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An 'open air museum' is a distinct type of museum exhibiting its collections out-of-doors. The first open air museums were established in Scandinavia towards the end of the nineteenth century, and the concept soon spread throughout Europe and North America. Open air museums are variously known as 'Skansen', 'Living Farm Museums', 'living museums' and 'folk museums'. A more recent but related idea is realized in the Ecomuseum, which originated in France. A comprehensive history of the open air museum as idea and institution can be found in the Swedish museologist Sten Rentzhogs book "Open air museums. The history and future of a visionary idea", 2007.

Contents

Definition

European origins

North American interpretation

Selected list of open air and living museums

Living transportation museums

Ecological and environmental living museums

Notes

See also

External links

Definition

The International Council of Museums (ICOM) defines a museum as "a non-profit making, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study, education and enjoyment, the ''tangible and intangible'' evidence of people and their environment." ^[1] Most open air museums specialize in the collection and re-erection of old buildings at large out-door sites, usually in settings of re-created landscapes of the past. Most of them may therefore justly be described as building museums. Open air museums tended to be located originally in regions where wooden architecture prevailed, as wooden structures may be trans-located without substantial loss of authenticity.

European origins

The earliest open air museum appeared in Scandinavia in the late 19th century. One reason may be the ancient tradition of moving and re-erecting wooden buildings, based on the local log building technique. The idea was a predictable further development of the by then well-established in-door type of museum. In order to collect and display whole buildings, it would have to be done outdoors. Precursors of open air museums were the "exotic" pavilions, "antique" temples, "ancient ruins" and "peasant cottages" to be found in 18th century landscape parks. Later precursors were the real or constructed peasant cottages shown at the international exhibitions of the mid- to-late 19th century.
The world's first open air museum was King Oscar II's collection near Oslo in Norway, opened in 1881. The original plans comprised 8 or 10 buildings intended to show the evolution of traditional Norwegian building types since the middle ages. Only 5 were realized before the king lost interest because of the expenses involved. The royal open air museum was later incorporated into the Norsk Folkemuseum, established on an adjacent property in the 1890es. Influenced by a visit to the Norwegian open air museum, Artur Hazelius in 1891 founded the famous Skansen in Stockholm, which became the model for subsequent open air museums in Northern and Eastern Europe, and eventually in other parts of the world (subsequently, the name "skansen" has also been used as a noun to refer to other open-air museums and collections of historic structures, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe.
Around 1900, national and regional open air museums were established in all Scandinavian countries, notably in Norway and Sweden.
More recently, modern social history museums such as the Black Country Museum in England and Westville in Georgia in the United States were created, reflecting the trend towards learning the history of everyday living, rather than wars and monarchs.

North American interpretation

The North American open air museum, more commonly called the living museum, had a different, slightly later origin than the European, and the visitor experience is different. The first was Henry Ford's Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan (1928), where Ford intended his collection to be "a pocket edition of America" ^[2]. But it was Colonial Williamsburg (opened in 1934) and Conner Prairie which have had a greater influence on museum development in North America. It influenced such projects through the continent as Mystic Seaport, Plimoth Plantation, and Fortress Louisbourg. What tends to differentiate the North American from the European model is the approach to interpretation. In Europe, the tendency is to usually, but not always, focus on the building. In North America, the open air museums invariably include interpreters who dress in period costume and conduct period crafts and everyday work.^[3] The living museum is therefore viewed as an attempt to recreate to the fullest extent conditions of a culture, natural environment or historical period. The objective is total immersion, using exhibits so that visitors can experience the specific culture, environment or historical period using all the physical senses. Performance and historiographic practices at American living museums have been critiqued in the past several years by scholars in anthropology and theatre for creating false senses of authenticity and accuracy, and for neglecting to bear witness to some of the darker aspects of the American past (e.g., slavery and other forms of injustice) ^[4].

Selected list of open air and living museums

===Europe===


★ A (in German)

★ 'Amberley Working Museum', Amberley, West Sussex, England

★ 'Beamish, North of England Open Air Museum', Beamish, County Durham, England

★ 'Black Country Living Museum', Dudley, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England

★ 'Blists Hill Victorian Town', Telford, Shropshire, England

★ 'Cogges Manor Farm Museum', Witney, Oxfordshire, England

★ 'Drvengrad' (''Mećavnik, Küstendorf''), Mokra Gora (Zlatibor), Serbia

★ 'Etar Architectural-Ethnographic Complex', Gabrovo, Bulgaria

★ 'Hanácký skanzen' (Skanzen of the Haná Region), Příkazy, Czech Republic

★ 'Little Woodham', Gosport, Hampshire, England

★ 'Museum lidových staveb' (Folk Buildings Museum), Kouřim, Czech Republic

★ 'Nederlands Openluchtmuseum', Arnhem, The Netherlands

★ 'The Old Town', Aarhus, Denmark

★ 'Open-Air Museum Bokrijk', Belgium, Flanders, Limburg, Genk

★ 'Orvelte', The Netherlands

★ 'Polabské národopisné muzeum' (Ethnographic Museum of the region of Polabí), Přerov nad Labem, Czech Republic - the oldest skansen in Central and Eastern Europe

