retour      
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
    Culture and the environment   1
Protection of Nature and Museums of Natural History
(From Vol. VI, n°3, 1953, pp. 150-3)
            
              2
Role of museums of art and of human and social sciences
(From Vol. XXV, n°1/2, 1973, pp. 26-44)
                                                                                         3
Cultural history museums and human ecology - a challenge to integration
(From vol. XL, n°158, 1988, pp. 213-16)
          
  Environmental items today occupy the top of international agendas. And, over the last two decades, two landmark events have epitomized the will to act at a global level. They are the publication in 1983 of the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development and the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992;
Awareness of the importance of the natural environment has increased gradually over the last fifty years, helped by cultural studies and better understanding of the interactions between culture and nature. The museum was one of the actors and vectors in this process. To begin with, the science and natural history and, then, technology museums demonstrated the importance of nature in our everyday lives. The concern to popularize the biological sciences, which reflected the desire to make the museum a prime educational tool, contributed to the renewal of the museographic discourse. The museographic techniques were adapted to the different types of knowledge used in the study of nature. During the 1960s, the stronger and more generalized pressure of industry on the environment, and the endangerment of cultural heritage led to public opinion becoming sensitive and watchful with regard to the fragility of humanity's creations and living conditions. The resulting study and monitoring of the environment, which generally meant trying to understand and regulate the anthropic processes, implied, in the restricted context of the museum, the control of the factors leading to the degradation of the collections (e.g. humidity and light rays). Little by little, environmental concerns spread from the exclusive field of physical science to that of cultural studies. The 1980s brought proof of the complementarity existing between the human, social and environmental sciences, illustrated in museography by the presentation of ecological sets and contextualization of objects. The dialogue which became established between culture and the natural environment lead to the enhancement of culture. New categories of property were created, including that of cultural landscape which was included in the World Heritage Convention in 1992. The last years of the twentieth century witnessed the establishment of parallels between global cultural and environmental systems. Thus, the defence of biodiversity is now paralleled by respect for cultural diversity. And both are indissociable in the search for an equitable and sustainable human development, and a fundamental orientation to be given to new ambitious museographic projects.


1. An example of such an orientation is the future Musée des Confluences (Lyon, France).


 
       
  1-5. American Museum of Natural History, New York
Man and the land, series of 5 dioramas showing the same landscape in New York State, at various stages of its evolution
   1.
Village of the Algonquin Indians in the primeval forest 		  2.
1790 : European settlement		   3.
1840 : The high tide of intensive exploitation		   4.
1870 : Soil exhausted, migration westward		  

5.
1950 : Only land which yields a profit is cultivated

   6.
Niederösterreichisches Landesmuseum, Wien :
Room illustrating
problems connected with the protection and the exploitation of nature 		  7.
Musée d'histoire naturelle de Fribourg : Display of the protection of nature: Swiss National Park, usefulness of birds, protection of plants		   8.
Natural History Museum of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Letters (Muzuem Przyrodnicze Polskiej Akademji Umiejetnosci), Cracow. Nature protection: Tatra-Mountains National Park, a diorama		   9.
Natural History Museum of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Letters (Muzuem Przyrodnicze Polskiej Akademji Umiejetnosci), Cracow. Nature protection: Bialowieza Virgin Forest National Park, a diorama		   10.
Natural History Museum of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Letters (Muzuem Przyrodnicze Polskiej Akademji Umiejetnosci), Cracow. Nature protection: a map of extinct and perishing fauna and flora		  

 

Painting as illustrative of the environment
Even now it frequently happens that paintings by minor artists are not considered for acquisition or are put out of sight in the art museum reserves. When they form part of the collection of other kinds of museums, they may nevertheless play an important role, particularly in so far as they depict the contemporary environment.



