Aspirations to life: Pleas for new forms of display in Belgian museums around 1900

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, wh... Mehr ...