Museu d’Història de Catalunya, Barcelona.

Weekends away can be great way to dip into the history of different areas, whether that be somewhere on the south coast of England or Southern Europe. In this case a trip to Barcelona allowed for an interesting trip to the Museu d’Història de Catalunya and I have to admit to being really impressed with the quality of the museum.

Museu d’Història de Catalunya, Barcelona.

The museum itself is located in a former warehouse building near the Old Port (Port Vell) and offers a really fantastic museum space. The development actually strongly resembles the location of the Museum of London Docklands – a part of a former warehouse having been converted into a museum, while the rest offers a home to bustling restaurants and bars, overlooking ships swaying on the water. Anyway, I digress somewhat.  

Museu d’Història de Catalunya, Barcelona.

We chose to view the permanent exhibition galleries which cover the period of Prehistory to 1980. This is divided into several different subsections which aim to address key developments in Catalan history. These are: The Roots: From Prehistory to the 8^th Century, The Birth of a Nation: The 8^th to the 12^th Centuries, Our Sea: The 12^th to the 16^th Centuries, On the Edge of the Empire: the 16^th to 18^th centuries, A Steam-powered Nation: the 18^th and 19^th centuries, The Electric Years: From 1900 to 1939, Defeat and Recovery: From 1940 to 1980.

Museu d’Història de Catalunya, Barcelona.

It was certainly a mammoth exhibition in what it tried to cover but like I say, I was very impressed with the quality of what has been achieved. Intellectually what I really liked was how the museum didn’t just focus on Catalonia but tried to present Catalan history and culture within broader geographical, political, economic and cultural settings. This was something I remarked on at the time for it is not something I can say I’ve particularly noticed in other exhibitions I’ve been too. It made quite a refreshing change and I left feeling that I not only had a greater sense of Catalan history but also how it fits alongside the other existing knowledge I have of history. I was able to draw things together and make comparisons in ways that I have not necessarily recognised being able to do before. 

Museu d’Història de Catalunya, Barcelona.

You can also really tell that it is a new development by the approach that’s been taken, and the development of the museum over the last 10 years has been documented through video which is shown to visitors at the end of the exhibition. It displays a very modern approach to gallery design. There is a mix of glass faced cabinets containing artefacts with information panels, but also more interactive elements – models and recreations. A number of these in fact, still stand out. In particular a net which has been filled with armour and placed on a pulley system, which visitors can then attempt to lift in an effort to demonstrate how heavy it would have been to wear armour. There was also a knight’s horse that could be sat on, milling stones for grinding wheat and my personal favourite, a reconstruction of an irrigation system. Children are encouraged to take the place of oxen and turn a wheel, which then lifted water from a well into channels which in turn irrigated farm crops. It was such an inspired way to both educate and occupy children, while allowing adults the time to read the information, which in other museums can sometimes be a bit of a battle. 

Museu d’Història de Catalunya, Barcelona.

The museum’s mission statement is published on their website and is as follows:

The Museu d’Història de Catalunya (MHC) opened in 1996 to make Catalan history and culture better known at home and abroad. Publicly owned and inspired by the public interest, it is designed to be a museum of society insofar as it encourages interaction between history and the other social sciences and takes an interest in our own times. A cultural centre that is open and accessible to everyone with a programme that offers visitors opportunities for learning and training, for debate and analysis, for relaxation and enjoyment. (1)

It aims to be a space for ‘encounter and exchange’ and I definitely think that’s the case. The models show the practicalities of life at different periods in time, prompting questions that you pose not only to yourself but also to the other people you might be visiting with. And while it offers a huge historical range that some might find that overwhelming, I found it to be really intellectually stimulating. It offered something different, both in scope and design, and I’d definitely recommend it to those that visit Barcelona.

Museu d’Història de Catalunya, Barcelona.