   1.
Musée des Arts et Traditions Populaires, Paris
Workers belonging to an organisation known as that of the Tour de France are giving a ceremonial send-off to one of their comrades as he leaves on another stage of the Tour. One of the workers and the departing companion are drinking together according to the ritual of the brotherhood. The weeping mistress of the man about to leave can be seen. Buildings, scenes at the port and boats are accurately depicted. Here is a whole human environment, now vanished, portrayed by a folk artist. Dated 1816, signed Leclair.
   2.
Musée du Vin de Bourgogne, Beaune.
Until nearly the end of the nineteenth century, vines in the vineyards of Beaune in Burgundy were tied to vertical supports (échalas). At the onset of winter, the vine-grower would pull up these props and arrange them in piles, as can be seen in this painting depicting a natural scene modified by man, which has not been seen for nearly a century. Dated 1883, signed Félix Naigeon.
   Biskupin: exploration and ecological presentation of a Polish archaeological site. This site was discovered by a schoolmaster in 1933 and has been the scene of numerous excavations both before and since the war. The findings have been considerable and have shed new light particularly on the origin of the proto-Slavic civilisation at the beginning of the Iron age Age and on the origins of the Polish State during the early Middle Ages. A national archaeological park has been laid out, in which part of the first Iron Age settlement has been reconstituted, and there is a site museum. The original remains have been left under water for conservation reasons. The water can be drained away for a limited period so that the remains can be studied.
   3.
Reconstituted street and house in the first settlement.		   4.
Reconstructed palisade, earthworks and gateway of the first settlement (550-400 B.C.)		   5.
Site museum: Reconstituted interior of a house in the first settlement		   6.
Site museum: exhibition of excavated objects and documentary material 		 

The tropical museum, Amsterdam: a way of studying the people of the tropics, seen in their economic, social and cultural environment and with regard to their heritage and their development. The Tropical Museum is a branch of the Royal Tropical Institution (Koninklijk Institut voor de Tropen) in Amsterdam, which is a co-operative research, training and educational organisation. It puts constantly changing exhibitions dealing with various regions and themes, arranges programmes of participation and creative activity and prepares travelling exhibitions and kits. With the help of a demonstrator, some visitors to the museum try their hand at the gamelang, which provides the musical accompaniment to the Indonesian shadow theatre.


   7.
Children being invited by a museum demonstrator to try playing the gamelang		   8.
Javanese gamelang being demonstrated to children		   Expression of the social environment with the aid of a three-dimensional model. Ethnological and natural science museums generally use photographs together with objects, or else dioramas, to portray the social environment. Three-dimensional sociological models are as yet rarely used.
Museum of Natural History, New York.
   9.
Three-dimensional sociological model showing the organisation of society in Africa, standing at each entrance to the Hall of Man in Africa. Rods and signs in a variety of shapes and colours show how, in theory, in any given African Nation, the tribal, the clan, lineage and family systems interlink according to sex and according to individuals living or dead.		   The Cévenol Museum: a natural and human environment undergoing rapid change, shown in a multidisciplinary museum of modest proportions at the gateway to the Cévennes National Park.
The Cévenol Museum was set up in 1963 by the small town of Le Vigan (Gard, France); it is housed in an old silk-spinning mill, dating from the end of the eighteenth century, adjoining a former Benedictine monastery. Is has be carrying out its programme on the ecology of the Cévennes since 1970, with the assistance of the National Park.

