Skip Navigation


Journal of the History of Collections Advance Access originally published online on January 4, 2008
Journal of the History of Collections 2008 20(1):113-126; doi:10.1093/jhc/fhm034
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
20/1/113    most recent
fhm034v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Nys, L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

Aspirations to life

Pleas for new forms of display in Belgian museums around 1900

Liesbet Nys


  Abstract

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the volume of criticism of public museums in Belgium increased. As a result of their uninspiring design, museums were repeatedly described as graveyards that held little attraction for the public. According to reformers, new forms of presentation, with the objects arranged in context, would transform museums into living institutions, with much more appeal. In this article, the debate concerning the novel arrangements proposed for Belgian museums is examined, using five case-studies relating to various types of collection. This discourse, which is strikingly uniform in its treatment of the different kinds of museums, reveals not only the changing expectations of public museums around the turn of the century but also the resistance evoked by attempts to reform the museum system in Belgium.

Address for correspondence Liesbet Nys, K.U.Leuven, Cultural History since 1750 Research Group, Blijde-Inkomststraat 21/05, B-3000, Leuven, Belgium. Liesbet.Nys{at}arts.kuleuven.be


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.