Published: 2013-02-11
ISBN:
ISSN: 1650-3686 (print), 1650-3740 (online)
It is very difficult to create and to run a national history museum. Why? Because stakeholders from outside; much more than for other types of museums; intervene and try to make their mark on the content of the museum. We have to consider also the fact that the past is lost forever. Nobody knows what really happened.
What can we offer then in a history museum? An exhibition based on historical research as a kind of temporary interpretation and provisional narrative. We have to evaluate and to weigh research results according to the best of our knowledge and to ethical standard. Every generation has to do it anew. One of the biggest pitfalls of narratives in historical exhibitions is a linear; onedimensional presentation ex post.
Many of these statements are evident; but do our visitors really know it; too? They interpret our exhibitions simply as THE truth. They are less critical than with respect to other media (TV for instance). Why? Museums show original objects; hence the story they tell must be true; too. Several possibilities to convey the relativity of the narratives in our museums are presented.
