Books by Thomas Bloch Ravn

Endless rows of stone axe heads, display after display. Around 1900, a typical Danish museum would focus on finds, research and prehistory. But new thoughts were brewing. Visions of focusing on lives lived, and making museums for people, not about things. This shift gave birth to folk and open-air museums where the distant past no longer eclipsed human memory. The resulting clash: the capital vs the provinces, the National Museum vs the many new local museums. The debate goes on, but today’s angle is different. As Danes seek out cultural-history museums like never before, this success raises the eternal question: Where should museums head in the future? Perhaps we spy the contours of new clashes on the distant horizon.

Endeløse rækker af stenøkser. Montre efter montre. Det var virkeligheden på danske museer omkring år 1900, hvor fokus var på fund, forskning og forhistorie. Men det ville nytænkende museumsfolk lave om på. Nu skulle menneskers liv i centrum, og museer skulle være for nogen. Ikke blot om noget. Derfor så folke- og frilandsmuseer dagens lys, og den fjerne fortid var ikke længere vigtigere end den nære tid. Kampen stod også mellem hovedstaden og provinsen. Mellem Nationalmuseet og de mange nye museer. Men i dag er diskussionen en anden. Danskerne strømmer til de kulturhistoriske museer, og succesen rejser det evigt aktuelle spørgsmål: Hvor skal museerne hen i fremtiden? Så måske kan der anes nye kampe i museumshorisonten. Tag på guidet rundvisning i museernes historie med Thomas Bloch Ravn, historiker og direktør i Den Gamle By.

Endless rows of stone axe heads, display after display. Around 1900, a typical Danish museum would focus on finds, research and prehistory. But new thoughts were brewing. Visions of focusing on lives lived, and making museums for people, not about things. This shift gave birth to folk and open-air museums where the distant past no longer eclipsed human memory. The resulting clash: the capital vs the provinces, the National Museum vs the many new local museums. The debate goes on, but today’s angle is different. As Danes seek out cultural-history museums like never before, this success raises the eternal question: Where should museums head in the future? Perhaps we spy the contours of new clashes on the distant horizon. Take a guided tour of Danish museum history with Thomas Bloch Ravn, director of the open-air museum Den Gamle By.