Dealing with Rose and Romance: Challenges in the Exhibition of Islamic Objects in Ethnological Museums
The GRASSI Museum of Ethnology in Leipzig1 (MVL) has collected around 200,000 objects, of which over 3,500 originated from West Asia and North Africa. The pieces were bought, donated, or bequeathed, and some were added to the museum during the colonial period. By acquiring and receiving donations...
Saved in:
| Published in: | Handling Religious Things. The Material and the Social in Museums (Band 11) |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Book Chapter |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2022
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | PDF Full Text |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | The GRASSI Museum of Ethnology in Leipzig1 (MVL) has collected around 200,000
objects, of which over 3,500 originated from West Asia and North Africa. The
pieces were bought, donated, or bequeathed, and some were added to the museum
during the colonial period. By acquiring and receiving donations from private
collections, and purchasing objects from world exhibitions – such as those
held in Vienna in 1873, and Paris in 1897 and 1900 – the MVL has brought together
a wide array of objects from many countries. The MVL does not focus on a
particular region or religion. Indeed, the museum’s diversity of focus stands in noticeable
contrast to other specifically themed museums. The West Asian objects
in the permanent exhibition are not displayed under this regional-geographical
classification, as in other sections of the museum, but rather in a section titled
‘Orient’. My paper highlights the challenges and problems of presenting objects
and materials from the various cultures displayed in the so-called Orient Department
of the permanent exhibition of the MVL. Discussing the current restriction
of Islamic items to forming only part of the generalising ‘Orient’ section, this paper
notes a possible alternative of a presentation in either a special exhibition or
a larger section of the permanent exhibition. This would be in line with the MVL’s
treatment of Buddhism and Hinduism in the Asian section. I will address the curators’
task of exhibiting specific religions in the museum, as well as how visitors
interact with those specific religions. |
|---|---|
| Physical Description: | 16 Pages |
| DOI: | 10.17192/es2022.0091 |