This paper explores the private museum accompany by the collecting craze in contemporary China and examines their impact on public cultural practices. It argues that while much existing research has concentrated on revolutionary events or modern art collections, the emergence of private museums challenges traditional museum narratives and offers a new lens through which to understand the evolving political and social contexts. This study provides a new perspective for understanding the psychological and cultural motivations behind heritage collection, emphasising the importance of material cultural attributes in shaping an individual’s sense of self-empowerment. It not only sheds light on the practice of cultural relic collecting, but also has far-reaching implications for cultural inheritance and individual identity construction.
Zakopane woodcarving is perceived in a kind of suspension between ethnographic tradition (folk art) and artistic modernity. For almost 250 years now, the patriotic aspect of Podhale’s tangible culture has been an inseparable context of its evaluation. For the Polish people, Zakopane and the Tatra Mountains are a phenomenon which is permanently inscribed in the cultural heritage of their nation. Based on the contemporary state of research and current methodologies, the article aims to revise the methods of researching, interpreting and exhibiting Zakopane sculptures, both historical and contemporary.
In 1878, after the death of Vittorio Emanuele II, the idea of erecting a monument in Rome to commemorate his memory and symbolize “modernity” in the Eternal City was proposed, leading to extensive demolition activities. The Vittoriano became the witness of political and cultural change: from a monument erected to the memory of Vittorio Emanuele II to the Altare della Patria and shrine of the Unknown Soldier, eventually becoming a panoramic Belvedere after 2000. Particularly after the Second World War, a sort of damnatio memoriae of the Vittoriano developed, which found its clarification in a public trial organized in 1986. This loss of memory, which corresponds not only to a similar loss of “meaning”, was accompanied by what has been read as a real contempt for modern monuments.
La escultura de Jesús el Pobre que se conserva en la iglesia parroquial de San Pedro el Viejo es una de las imágenes más veneradas de Madrid. En este trabajo aportamos datos que confirman al escultor académico Antonio Primo como su autor en 1755, y explicamos la razón por la que su donante, doña Ana María Fernández de Córdoba, duquesa de Santisteban, exigió que fuera copia del Jesús de Medinaceli que guardaban los Trinitarios del Prado. Añadimos finalmente datos biográficos del escultor que fijan su edad en 23 años cuando hizo la imagen y el motivo por el que no la mencionó en sus numerosos memoriales dirigidos a la Academia.
History of the arts, Museums. Collectors and collecting
Maurício Coelho da Silva, Lucas George Wendt, Ana Maria Mielniczuk de Moura
et al.
Resumo Trata-se de uma pesquisa bibliográfica de caráter qualitativo que teve como objetivo discutir o Sistema de Recompensa Científico a partir das suas dimensões de avaliação, suas características e seus desafios à luz da Ciência Aberta. Seu processo metodológico se deu a partir da exploração de bases de dados em âmbito nacional e internacional, procedimentos bibliométricos e análise de conteúdo de 42 trabalhos. Os dados demonstraram que as dimensões mais significativas do Sistema de Recompensa em Ciência Aberta são a de Práticas de Ciência Aberta (92,8%) e a de Políticas de Avaliação em Ciência Aberta (71,4%). Verificou-se a inexistência de pesquisadores de referência sobre a temática, a qual começou a ganhar notoriedade na literatura científica recentemente. O compartilhamento de dados de pesquisa e a reprodutibilidade científica são as práticas de Ciência Aberta com mais receptividade pela comunidade científica e com maior reconhecimento pelo Sistema de Recompensa Científico. Como desafios, foram identificados a necessidade de produção de mais pesquisas baseadas em métricas que sustentem um sistema de recompensa e estudos que abordem a influência de fatores e fenômenos sociais nesse sistema, bem como que contemplem a realidade de países periféricos frente a um sistema baseado em práticas de Ciência Aberta.
Museums. Collectors and collecting, Bibliography. Library science. Information resources
La compleja cuestión del seguimiento de los depósitos temporales realizados por el Museo Nacional del Prado a lo largo
de su historia, el llamado «Prado disperso» (ahora «Prado extendido»), viene a enriquecerse con la localización de un retrato de Leopoldo O’Donnell por Raimundo de Madrazo (18411920), que en 1920 fue depositado en Tetuán en la Alta Comisaría de España en
Marruecos. El fin del protectorado español de Marruecos en 1956 y la confusión sobre la verdadera autoría de la obra —adjudicada
de forma recurrente a Federico de Madrazo— han sido las causas que han dificultado su correcta identificación, que culmina ahora
con su hallazgo en el Salón del Trono de la Comandancia General de Ceuta.
