Description
The transfer of the open-air museum from Scandinavia to the NetherlandsIn this paper I will demonstrate how nationalism in the long nineteenth century affected agents in their aim to transfer the concept of open-air museum in Scandinavia to the Netherlands. Various conferences on the topic were organised, for example the 1874 Congrès International d’ Anthropologie et d’ Archéologie préhistorique in Stockholm, where J.K.W. Quarles van Ufford (1818-1902) was one of the 700 participants. Van Ufford was impressed by Artur Hazelius’ Skandinavisk-etnografiska samlingen (later the open-air museum Skansen) and wrote in his travelogue: “Who will stand up as the Dutch Artur Hazelius?”.
Other mediators who paved the way for the transfer of the open-air museum, were Jan Ligthart (1859-1916) and Henri Logeman (1862-1936). Ligthart visited Skansen and wrote articles on Hazelius and Skansen in Dutch pedagogical journals. Henri Logeman, professor in Ghent and Ibsen specialist, visited Skansen in 1902. Logeman stated that Hazelius and Henrik Ibsen had the same thoughts about educating the people. They regarded the transmission of knowledge of the own nation’s history as very important. Open-air museums could be suitable instruments in this transfer process. Logeman’s article on open-air museums in 1909 inspired a.o. Jan Kalf (1873-1954) and Guust van Erven Dorens (1872-1960). In 1912 the Dutch Open Air Museum Association was founded.
After the foundation three Grand Tours to Scandinavia were made in 1912-13 by Frederic Adolph Hoefer (1850-1938), Van Erven Dorens and Dirk Jan van der Ven (1891-1973). They presented different views on the main tasks of the open-air museums: cultural transfer of materialized history or enable research? Exhibitions for a broad public or mainly material for scholars? Should the focus be on collected material (showing) of the past or on representation of the past (storytelling)?
In the conclusion I will summarize the influence of nationalism on agents in the cultural transfer process of the open-air museum.
Period | 11-May-2022 |
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Event title | Museums as Spaces of Cultural Translation and Transfer |
Event type | Conference |
Location | Tartu, EstoniaShow on map |
Degree of Recognition | International |
Keywords
- Cultural Transfer
- Open-air museums
- Scandinavia
- Netherlands