A1.4

The purpose of the course is: a) to introduce (exercise) the students to the way in which works of art, monuments or sites can be described in terms of their function, classification, context and political value with the aim of a management plan for them, b) understanding the different roles played by professionals involved in the management of museums and sites as well as gaining an idea of their organizational structures and how they operate in relation to the public.

The aim of the course is a) to understand the role of conservation scientists in the management of collections and sites and b) to understand the importance of documentation and to practice for students how to gather existing information about a given work of art in order to investigated before any maintenance-rehabilitation proposal. The documentation covers all phases: before, during and after the maintenance-restoration works.

The following subjects will be developed in the course:

1.   Works of art, collections, monuments, sites

• Definitions
• A brief history of museology
• Policy and planning for the management of works of art, collections and sites

2.    The museum, the artwork and the collections

• Organization and design of the museum in a new or historical building
• Principles of organization – functional diagrams
• Types of museums (art galleries, archaeological museums, modern art museums)
• Permanent and periodic exhibitions
• The museum and the visitor – The role of the public
• Department of Management, scientific research and conservation laboratories, specialized staff and their duties (archaeologist, conservator-restorer, conservation scientist, manager of collections and sites, museum director.

3.    Documentation
   

• The importance of documentation
• The role of conservation scientists in documentation

4.   The socialization of art works and monuments so that they become social goods

5.  The Museum outside the Museum. The historical site of the Museum

6.  One of the courses will take place inside the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki together with the Director of the Museum.

Basic Bibliography:

1. F. Minissi, Il museo negli anni ’80, edizioni Kappa, Roma, 1983
2. F. Minissi, Conservazione dei beni storico artistici e ambientali,  Restauro e musealizzazione, De Luca editore, Roma 1978.
3. Alderson William, T. and Shirley Payne Low, Interpetation of Historic Sites, American Association for State and Local History, Nashville, U.S.A. 1976
4. Μ. Σκαλτσά, Για τη Μουσειολογία και τον Πολιτισμό, εντευκτήριο, Θεσ/νίκη 1999
5. G Argan, “La prospettiva del museo”, στο Futuribili, p. 30-31, Roma, 1971

Lectures:

N. Vranikas

Agg. Koukouvou, Director of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki