On the Special Preconditions for Open Air Museums in Times of the Sustainability Agenda

Abstract

I like museums and I am especially fund of open- air museums. I can say with certainty, that this love is work-life related as a result of my years working in such a museum. I often look back on the many happy days when I learned so much from the open-air museum about possibilities and potentials which are much harder – or not possible at all – to realise in indoor museums – regardless of it is museums of art, cultural history, archaeology, technology, or science. Of course, other museums have their special preconditions and potential, but it is clear to me that the preconditions in open-air museums are very special. It was a great time, and the memories are my treasures. The best days I was close to believe that we could change the world and the team I was working with could walk on water. It is with the greatest respect and admiration for open-air museums that I today realise that maybe I was a little naïve – just a little. Maybe, there is a tendency of this which apply to all of us with work experience in open air museums. Being serious I think it is necessary to place our fascination of the open-air museums in longer perspective and thereby also in a critical perspective. Therefore, I would like in the following to look closer on some characteristics in the long-term trends in museum development and how that somehow fits in to a broader political development.