Open-air museum

Hida Minzoku Mura Folk Village,Takayama, Gifu,Japan

An aerial photograph of the open-air museum atStará Ľubovňa,Slovakia

Anopen-air museumis amuseumthat exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts outdoors. It is also frequently known as amuseum of buildingsor afolk museum.

Definition

Open air is "the unconfined atmosphere... outside buildings".In the loosest sense, an open-air museum is any institution that includes one or more buildings in its collections, including farm museums,historic house museums,andarchaeological open-air museums.Mostly, "open-air museum" is applied to a museum that specializes in the collection and re-erection of multiple old buildings at large outdoor sites, usually in settings of recreated landscapes of the past, and often includingliving history.Such institutions may, therefore, be described as building museums. European open-air museums tended to be sited originally in regions where wooden architecture prevailed, as wooden structures may be translocated without substantial loss of authenticity.

Common to all open-air museums, including the earliest ones of the 19th century, is the teaching of the history of everyday living by people from all segments of society.

Origins

The World's first open-air museum, King Oscar's Collection inOslo.Wood engraving from the guide-book, 1888. Now part ofNorsk Folkemuseum

A view ofSkansen,the first major open-air museum, around 1900

The idea of the open-air museum dates to the 1790s. The first proponent of the idea was the Swiss thinkerCharles de Bonstetten,and was based on a visit to an exhibit of sculptures of Norwegian peasants in native costumes in the park ofFredensborg PalaceinDenmark,"Valley of the Norsemen".He believed that traditional peasant houses should be preserved against modernity, but failed to attract support for the idea.

The first major steps towards the creation of open-air museums was taken inNorwayin 1881, when KingOscar IItransferred four historic farm buildings and thestave churchfromGolto the royal manor atBygdøynearOslo(Christiania) for public viewing.This, in turn, in 1884 and 1885 inspiredArtur Hazelius,founder of theNordic MuseuminStockholm,to establish his own open-air museumSkansen,adjacent to the Nordic Museum. Skansen, opened to the public in 1891, was a more ambitious undertaking, including farm buildings from acrossSweden,folk costumes, live animals, folk music, and demonstrations of folk crafts.The second open-air museum in the world to open its doors was also in Sweden:KultureninLundin1892.In 1894 theNorwegian Museum of Cultural History(Norsk Folkemuseum) was founded in Oslo byHans Aall,inspired by Skansen. Aall bought a large tract of land adjacent to King Oscar's royal collections, probably with a merger between them in mind. The open-airNorsk Folkemuseumwas opened at Bygdøy in 1902. In 1907 the royal collections were incorporated after the death of King Oscar and the dissolution of theunion with Sweden.

Most open-air museums concentrate on rural culture. However, since the opening of the first town museum,The Old TowninAarhus,Denmark,in 1914,town culture has also become a scope of open-air museums. In many cases, new town quarters are being constructed in existing rural culture museums.

Living-history museums

Living-history museums, including living-farm museums andliving museums,are open-air museums where costumed interpreters portray period life in an earlier era. The interpreters act as if they are living in a different time and place and perform everyday household tasks, crafts, and occupations. The goal is to demonstrate older lifestyles and pursuits to modern audiences. Household tasks might include cooking on an openhearth,churning butter,spinning woolandweaving,and farming without modern equipment. Many living museums feature traditional craftsmen at work, such as ablacksmith,pewtersmith,silversmith,weaver,tanner,armorer,cooper,potter,miller,sawyer,cabinet-maker,woodcarver,printer,doctor, andgeneral storekeeper.

North American innovations

A view of the Farmers' Market in Merchant's Square inColonial Williamsburgwith map in foreground

The North American open-air museum, more commonly called a living-history museum, had a different, slightly later origin than the European, and the visitor experience is different. The first wasHenry Ford'sGreenfield VillageinDearborn, Michigan(1928), where Ford intended his collection to be "a pocket edition of America".Colonial Williamsburg(opened in 1934), though, had a greater influence on museum development in North America. It influenced such projects through the continent asMystic Seaport,Plimoth Patuxet(formerly Plimoth Plantation), andFortress Louisbourg.The approach to interpretation tends to differentiate the North American from the European model. In Europe, the tendency is to usually focus on the buildings.

In North America, many open-air museums include interpreters who dress in period costume and conduct period crafts and everyday work.The living museum is, therefore, viewed as an attempt to recreate to the fullest extent conditions of aculture,natural environment,orhistorical period.The objective is immersion, using exhibits so that visitors can experience the specific culture, environment or historical period using the physical senses.

Performance and historiographic practices at American living museums have been critiqued in the past several years by scholars in anthropology and theater for creating false senses of authenticity and accuracy, and for neglecting to bear witness to some of the darker aspects of the American past (e.g., slavery and other forms of injustice). Even before such critiques were published, sites such as Williamsburg and others had begun to add more interpretation of difficult history.

List of open-air and living museums by country

Main article:List of open-air and living museums

See also

• Sculpture garden
• Historical reenactment
• Human zoo
• List of Renaissance fairs
• List of tourist attractions providing reenactment

References

Bibliography

• Hegard, Tonte (1993). ″Romantikk og fortidsvern. Historien om de første friluftsmuseene i Norge″. Oslo, Universitetsforlaget.ISBN8200070840.
• Hegard, Tonte (1994). ″Hans Aall – mannen, visjonen og verket″. Oslo, Norsk Folkemuseum.ISBN8276310230.
• Hurt, R. Douglas (1978). "Agricultural Museums: A New Frontier for the Social Sciences".The History Teacher.11(3): 367–75.doi:10.2307/491627.JSTOR491627.
• Langer, Jiří (2022).Open-Air Museums in Europe.Cambridge Scholars Publishing.ISBN978-1527589568.Sample[1]

External links

• Association for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums
• Revista Digital Nueva MuseologiaLatin American Theory
• Main open-air museums in Britain
• European Open-air MuseumsAn extensive list of Open-air museums in Europe.
• America's Outdoor History Museums
• Photos from Museum of Folk Architecture and Life

Museum websites

• Open Air Museum BokrijkLeading open-air museum in Flanders, Belgium
• Přerov nad Labem open-air museum – photo gallery
• Valachian Ethnographic Museum in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, Czech Republic
• Hjerl Hede,an open-air museum in Denmark showing life from the early days until about 100 years ago.
• The Old Town (Den Gamle By),Aa open-air museum in Denmark showing urban life.
• Jamtli– One of Sweden's largest and oldest regional open-air museums, in Östersund.
• Kulturen- The second oldest open-air museum in the world, opened in Lund in 1892.