(1) http://www.en.mhcat.cat/content/view/full/44

Düsseldorf’s Mahn- und Gedenkstätte

The Main Square

Back in December I took a bit of a break and went for a long weekend to Düsseldorf to do the Christmas Markets, but what’s a trip without a bit of history? We were a bit limited for choice, but chose to spend the afternoon at the Mahn- und Gedenkstätte in Aldstadt, which was established in the 1980s as a memorial for the victims of National Socialism.

Having looked it up retrospectively, it appears only to have reopened in May this year after a four year closure, with a new permanent exhibition - “Düsseldorf children and young people under the Nazis” and actually, even though I hadn’t know that at the time, the quality of the exhibit was fantastic and you can see that current museum display theory has been fundamental to its new design.

I’d always been a bit curious about how WW2 is remembered in museums in Germany never having visited before, so I’m really glad we chose this museum to visit. It’s steeped in history, both the area in which it’s situated and the building itself, which was once the state police headquarters.

As English speakers we were given audio guides, which we were completely dependent on and were our only real way to access information. They were fantastic bits of kit and well produced. The tier system of information has been used to structure the audio guide clips, each successive clip offering more in depth information, based upon what you’d previously heard. It also offered a ‘?’ option for some points or items if you wanted more information on them specifically.

At first I responded really well to the exhibition and accessing it through the audio guide. However, because I was completely dependent on it, it made it somewhat difficult to maintain that level of concentration. It wasn’t possible to listen to every single clip and I had to try and dip in and dip out of clips that I was particularly interested in.

That said, the exhibit was packed with information, images and photographs, oral history testimony and objects, many of which were shown or displayed in interesting and interactive ways. You could open drawers, slide or spin text panels and listen to testimony through a receiver. And at each step, there was a corresponding number for your audio guide. A huge amount of work has clearly gone into the redevelopment of the exhibit and as a visitor I really appreciated that and could see the huge effort that has gone in to make it modern and accessible.

There were two additional points that I was also particularly taken by. First, was the effort gone to put Düsseldorf in the context of wider history. Local history was told alongside national history and examples of how events we know of at a theoretical level materialised in the communities in Düsseldorf were also included. They wrote themselves and their community into the historical narrative and I thought that was both quite brave and very nicely done. The second point was how the exhibit was told from the perspective of young people, which doesn’t often happen, but also how it covered multiple perspectives - those of Socialists, Jews, Protestants, Catholics, Democrats, Homosexuals and Edelweiss Pirates vs. Hitler Youth. It was really interesting to see all those points of view side by side and talked about quite openly.

The aim for the memorial is that it remains a place of learning, of research and of remembrance (1). They also have a temporary exhibition gallery, which at the moment is ‘Helpers + Healers: Jewish Women in Medicine 1933-1945, and an open access reference library with books, documents, photographs and other archival material which invites visitors to look in more depth at the topics the memorial covers.

I was hugely impressed by this museum and am really glad we took some time to explore the culture of Düsseldorf beyond the Christmas Markets!

(1)    This is the webpage, although it’s in German! -http://www.ns-gedenkstaetten.de/nrw/duesseldorf/besucherinformationen.html

Åland Maritime Museum: An ethos to aspire too!

Is it possible to love a museum that you’ve never actually been too? Well that was how I felt after hearing the director of Åland Maritime Museum, Hanna Hagmark-Cooper, speak at the recent Rhul Public History Alumni Seminar. I found her talk completely fascinating and decided I’d take the time to share a summary of it and its key themes with you.

Maritime industry is a key part of the island’s history and both national and cultural identity are tied to this historic relationship with sailing ships. The Museum began in the 1920s as a private collection, and as a reaction to a decline in the maritime industry. Soon after, a club emerged to support this private collection, the purpose of which was to create a dedicated museum to preserve the maritime industry and its part in the Island’s history. Exhibits were collected through donations, but club members also petitioned for donations – there was, and still is, a strong level of personal investment in the museum. It was run as a private enterprise until the 1980s when it became a charitable trust as it remains today.

Now when the decision was made to rebuild the museum, I was surprised to learn that it faced no opposition – I can’t imagine a similar attitude necessarily being adopted here in the UK, for I don’t think a single museum is seen as that important to our national or cultural identity. But people from the Åland Islands wanted this redevelopment and were happy for investment to be diverted from other sectors towards the museum project.

Hanna began work at the museum in 2004 at which time the focus was very much on the display of sailing ships. However, since it’s re-opening in 2012 and under the instruction of Hanna, the museum has now introduced topics which broaden its scope, including the impact of steam engines, ship building and safety at sea. From what was described, it is no longer just a showcase for old boats, but has more substance and narrative for visitors to experience. 

It was this element that originally caused slight resistance, for there was a fear of what modernism might mean for the museum. Museum staff and supporters were aware of the need for a new approach to draw in new visitors, however at the same time they didn’t want to alienate the core visitor group. This led to what I have to admit finding most fascinating – the strong sense of shared authority between museum staff and specialist groups invested in museum. Huge emphasis appears to have been placed on consultation, staff being acutely aware of the ‘strong local commitment’ to seeing the museum be a success, both in terms of its original goals and what would draw in visitors.

With only a core staff of 5, this emphasis on shared authority has also been beneficial in other ways. Museum staff have been able to call on specialist groups, those with expertise in ship building, mechanical engineers and sail makers for example, for help during the redevelopment. Hanna described how a sense of mutual respect has developed between museum staff and specialist groups, because they each have knowledge of their own ‘trade’ and appreciate the limits to their own abilities. By working together, sharing ideas and exchanging information, they’ve created a productive and effective environment in which the redevelopment has been able to prosper. And amazingly this relationship continues, currently three years on, with no sign of that ending soon. The community spirit and shared investment in what is clearly such an important part of their shared heritage, is something I found really inspiration and evocative.

Also particularly interesting, and in fact the intended main focus of the talk, was the museum’s use of social media to create and research new and interesting exhibitions. In this case Hanna referred to a Facebook exhibition, which successfully broadened the museum’s reach by presenting a topic of greater interest to people beyond the core group of visitors.

Hanna recalled how she had first been invited to a closed group on Facebook where people involved with the maritime industry, exchanged photos and stories of their experiences. I’m sure we are all part of a similar group, perhaps a school reunion group, or local history? Anyway, Hanna described her interest in watching this develop over time and the end result was a temporary exhibition. The Museum took just 14 of the thousands of images uploaded to the group, and displayed them, together with accompanying comments, in a temporary exhibition in the museum. The group was consulted throughout this process and was involved in, from what it sounds like, most decisions. It had the community element right at its heart and I just think it’s such a fantastic idea. Again, the museum is enacting the principle of shared authority and I just think a lot could, and should be learnt from this example and it's methods adopted by other museums.

Hanna speaks with a degree of pride about how this exhibition made marginal histories central to the narrative told by the museum, if only temporarily, and drew in a new audience demographic. We were told how usually objects are what survive from ships and therefore are displayed, not the stories of the people who served and sailed upon them; and in fact thinking of examples of ships I’ve visited, at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and the  S.S Great Britain, this is true. I can remember clearly some of the objects, but nothing particularly about the people. And so as you would expect, by displaying these stories, interest in the museum increased and people’s perceptions of the museum were dramatically altered.

I came away from this talk with two key phrases in my mind – community collaboration and shared authority and I just so impressed to hear how well the Åland Maritime Museum has invoked these principles. Hearing of how this one temporary exhibition has changed the museum’s outlook and opened up further opportunities for collaborative projects, including the collection of items and inclusion of photos and comments from Facebook in the archive, reinforced my belief in the importance of Public History and the emphasis that should be placed on community/visitor involvement.

Having been so UK-centric in my studies, it was really interesting to hear how the Public history philosophy is carried out in a European context and I think it would be really interesting to see some of the UK’s museums adopt some of these approaches and the resulting impact it might have on their appeal and level of visitor engagement.

Trip to the Åland Islands anyone?