The Declaration Of Universal Museums

In the last decades, the repatriation of art and cultural heritage has become a controversial issue. This issue has received great attention from the public, international law and the press. Should cultural object taken by a country or nation remain with that country or should it repatriated? Art repatriation refers to the returning of cultural artifact to their original owners. (Roehrenbeck,2010). Cultural treasures represent the civilization of a nation or group of people which reflect the religions, values and ideologies. (Zhong,2014)

This article provides information concerning: memories that society wants to acknowledge and pass on to future generations; the manner in which those memories are represented; the responsibility that society has to fully represent aspects of history while also brining into questions the unwillingness to recognise and respect different conceptions of history and how this can diminish the potential that museums have to advance cross-cultural understanding.

In the article, Conspicuous Consumption by Melanie Townsend, she talks about how, as a society, we have developed a compulsive need towards accumulating collections and material items without any regard for the repercussions of our actions. Museums are caught between keeping relevant in today’s changing global environment and the need to protect, preserve and be the keeper of public collections in a way that upholds their mandate. One of the points that I found most interesting was about the Glenbow Museum and Smithsonian actively linking their collections. However, it was also pointed out that even though the Glenbow has been a leader in beginning repatriation, they then turned around and hosted an exhibition that conflicts with the good things

“The Restitution of Nazi-Looted Art and Other Cultural Property: Have We Gone Too Far or Not Far Enough?” written by Lawrence M. Kaye, is an academic journal found on Academic Search Premier: EBSCO. This journal was published by New German Critique on February 2017. The keywords led to finding this journal was “Nazi art”.

As you walk through a museum and you look at at the different cultures you are able to experience all types of things. ”Some artifacts have been in museums for decades or even centuries and now some countries want them back” (passage 1 para 2). Egypt, Greece, and Rome are countries that have really cool histories, if their relicts are stuffed in their museums than people can’t enjoy their stories. You can try to return the artifacts but some might be neglected. “Some scientists generally supported the law in which countries that find artifacts within their borders receive

The return of the Parthenon Marbles is not the first case of a museum returning artworks to their country of origin; in fact the Wright Brothers’ aircraft and the Ethiopian Manuscripts are a few which have been returned (6). The side for returning the sculptures argues that the return of these objects did not disrupt or change big museums (6). It is not a matter of preserving and keeping big museums the center of the world, it is a matter of ethics and giving countries what is rightfully theirs. The opposing side argues that if the Parthenon Marbles were removed from the British Museum, museums all over the world would be forced to return other artworks from where they originated (5). They argue that the concept of a museum, which means collecting object and artworks from different locations, would be lost

The main idea I intend to discuss in this paper is how the conception of the deaccession process in the United States museums is completely different from the museums in my home country, Egypt. Because of the majority of the American museums are nonprofit organizations, the deaccession considers a basic process in the collection management of any museum in America. Otherwise, Egypt misses the nonprofit organization sector. It has only two types of museums. The main and common type is the governmental museums which direct by the Egyptian government while the second type of the museums is the private galleries which belong to the different artists and the public persons and concern on the personal holdings.

As a child, it can be difficult to see the weaknesses of a museum; the inaccuracies in facts, clothing, manners, it is not something that one really cares for. However, it can be a dangerous choice for a museum to stay the same, for much like when one fondly remembers a television show from their childhood only to re-watch it ten years later and discover that it was rather ridiculous, when someone returns to a poorly developed museum, there will be a wave of disappointment when it does not meet their expectations. If a museum wishes to succeed and survive, they need to adapt and evolve in order to create the ideal environment for their visitors.

I love the idea of a science and industry museum. I have yet to visit one however, I can imagine the experience is awe-inspiring.

Museums are important because they elevate prestige of nation. Museums are a way to link objects and culture. This chapter brought up an interesting topic which is that of globalization of museums or travelling exhibitions. People are interested in learning about other cultures so this means having museum based on culture outside their own nations are increasing, for example having a Japanese museum in America or vice versa. This shows the globalization and fascination that society has in learning about diverse cultures that differ from their own, this also represents more employment opportunities for anthropologists who decide to work in

Contemporary museums and galleries often enlist the aid of guest curators for the creation of exhibitions because of their specific artistic insights and ability to bring together complementary people and projects. Hans Ulrich Obrist (2014) talks of curation today as an important job when it comes to creating shows that go beyond representing facts and knowledge. It has become a means for producing great experiences for people, and not only the audiences who visit these events. Artists involved can benefit from interactions with a curator they work with that understands their needs and can successfully work with them. Existing notions of curation include making judgements and creative decisions, and being a part of several areas that feed into public establishments such as galleries, including the marketing and management of events, and use of them for the purposes of education and even conservation (Arnold, 2015). This is much more involved in comparison to some history of display and earlier precursors to galleries and museums (which are important to even briefly consider as they help to inform the present state of these institutions). In ‘The history of museums’, Lewis (2015) discusses how there has, for centuries, been a tendency for humans to collect and question pieces of the world around them, and that this apparently universal need has long held religious, economic, and cultural connections depending on time and

A question that often arises when walking down a well occupied hallway of a museum is, “Who found this piece of history?”, or “How did it get here?” The answers to these questions still leave historians, archaeologists, art collectors and curators divided; whether their work leaves their moral conscience intact or brings them to realization that, in fact, these items were taken from their “rightful owners.” Ideally, the art belongs to its country of origin whether it is owned by the government or the individual. However, there are numerous circumstances that prevent this from playing out, such as war, reassigning borders of a country, and change in governmental policies and so on.

In an era of fast-paced social transformations, museums as social institutions are faced with more challenges than ever before. New cultural policy, economic pattern shift, technological innovation and other factors are all putting the pressure on. Management therefore becomes extremely vital to museums as to all industries, and at the core of it lies the issue of forward planning. Forward planning, of which Stuart Davies has made a definition (1996,7), is a process that can guide museums through the difficult times, producing better services and greater efficiency. As the product of this process, a forward plan then should be able to help museums in sticking to their set goals, monitoring the fulfillment of schedule and continuing with strategic thinking. However, having a written document does not necessarily guarantee museums a secure future. Though there are no rules that must be complied with in the composition, there are indeed standards relating to the nature of museum management involved and in need of appropriate address.

It means knowing exactly what your institution stands for, how we want to distinguish who we are, how do we want to deliver the very best kind of result, cost effectively to the constituents that we serve. In that sense, competitiveness is really important. It advances distinctiveness, when it is done well, in its control.

Every museum has an object that has a story to tell to the visitors. Collecting institutions will often spend more time, energy, and money caring for the objects that visitors do not see than the institutions spend on the public exhibits. (Moses, 1) These objects, whether displayed in exhibits or in storage hidden from the public view, are instilled with meaning, as the objects “tell us who we are as individuals and as a society” and “connect us with our past.” (Moses, 2) However, while collecting institutions, whether big or small, can present and collect objects that resemble and define who we are as a society, institutions will constantly face internal and external struggles that will define how an institution not only presents the