   10.
Terrace farming in the Cévennes: one aspect of the natural environment as modified by man, a traditional feature of the Cévenne but now disappearing. Actual examples of this will be observed during ecological excursions organised in the Cévennes and Causse region for young people of the district and tourists. On example can be seen from one of the museum's terraces. A model of this type of farming will be displayed at the Cévenol Museum, in one of the rooms dealing with the National Park.		   11.
One of the museum building. In the foreground is the twelfth-century bridge, which can also be seen from one of the museum's terraces.		   12.
Abandoned Cévennes farmhouse restored by volunteers from the Association of the compagnons du Cap, using traditional techniques and material as recommended by the National Park. It is now used as a shelter for hikers. A view of it will be on display at the Cévenol Museum in one of the rooms devoted to the National Park. The Museum which stands beside the National Park, intends to encourage the maintenance or careful restoration of rural buildings that have fallen into disuse as a result of the industrial revolution and which could be converted into hikers' shelters, cultural centres and holidays homes under a properly directed cultural tourism policy. 		  13.
"Defence against Wolves" and "The Pig" ; two themes from the ethnography room 		  14.
Silkworm cocoons on branches of heather; part of the "silkworm cultivation" display in the ethnography room 		  15.
Hearth of the family room in a country dwelling. Cévennes, early twentieth century: diorama 		  16.
Loom for the weaving silk stockings, part of the "silk industry" display in the ethnography room. This machine is an article used in a regional industry, which flourished from the nineteenth century onwards. 		  17.
Neolithic axe-heads discovered in the Causse de Blandas: part of the display in the history room		   18.
Entrance to the room containing material on André Chanson, a contemporary writer born in the Cévennes 		  The Bou Saâda ecomuseum: a medium-size project in an oasis of the Algerian Sahara. A French orientalist Etienne Dinet, painted the people and the landscapes of Bou Saâda about the beginning of the twentieth century. He lived there and became a convert to Islam. He is buried there in a tomb, which looks out over the desert. A museum dedicated to this painter is to be set up in the oasis. At present, it is expected that the museum will take the form of an ecomuseum based on Algerian ideas with the following programme: - In a building to be specially constructed Algerian and Saharan in style, there will be a joint exhibition of the life and the artistic and literary work of Etienne Dinet, arranged in chronological order - In the same buildings there will be an exhibition of the natural and human history of Bou Saâda, from geological times to the present day, in three successive periods : before, during and since the time of Etienne Dinet - Near this building, where the oasis met the desert, the house, garden and tomb of Etienne Dinet will be preserved; and an amphitheatre, cut out of the rock, will be used as a meeting-place and place of entertainment for the people of Bou Saâda and their guests; - Throughout the oasis and its surroundings there will be a network of paths leading to representative monuments, districts, and areas of both natural and man-made beauty. Generally speaking, every effort will be made to ensure that the people of Bou Saâda feel that the ecomuseum is their affair, by representing the artistic heritage of the town and its development, giving young people a part to play in preservation of examples of traditional architecture, promoting a new style of architecture, based on regional tradition, and encouraging cultural tourism of a high standard, which will be profitable to Bou Saâda.
   19.
Position of Bou Saâda (Algeria)		   20.
Woman of Bou Saâda. Painting signed Etienne Dinet		   21.
Bou Saâda : the oasis on the edge of the wadi, with rocky hills on the horizon		   22.
Sand rose : gypsum crystals, found particularly in the desert around Bou Saâda		   23.
Pistol belonging to Abdel Kader (c. 1808-1883), a prominent figure in the Algerian Resistance, who lived for a while at Bou Saâda 		  24.
Etienne Dinet's house and tomb, Bou Saâda, where the oasis meets the desert		   25.
A working-class café in the town of Bou Saâda		   26.
Mosque of the Palm tree, eleventh century : entrance passage, Bou Saâda		   27.
Interior of the Mosque of the Palm Tree, Bou Saâda		   28.
Schools building under construction, Bou Saâda 		  29.
Façade of the El Harmel Mosque, early twentieth century, Bou Saâda 		 

30.
The tomb of Etienne Dinet, Bou Saâda

  31.
Doorway of the El Harmel Mosque, Bou Saâda		       1.
Open-air museums offer many possibilities of spreading knowledge about ecology, thanks in particular to the living beings who inhabit them. 		  2.
A view of a Skansen Museum in Stockholm Stensjö (Smaland)in 1978. Cultural history museums should cover the historical development of the landscape from the ecological point of view.