C U LT U R E A N D D E V E LO P M E N T • N o 8 • Y E A R 2 0 1 2

OTHER CASES

The museum evolution

and its adaptation
Sachie Hernández
UNESCO Consultant

Cuban National
Museum
of Fine Arts
“(…) The notion of museum is associated with
man’s identification with its culture and the
acknowledgement of the testimonial value of
certain evidences as heritage (…)” 1
 Sachie Hernández • The museum evolution and its adaptation 39

Museiom and Pinakothéke were of the French landmark, the first by the end of the 19th Century,
the names given by the Greeks public museum was conceived at materialized in two trends: Rus-
and the Egyptians to the first the former Louvre Royal Palace. kinian Gothic2 and the integra-
spaces intended for the purpose of In 1851, the International Trade tion of French Renaissance and
gathering Mankind’s knowledge. Fair was held in London at the Baroque3.
During the 3rd century B.C., newly built Crystal Palace, thus
Ptolomeo Filadelfo built a group a cycle of massive attendance to In Latin America, the first mu-
of buildings in Alexandria to be contests, fairs, exhibitions and seum constructions were also
used for different purposes such museums began. classicist and eclectic, and though
as library, amphitheater, obser- they may seem imitations of the
vatory, study and work halls, In that period, museums were European models, they were
botanical garden, and zoological disparate in style and quite actually marked by the variation
collection, in order to preserve diverse in terms of their content that such models had already
and exhibit, study and research
what man had till then pro-
duced and began to accumulate
in terms of literature, scientific
and philosophical discoveries,
natural species, and arts.

Said facilities are the oldest an-

tecedent of what would later be-
come the traditional nineteen-
century academies and temples,
but also of what we know today
as university museums, tech-
nology and science museums,
and contemporary museums
and cultural centers with di-
verse and integrated functions,
programs and services.

Interest in ancient civilizations,

acknowledgement to artists and
the creation of private collections,
particularly by the Church and
royal emporia, were the basic
conditions during the Renais-
sance period for museums to
become a visible institution.
While the architectural image
of these buildings followed the
classicism style, the first mu-
seums proposed a sequential National Gallery in
vision of the art works and their or museology theme, however Berlin undergone in North America.
programs were quite limited in they kept certain distance and Later Latin American interpre-
scope. arrogance regarding the public. tations of Art Deco, Rationalism
and the so-called international
The first modern ideas on mu- In the early 19th Century, the style would also have the North
seums came about during the most interesting debates from American influence.
second half of the 18th Century the architectural point of view
and first half of the 19th Cen- were taking place in the United Though many of the collection
tury. The French Revolution States, where some projects, formation and public exhibits
and the Industrial Revolution having the Greek temple as a were characterized by the study
drastically changed the progress model, materialized. Classicism of the object, or group of ob-
of these institutions. As a result gave way to eclecticism that, jects, according to the research
40 C U LT U R E A N D D E V E LO P M E N T • N o 8 • Y E A R 2 0 1 2

laws and methods of the time, tensions with the museum in- 1941, and the so-called “Leon-
it would not be till the 20th stitution. The crisis began with ardesque Exhibit” by G. Pagano
Century –and more particularly Impressionist exhibits that and B. Ravasi, Milan 1939.
during its second half—that an required spaces with no visual
specific discipline on the mu- interference and a more flexible All these temporary exhibits
seum phenomenon would be way of hanging art works on established a new relation with
structured: Museology. This walls. Later on, it became more the traditional building and the
Science studies the history of acute with cubist art works that transformation of its use. For
museums, their specific func- required different view angles. the first time, art works were
tional and space organization But the real revolution is to be taken away from the walls,
systems, their collections and found in the experimental lab painting frameworks were elimi-
manner in which they are ex- that the “Italian school” was, nated, support bases become

Georges Pompidou
hibited (museography), and the Center through its exhibits during the a subtle line, light details are
relation between these institu- prewar period: W. Gropius and studied and a direct relation-
tions and society. J. Schmidt: Exhibit of Non-Fer- ship between the historic and
rous Materials in Milan, 1934; aesthetic importance of the work
Development of artistic experi- F. Albini: Aerodynamic hall at is established.
mentation in the early 20th Cen- the Aeronautic Exhibit in Milan,
tury, expressed in all vanguard 1934; Ancient Silversmithing While this museography evolu-
movements that questioned Exhibit at the VI Milan Trienni- tion was taking place in Europe,
the concept of the art work and al, 1936; The Scipione and Black the Museum of Modern Art of
the manner in which it should and White Exhibit at the Brera New York (MOMA) was created
be exhibited, generated a lot of Painting Museum also in Milan, in the United States in 1929,
 Sachie Hernández • The museum evolution and its adaptation 41

with a comprehensive vision those days. The museum should need of all museums to expand
of the different contemporary resemble its time. modernize in terms of museog-
productions, exhibiting in its raphy, and incorporate supple-
halls industrial artistic works, The museums that came up with mentary services (conference
objects, and products. Later the modern movement (Le Cor- halls, auditorium, workshops,
on, an architecture, film, and busier, Mies van der Rohe, Frank shops, cafeterias, classrooms,
industrial art division was Lloyd Wright, Alvar Aalto) will interactive information centers,
added to the museum. be characterized by transparent and libraries, among other.)
forms, open and flexible plan,
If the Italian school ques- universal space, functionality, The devastation caused by
tioned museography as to technological precision accord- WWII developed a strong sen-
exhibition form and concept, ing to the museology purposes sibility towards the need rescue

National Anthropol-
MOMA, Nueva York

MOMA, with its project, ogy Museum in of the building, neutrality, and a and defend heritage by educat-
questioned the content itself Mexico City no mediation between the space ing the people. The museum
and the way it was presented. and the work exhibited. These object and museum contents in
MOMA mixed disciplines experts got rid of 19th-Century general had to be revalued, seek-
and objects that, till then, museum architecture burdens. ing maximum clarity and visibil-
had nothing to do with each ity –in contrast to the complexi-
other. While it did not deny Le Corbusier, in his project for ty and redundancy of the eclectic
the world of fine arts, it did the Unlimited Expanding Mu- museum—and people had to be
legitimize the value of works seum (1939) and Mies van der attracted, irrespective of social
and objects closer to the iden- Rohe in the Museum for a Small status and cultural level.
tity of the men and women of City (1942), address the inherent
42 C U LT U R E A N D D E V E LO P M E N T • N o 8 • Y E A R 2 0 1 2

With the opening of Frank sizing on transparent walls that There were endless museum experiences
Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim favor abundant natural light.
between 1980 and 1990. Hand in hand
Museum in New York in 1959,
and Mies van der Rohe’s Na- There are also outstanding with euphoria came the crisis of these
tional Gallery of Berlin inaugu- examples in the Latin Ameri- institutions that tried different models
rated in 1968, a phenomenon can context, built during those
that continues till today begins: years. The National Museum in an attempt to find an option that will
the construction of architectur- of Anthropology of Mexico City serve its interest as well as the interests of
ally spectacular buildings. (1964, Pedro Ramírez Vásquez),
summarizes at a monumental
contemporary society
Some experts, besides acknow- scale certain universal trends
ledging their architectural enriched by the centuries-old
intrinsic values (illumination of Mexican construction tradition. case. After WWII, Frankfurt
the surrounding slanting walls, This Museum, with its museo- became the economic capi-
and its space centrifugal force), graphic system and programs tal of the Federal Republic of
coincide in stating that the Gug- of high level accessibility and Germany and the seat of the
genheim Museum represents communication, has closed the Bundesbank. In the 1970’s they
the triumph of architectural gap other mega-monuments realized that it was in need of
design over the functionality of have in relation to the public. new symbolic and material
the museum itself and is the an- values to boost its importance,
tecedent of what is called today The Georges Pompidou Center besides that of its business,
the show-museum. (1977), conceived to restore industry and banking activities.
Paris title as the cultural capital Thus, the German Socialist
Talking about colossally spec- and regain the protagonist role Party –then in the local govern-
tacular designs, a feature of lost to other European cities, ment—proposed the establish-
late 20th Century, we cannot and particularly some Ameri- ment of a net of museums, an
but mention Richard Meier’s can ones, would also seem an idea later on materialized by
Getty Center in Los Angeles example of this architectural the Christian-Democratic Party
and Frank Gehry’s Guggen- type of museum. Free plan, that won the 1978 municipal
heim Museum in Bilbao, true abstract space composition, elections. More than a dozen
symbols of the relation between transparency of the architec- new film, architecture, decora-
the cultural industry and the tural body and high-tech metal tive arts, archeology, history of
media society. Both architects structure solutions define this the Jewish people and ancient
designed buildings aimed at refinery, meant to demystify art history museums were created,
leisure and fiction. and make it more accessible, plus an Exhibit Pavilion on the
according to the democratic banks of the river Main.
During the period following populist trend consolidated by
the “international style crisis”, the May 1968 cultural revolu- The systematization of these
basically during the 1960’s, tion. . cultural institutions’ recent
some buildings with distinctive history allow to identify a set of
values and pointing towards During the 1980’s, we witnessed trends related to their missions,
new directions were built. In an unusual upsurge of muse- contents, architectural types,
his regard, mention should be ums. They became a fashion programs and relations with
made to the Whitney Museum and thus, every country, city, the social context in which they
of American Art (1966, Marcel and locality wanted to have develop.
Breuer and Hamilton Smith), a museum to consolidate its
an essential example of archi- position within the culture To its traditional functions of
tectural savageness due to its and leisure society, and as an gathering, protecting and pre-
strong and blended image. The instrument for social and urban serving heritage, the permanent
same goes for the Museum of development regeneration. exhibition that tell the history
Israel (1965, Alfred Mansfield Some experts belief there were and construe the collections,
and Dora Gad). We would also never so many museums nor and the educational function
have to refer to the additions were they ever so unnecessary. that it has more or less always
made to the Metropolitan Mu- performed, today the institution
seum of Art of New York – with In Europe, for instance, the city adds a complete set of activities
a Greenhouse aesthetic- empha- of Frankfurt is an emblematic that turns it into a true labo-
 Sachie Hernández • The museum evolution and its adaptation 43

