Museum as a Medium of Collective Memory. The Case of Sarajevo

This article explores the relationships between memory politics and museums. It shows the institutionalisation of the past, which supports both the creation of historical narratives and the visibility of national identity. Analysing the Sarajevo museums dedicated to the 1992–1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the author shows how contemporary institutions have become carriers of collective memory and incubators of the national identity of Bosnian Muslims.

The Other in the space of cultural institutions. „Struggle” for accessibility – the case of the Museum of Cieszyn Silesia in Cieszyn

In the increasingly diversified world, openness to difference becomes a priority. This difference can be understood broadly. It may refer to people with foreign cultural experiences, with other cultural resources or with their shortage. It may also concern individuals or entire groups with special needs. Opening to the needs of such people and educating the society in this regard is one of the many tasks of cultural institutions. The need to make an institution more accessible is becoming a constantly growing challenge for its employees. The text addresses the problem of adapting cultural institutions to the legislative requirements introduced by the Act of 19th July 2019 on ensuring accessibility to people with special needs and the Act of 4th April 2019 on the digital accessibility of websites and mobile applications of public entities. This issue was discussed in reference to the research results obtained with the use of the case study method in the research conducted in the Museum of Cieszyn Silesia in Cieszyn. What was taken into account in those studies was architectural, communication-information and digital accessibility. The interviews conducted with museum employees were analysed.

The Exhibitions Be’eri (Haifa City Museum) and This is Not an Exhibition (The Palestinian Museum) as First Museum Responses to the Suffering and Trauma of War in Israel and Palestine

The article analyzes two exhibitions that appeared in the offer of two museums in Israel and Palestine as a response to the tragic chain of events in the region initiated by the terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023. Be’eri at the Haifa City Museum and This is Not an Exhibition at The Palestinian Museum seem controversial due to the fact that they comment on the tragic and tense situation in the region practically on an ongoing basis. The exhibition in Haifa was an attempt to transfer the journalistic story of the massacre in Kibbutz Be’eri to the museum, where in addition to photos of the crime scene, an attempt was made to reconstruct it in the exhibition halls using objects brought from the destroyed settlement. The Palestinian exhibition, on the other hand, focused on showing the vast cultural heritage threatened by the war in Gaza. To this end, around 280 works were displayed in the exhibition hall, which was also intended to resemble the landscape of war-torn Gaza. The described exhibitions are analyzed in terms of three potential functions: informational, political and commemorative-therapeutic, the performance of which is not among the basic tasks of museums. The article indicates specific means used by the creators of the discussed exhibitions to educate their audience about current events, build and support a specific political narrative, and try to include a therapeutic element. The text also attempts to compare both projects in terms of building an emotional and substantive message. The article also examines the media reception of the exhibitions, analyzing reviews and press reports, trying to verify the implementation of specific functions.