The Indo-West Pacific coral reef mantis shrimp genus genus, Gonodactylopsis Manning, 1969, was established for two Indo-West Pacific species: Gonodactylus herdmani Tattersall, 1906 (type species) described from the Gulf of Mannar, India; and Gonodactylus drepanophorus de Man, 1902, from Indonesia. A third species, Gonodactylopsis komodoensis Erdmann & Manning, 1998, was described from Komodo, Indonesia. Gonodactylopsis is revised herein based on type and other material of the three known species, and two new species are described based on recent collections from coral reefs: one from Macclesfield Bank, South China Sea, and the other from Fiji and Papua New Guinea. Reconsideration of all species of Gonodactylopsis revealed a probable synapomorphy of the genus that is unique in the Stomatopoda: the presence of membranous, partially de-chitinized posterior surfaces of the uropodal endopod and exopod distal article. All species of Gonodactylopsis are described and figured, and an identification key is provided.
Este artigo tem como objetivo analisar o uso e a popularidade da plataforma digital colaborativa Sci-Hub. Trata-se de uma pesquisa quali-quantitativa de característica classificada como exploratória e bibliográfica. A escolha da plataforma digital colaborativa Sci-Hub se deu em virtude de ela ser conhecida e bastante utilizada no ambiente acadêmico e pelas infrações aos direitos autorais, materializados em processos jurídicos movidos contra essa plataforma e sua criadora Alexandra Elbakyan. Por meio das ferramentas Simularweb e Google Trends, foi possível analisar os dados referentes ao uso da plataforma digital colaborativa Sci-Hub no mês de abril de 2021 e nos últimos seis meses (01/11/2020 a 30/04/2021), no mundo e no Brasil, comprovando, assim, que ela é uma ferramenta popular e usual, que soma números expressivos de acessos tanto em âmbito global quanto no país. Foi oportuno, por meio das análises, levantar dados sobre redes sociais e sitesque direcionam usuários para a plataforma, bem como os termos mais procurados e as áreas mais consultadas/buscadas na plataforma. Além disso, observou-se como os usuários procuram a plataforma, por meio de buscas orgânicas ou links patrocinados, mostrando e evidenciando a estrutura que essa possui e oferece aos seus usuários.
Diplomatics. Archives. Seals, Bibliography. Library science. Information resources
This work aims to show the reconstruction of a medieval era knife that was found in Flixborough, Lincolnshire (UK). Flixborough’s Anglo-Saxon cemetery has returned a total of 11 knives that can be dated between the 8th and the 10th century AD. The specimen discussed here is known as Knife 2165 and was found in context 3417 of the site. This knife is the smallest of the inlaid knives found in Flixborough...
Michael Kay, Abigail Harrison Moore, Graeme Gooday
Could country house museums be indispensable sites for learning about both science as well as history? Given current logistical constraints, would it be worthwhile for school teachers to arrange student visits to such places to learn about STEM subjects? At first sight such epitomes of British heritage do not appear to offer much to such audiences. However, recent research shows that some country houses were once key sites of technological innovation, especially in the Victorian invention of electric lighting. Our collaborative work with staff at Cragside, Lotherton Hall and Standen demonstrates their capacity and enthusiasm to use such insights to present more STEM-related content to visitors within the context of their existing historical offers. Drawing on the results of an AHRC-funded impact and engagement project, we show how co-produced stories of household electrification can supply fresh inter-disciplinary ways of engaging STEM audiences with the historic country house.
The creation of digital representations of museum collections making them accessible online is a current trend. This reality has led to the need to a better understanding of its users. This article presents the results of study amongst the users of the Museu Nacional de Machado de Castro (MNMC) digital collection. An online survey was conducted, active between the 1st and the 31st of December of 2014, and the 1st of March and the 15th of April of 2015, from which 63 answers were collected. The aim was to identify the users of the MNMC digital collection, their motivations and usage patterns, including the evaluation of their satisfaction regarding available content and functionalities, and identify areas of improvement. The findings present relevant data to better understand the MNMC digital collection users profile, and may guide future developments of digital museum collections platforms.
Drawing upon longitudinal research undertaken with Further Education students who visited an art exhibition, this article retheorises organised gallery learning. We argue that the significance of the gallery visit for students – and of their engagements with the exhibition and artworks – is elaborated and remediated over longer periods of time and through multiple ‘interfaces’. These include: the school or college; the gallery and the contingency of gallery events; the exhibition; internet websites, social media and mobile applications; the artwork and images of it; and an understanding of the self and other people (including the artist, teachers and gallery staff). Each of these has different possibilities that structure engagement, and sometimes interfaces ‘fail’ because of mundane contingencies or students’ dispositions. Also, interfaces don’t stand alone and need to be considered relationally for a more holistic and complex picture of ‘learning’ to emerge.
