WHAT SHOULD MILITARY MUSEUM LOOK LIKE

wolviex · 22nd May 2006, 11:47 AM

Dear All!
The question is

"What should military/weapon exhibition or museum look like?"

It's a risky question and I'm almost sure it may cause quite hot discussion here, while we discussed some museums problems before.
My question is an invitation to debate, which may help me to understand what are todays needs of museum guests, both - military/weapons collectors and lovers, and other people without proper knowledge on this field.
My question is provoked by the plans of my museum regarding to collection of arms. We've got circa 12000 objects, not everything is good enough, but I believe circa 3000-4000 military objects can be shown at once or from time to time as turnover. We want to show: few medieval objects (swords, stirrups, saddle, knives etc), Polish weapons 15th-19th century including many hussars weapons (armours, sabres, maces etc), many many sabres, pallashes, uniforms (mostly 19th c.), European edged and fire-arms, 20th c. uniforms and some arms (1st half of the cent.) and Oriental Arms: Turkish, Persian, Indian, Chinese, Malasian, and Japanese.
Please use your imagination and I believe you have your own experiences from other, new or old museums. Which one is the best for your eyes, what is good and bad, what are most common mistakes and best solutions. What should be illustration for military objects: paintings, etchings, graphics, furnitures and some decorative art to fill the exhibition space - that's for sure. What should visitors see on educational boards, what details should be shown.
Technically - in display-cases (some of the objects can't be show without it) or out, dark room with point light or bright rooms, realistic mannequins arranged in scenes (like in Leeds) or standing one by one without special composition, etc.
Wouldn't like to linger this preface. In this thread you can pour out all your pro and cons of todays museums, and your thoughts 'what it should be like'.
Best!
Michal

22nd May 2006, 11:47 AM	#1
wolviex Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Poland, Krakow Posts: 418	WHAT SHOULD MILITARY MUSEUM LOOK LIKE Dear All! The question is "What should military/weapon exhibition or museum look like?" It's a risky question and I'm almost sure it may cause quite hot discussion here, while we discussed some museums problems before. My question is an invitation to debate, which may help me to understand what are todays needs of museum guests, both - military/weapons collectors and lovers, and other people without proper knowledge on this field. My question is provoked by the plans of my museum regarding to collection of arms. We've got circa 12000 objects, not everything is good enough, but I believe circa 3000-4000 military objects can be shown at once or from time to time as turnover. We want to show: few medieval objects (swords, stirrups, saddle, knives etc), Polish weapons 15th-19th century including many hussars weapons (armours, sabres, maces etc), many many sabres, pallashes, uniforms (mostly 19th c.), European edged and fire-arms, 20th c. uniforms and some arms (1st half of the cent.) and Oriental Arms: Turkish, Persian, Indian, Chinese, Malasian, and Japanese. Please use your imagination and I believe you have your own experiences from other, new or old museums. Which one is the best for your eyes, what is good and bad, what are most common mistakes and best solutions. What should be illustration for military objects: paintings, etchings, graphics, furnitures and some decorative art to fill the exhibition space - that's for sure. What should visitors see on educational boards, what details should be shown. Technically - in display-cases (some of the objects can't be show without it) or out, dark room with point light or bright rooms, realistic mannequins arranged in scenes (like in Leeds) or standing one by one without special composition, etc. Wouldn't like to linger this preface. In this thread you can pour out all your pro and cons of todays museums, and your thoughts 'what it should be like'. Best! Michal