Exercise 3 Paper Introduction
For Exercise 3, Write your opinion about the following:
- What do you expect from a good museum visit?
Consider these elements:
- The museum itself
- The exhibition
- The visitors
Discuss the above elements when you answer the above question. Tell me whether or not the elements are important to your museum visit and why.
Note: Don’t research the question. I don’t want to see a copied sentence from another person. I want to read about what makes you happy when you go to visit a museum. If you have never visited a museum, you can still answer the question. Think about what would make you pay the $10.00 entrance fee to visit a museum instead of going to see a movie.
Exercise 3 – Paper Introduction
In our childhood, Museum was always a storehouse of wonders. It housed these treasures that had valiant and interesting stories behind them. As years have gone by my understanding of Museums has also transformed. Museums were created by human society to propagate the achievements of their culture as a whole. American Museums try to promote their ‘magnificent history’ through the laurels they earned in the war, and British Museums remind people of their glory days, by displaying the various things brought by them from their previous colonies. Museums in a way were built to manipulate people into having a particular opinion. The Royal Museum Of Central Africa is a prime example of it. It was created by King Leopold to convince the rightfulness of his actions in Congo to his citizens, while at the same time dehumanizing them, by putting them on display like caged animals during launch festivities (Van Bockhaven, 2019, p.1084).
Therefore with the changing times, my expectations from a museum would be to showcase the truth to me when I visit it. Though contrary to popular sentiment, I do not think that the museums should be closed down. They should be existent to reflect history from various points of view. My visit to such a place should enable me to understand the perspective of all the people in the past and the reasoning behind their actions.
The exhibition should provide a wholesome understanding of the origins of the materials displayed. In the Tower Of London, the display of Kohinoor fails to detail the fact that it was snatched by the Britishers from a 10-year-old boy (Ranjan, Chembolu & Ramani, 2018, p.50). They forced him to sign legal documents at the age of 10. These details are missing from the display, and the writing implies that the diamond was a gift, when in reality it was loot. The displays should provide accurate information, to enrich the knowledge of the visitors.
The visitors enjoying these exhibitions should be open-minded. Since museums are such a popular Holiday Spot, it is quite obvious that people from previously colonized countries are going to visit these places. There are times that those people feel discomfort due to the narrative portrayed by these displays. The environment in the museum should be such that their discomfort could be eased. Thus a good museum visit should have authentic information and a positive environment.
Reference List
Ranjan, A., Chembolu, M. D., & Ramani, S. (2018). Kohinoor and its travelog: the dialectic of ownership and reparations of an artifact. Coldnoon: International Journal of Travel Writing & Travelling Cultures, 6(4), 49-72.
Van Bockhaven, V. (2019). Decolonizing the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Belgium’s Second Museum Age. antiquity, 93(370), 1082-1087.
