sustainable cultural development.
As we enter this new millenniurn with a sense of profound change, both international institutions and professional organizations are finding themselves obliged to adapt their activities and lines of action in order to respond more effectively to fundamental mandates. UNESCO's commitment to disseminate knowledge and professional expertise to all parts of the world is an essential part of its mission and, consequently, this Organization must adopt new strategies in the years to come. These strategies will encompass new communication technologies and new challenges in the museum and cultural heritage fields.
In consequence - and although it is never easy for the Editor-in-chief to announce to the readers the final issue of a widely read periodical that has spanned 53 years of successful publishing - Museum International will pay homage to the magazine's contribution to museology over the years with its final issue, No. 212, with hopes for a new project to follow in the years to come.
| Author(s) |
Isabelle Vinson |
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| Publication Date |
1970-01-01 12:00 am |
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