ratory of social participation for the community, tran-

and confrontation. Today they scending its boundaries.
have workshop-classrooms
for children and adolescents Given the importance at-
combining education and game; tached to communicating
specialized tours for differ- with the public, exhibit halls
ent kinds of public; research (particularly those for tem-
porary exhibits), classrooms
and workshops have grown
in space and equipment.
Multi-purpose spaces are
very much in fashion and
have become very useful.
Public service spaces have
expanded, particularly for
shops and restaurants, as a
result of market practices
applied in the management
of these institutions. .

The introduction of new

means and technologies in
these institutions has more
Guggenheim
projects involving profession- Museum in Bilbao than reinforced the docu-
als from many disciplines and mentary system and multi-
university students. They have plied research and dissemi-
a heavy schedule of temporary nation possibilities. It has
exhibits as well as travelling also expanded museograph-
exhibits to other foreign and ic possibilities and radically
local institutions; open doors to changed the relationship
its workshops and warehouses, between the spectator
conferences and academic and the object. The public
events; launching of books, interacts with the processes
magazines and catalogues; con- and manipulates the dis-
certs, art-video and experimen- played object. But in this
tal film-making exhibits; and relentless quest for emotions
they prepare specific activities and encouraging learning,
there are no clear limits and
Getty Center
museums sometimes end up
becoming show centers or
thematic parks.

In the context of the ter-

tiary-oriented economy
and profitability of goods
and public and private
spaces, museums are part
of the rationale of tourism,
leisure and cultural indus-
tries throughout the world.
They have become places
of great affluence of pub-
lic together with shopping
malls and sports facilities
(when a world event is being
held). The success of the
44 Sachie Hernández • La evolución de los museos y su adaptación

cultural policy of a country is significant aesthetic value, play- prevents this kind of museum
also conceived on the basis of ing also the role of revitalizing from creating a positive synergy
such statistics. However, mas- certain deteriorated environ- with other museum facilities
sive public affluence prevents a ments. Though flexible spaces in the territory or with other
full intellectual appraisal and are privileged against more patrimonial institutions that
contemplation of the work of art defined spaces, the use given to exist and preserve themselves
or the cognitive process being the building generally condi- outside the museums
displayed. How many visitors tions the characteristics of the
come back? How many really spaces.
did learn something?
The relation between the
Museum architecture continues museum and the territory in
to be a great creative challenge which it is located is usually
for architects, reason for which more natural and honest when
many of them end up involved projects are small or medium
in mega-projects far beyond and are the result of the needs
the functional purposes of the of the community concerned to
institution. However, many safeguard its heritage, pre-
new constructions, additions serve its collective memory
and the readjustment of histori- and consolidate its identity.
cal buildings become works of Mega-museums attempt to
express the vigor and power of
a national cultural or even of
The development of museology has provided Mankind and are focused on
the big national, but mainly
a scientific basis to the process of conceiving international, public affluence
and implementing museum projects. The circuits. Generally, they are
conceived and developed to re-
museum project should become a practical generate the suburb where it is
and creative tool and its design must be the located but without taking into
consideration the real needs of
result of multi-disciplinary collaboration the community. This in no way

Notes Bibliography Webgraphy

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