★ 'Jamtli', Östersund, Sweden

★ 'Skansen', Stockholm, Sweden

★ 'Norsk Folkemuseum', Oslo, Norway

★ 'Maihaugen', Lillehammer, Norway

★ 'Roscheider Hof ', Germany

★ 'Mödlareuth', Germany

★ 'Staro selo' (''Old Village'' open air museum), Sirogojno (Zlatibor), Serbia

★ 'Valašské národopisné muzeum' (Valachian Ethnographic Museum), Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, Czech Republic

★ 'Zuiderzeemuseum], Enkhuizen, The Netherlands
===Canada===

★ 'Barkerville, British Columbia'

★ 'Black Creek Pioneer Village', Toronto, Ontario

★ 'Fort Henry, Ontario'

★ 'Fort Edmonton', Edmonton, Alberta

★ 'Fort Langley National Historic Site', Fort Langley, British Columbia

★ 'Fortress Louisbourg', Louisbourg, Nova Scotia

★ 'Fort William Historical Park', Thunder Bay, Ontario

★ 'Sainte-Marie among the Hurons', Midland, Ontario

★ 'Upper Canada Village', Morrisburg, Ontario

★ 'Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village', Alberta

★ 'Heritage Park Historical Village', Calgary, Alberta

★ 'Burnaby Historical Village', Burnaby, British Columbia
===United States===

★ 'Allaire Village', (New Jersey)

★ 'Claude Moore Colonial Farm', McLean, Virginia

★ 'Colonial Williamsburg', Williamsburg, Virginia

★ 'Conner Prairie', Fishers, Indiana

★ 'Fairplay, Colorado'.

★ 'Fort Snelling', Minneapolis, Minnesota

★ 'Frontier Culture Museum', Staunton, Virginia

★ 'Hale Farm & Village', Bath, Ohio

★ 'Greenfield Village', Dearborn, Michigan

★ 'Jamestown Settlement', Jamestown, Virginia

★ 'Jerusalem Mill', Kingsville, Maryland

★ 'Little Norway', Blue Mounds, Wisconsin

★ 'National Colonial Farm', Accokeek, Maryland

★ 'Lincoln's New Salem', Menard County, Illinois

★ 'Ohio Village', Columbus, Ohio

★ 'Old Bethpage Village Restoration', Old Bethpage, New York

★ 'Old Sturbridge Village', Sturbridge, Massachusetts

★ 'Old World Wisconsin'

★ 'Oliver Miller Homestead', South Park Township, Pennsylvania

★ 'Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill' Mercer County, Kentucky

★ 'Plimoth Plantation', Plymouth, Massachusetts

★ 'Pioneer Living History Village', Phoenix, Arizona

★ 'Polynesian Cultural Center', Lā'ie, Hawai'i, United States

★ 'Strawbery Banke', Portsmouth, New Hampshire

★ 'San Dieguito Heritage Museum, Encinitas, California

★ 'Westville' Lumpkin, Georgia

★ 'Mystic Seaport' Mystic, Connecticut

Living transportation museums

★ 'Edaville Railroad' in South Carver, Massachusetts (heritage railway)

★ 'Steamtown National Historic Site' in Scranton, Pennsylvania (heritage railway)

★ 'Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome' in Rhinebeck, New York (aviation museum)

★ 'Shuttleworth Collection' in Bedfordshire, England (aviation museum)

★ 'Seashore Trolley Museum' in Kennebunkport, Maine (heritage railway)

Ecological and environmental living museums

Some ecological living museums are zoos

★ 'California Living Museum', Bakersfield, California, United States

★ 'Virginia Living Museum', Newport News, Virginia, United States

★ 'Nonsuch Island' Living Museum, Bermuda

Notes

1. http://icom.museum/statutes.html#2 ICOM Statutes
2. Kenneth Hudson, ''Museums of Influence'', Cambridge University Press, 1987. p. 153
3. Ibid, p. 154
4. Scott Magelssen, ''Living History Museums: Undoing History Through Performance'', Scarecrow Press, 2007

See also

★ Historical reenactment

★ List of tourist attractions providing reenactment

External links

★ Revista Digital Nueva Museologia Latin American Teory

★ European Open-air Museums An extensive list of Open-air museums in Europe.

★ Open-Air Museum Bokrijk Leading open-air museum of Belgium, Flanders.

★ Přerov nad Labem open air museum - photo gallery

★ Valachian Ethnographic Museum in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, Czech Republic

★ Hjerl Hede- An open-air museum in Denmark showing life from the early days until about 100 years ago.

★ The Old Town (Den Gamle By)- An open-air museum in Denmark showing urban life.

★ Jamtli - One of Swedens largest and oldest regional open-air museums, in Östersund.