According to the World Bank, one out of every seven people in the world today is an internal or international, voluntary or involuntary migrant. Learning to live with diversity next door or across the globe is the challenge of the day. What role are contemporary museums playing in imparting cosmopolitan values and skills to their visitors? What helps explain how they present the nation in relation to the world? In this article, we use the case of the Peabody Essex Museum, in Salem, Massachusetts to explore these questions. In 1993, the Peabody Museum and the Essex Institute were poised to close. Despite their long histories and important collections, they were operating at the far frontier of the regional cultural map. In the ensuing years, the new PEM rewrote that cartography. By telling new global stories about very local objects, and by showcasing its global institutional roots, the museum dramatically transformed visitors’ experiences. It broadened and diversified the possible messages they might take away from their visits and sought to connect them to other times and places. Excavating pieces of Salem’s cultural armature enabled the PEM to display cosmopolitan ideas and to cultivate cosmopolitan skills while rescaling itself and its city in the process.
Key words: museums, cosmopolitanism, global, culture, scale
No sólo el Museo Arqueológico Nacional está de aniversario en 2017. También este pequeño museo local, el MASAT, situado en el Pico de San Francisco, en el Monte Trega de A Guarda (Pontevedra), celebra su centenario. Impulsada su creación por la Sociedad Pro Monte Santa Tecla para almacenar y mostrar los restos aparecidos en las primeras excavaciones efectuadas en la citania galaico-romana recibió, en 2015, alrededor de 55000 visitantes a quienes les ofrece piezas singulares como remates de oro de torques, objetos cerámicos, o una completa colección de esvásticas o de monedas romanas. El propio edificio diseñado por el prestigioso arquitecto Antonio Palacios y las espléndidas vistas sobre el paisaje marítimo-fluvial de la desembocadura del Miño en el Océano Atlántico, son valores añadidos a su interés arqueológico.
History of the arts, Museums. Collectors and collecting
This article describes the history of Chile’s national museums, focusing in particular on their exhibition of indigenous cultures. Three museums are considered: the National Museum of Natural History (originally the National Museum); the National Museum of Fine Arts; and the National Museum of History. Using museum catalogues, visitor’s guides and bulletins as sources, this research traces the role given to indigenousness in the museums’ exhibitions through time. Initially, the ‘Indian’ was presented as either part of the territory conquered by Chileans, or as not part of Chilean culture at all. By the twentieth century, however, a new narrative emerged which recognizes the indigenous people as the ‘pre-historic’ inhabitants of Chile. Most recently, a more complex narrative presents Chile as a blending of races and cultures. Overall, we see that today each museum continues to see nationhood as something that is monolithic, allowing little place for indigenous people beyond mestizaje (blending of ‘races’).
Key words: indigenous, exhibitions, Latin America, national identity
William 'Bill' Terrill is little-known of as a collector of minerals but his well-curated collection of British and Worldwide minerals preserved at Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales is an excellent example of why it is important to properly label and catalogue specimens. It is also a testament to his widow and youngest daughter that his collection is preserved and so too his brother, Bertie, who kept meticulous diaries of family events which would otherwise have been long forgotten. Remarkably there are very few examples of mineral collections assembled within Wales and this represents a fine example of late Victorian collecting. Research into the history behind William Terrill and his collection has revealed a fascinating set of stories including his role in the establishment of a geological society in Swansea and his work as curator of the mineral collection at the Royal Institution of South Wales.
This article examines the scientific and political background and the multiple changes in ownership of the Aboriginal artefacts from Australia collected by the German physical anthropologist Hermann Klaatsch. Originally, Klaatsch travelled to Australia in 1904 in search of the origins of humanity. However, the lack of evidence for the ‘Out of Australia’ theory and the requests by German Museums of Ethnology to collect artefacts for their institutions led to Klaatsch becoming a full-time collector of cultural artefacts, especially during his time in the Wet Tropics. He inscribed the artefacts and sent them to Germany in several shipments to various museums where they were later re-united, displayed and redistributed. Upon his return to Germany in 1907 Klaatsch was appointed professor of anthropology at Breslau University. He took there a portion of his artefact collection for his own teaching and study purposes. Due to political changes in central Europe after the Second World War, this collection was transferred to Warsaw, Poland, in 1953. New ownership insignia were applied while others were (partly) erased. Through these transformations the artefacts became encoded with a rich history and new meanings. A detailed study of Klaatsch’s historical documents allows cross-referencing of the artefacts to the original localities and circumstances of their acquisition. Thus, more than one hundred years after first being collected, the artefact transactions and property claims can be re-assessed.