a museum and the representations of history.on the visitors of polish historical museumsreport

aleksandra janus

cracow 2014

Supervision: Dariusz CzajaProofreading and editing: Dorota KawęckaTranslation: Michał Augustyn

Cover design, typesetting and text makeup: Vivid Studio

The present volume constitutes a report concluding the research project “A Museum and the Representations of History. On the Visitors of Polish Historical Museums”, conducted at the Faculty of History at Jagiellonian University in Cracow.

The scientific work was financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Edu-cation in Poland within „Diamond Grant” programme for 2012-2014.

Cracow 2014

ISBN: 978-83-941188-0-8

Publisher:Vivid Studioul. św. Jacka 4430-364 Cracow

The report is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Poland License.

Table of contents

8 Introduction

9 The Research Project 17 Between White Cube and Black Box 22 Methodology 30 Research conclusions summary 30 who visits museums? 33 boundaries of an assumed role 35 alternative education in values 37 experts and fiends 39 what a historical museum should look like? 41 a time travel 43 visitor’s experience: an attempt of reconstruction

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The present thesis is an outcome of “A Museum and the Representa-tions of History. On the Visitors of Polish Historical Museums” research project, conducted between 2012 and 2014 under kind supervision of Pro-fessor Dariusz Czaja at the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropol-ogy, Faculty of History, Jagiellonian University. It constitutes a report con-cluding the visitor study conducted as part of a research project in selected four Polish history-oriented museums: Warsaw Rising Museum (Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego), Museum of the Home Army (Muzeum Armii Krajowej), Oskar Schindler’s Factory (Fabryka Schindlera) – a  branch of the Historical Museum of the City of Cracow (Muzeum Historyczne Mia-sta Krakowa) and Museum of Wola (Muzeum Woli) – a branch of Museum of Warsaw (Muzeum Warszawy). In the Polish language version, the report consists of two main parts recording corresponding two stages of the above mentioned research project – the former serving as a  theoretical introduction and the latter – providing detailed analysis of the research re-sults. The English language version summarizes the latter part and provides further scrutiny of its conclusions.

In the course of the project I have had an utmost pleasure to cooperate with many fine individuals, whose subject matter support as well as practi-cal assistance cannot be overestimated. In the first instance, I wish to thank the staff of the museums under research, especially Hanna Nowak-Radzie-jowska, the director of Museum of Wola, Monika Bednarek, the director of Oskar Schindler’s Factory, Tymoteusz Pruchnik, the head of the archive department at the Warsaw Rising Museum, Piotr Koziarz of Museum of the Home Army, as well as the Directors of all the above mentioned institutions. Moreover, my sincere gratitude must go to Hubert Francuz, Anna Buchner and Dorota Kawęcka, whom I tormented with countless conversations and consultation requests throughout the whole course of the project. Even-tually, I  would like to express how grateful I  am to Leontine Mejier-van Mensch of Reinwardt Academie in Amsterdam, as well as Ceri Jones and Sheila Watson of Research Center for Museums and Galleries in Leicester for their kindness, support and priceless hints all along. Foremostly, I wish to thank Dariusz Czaja for his superb scientific supervision over the entire project.

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Introduction

In the movie Everything Is Illuminated, directed by Lieve Schreiber, based on the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer1, an inhabitant of a secluded house is being paid an unexpected visit by the protagonist who, in turn, is caught in the midst of somewhat troublesome journey in the search of his origin. When asked about her hometown, the host points at the pile of boxes cov-ering the majority of the living space. “This is Trachimbrod” – she replies. What was once the town Jonathan peregrinates to, has now been stuck in cartoon containers, mostly no larger than shoe boxes. Gathered togeth-er, meticulously labeled, they themselves are now a peculiar collection of keepsakes, a DIY archive, a home-made monument and a private museum, the solitary custodian of which is its only visitor at the same time.

In this very scene, many motives and tropes indicating the basic area of scrutiny for this thesis intermingle, having at the core the question of how a human being is positioned in the context of his or her own past. The past access to which he or she seeks for, which remnants and traces he or she gathers, the past which he or she constructs stories of and about, and, eventually, the one which he or she utilizes to shape individual and collec-tive identity.

1 Everything is Illuminated, directed by. L. Schreiber, 2005, based on: J. S. Foer, Everything is Illuminated, Penguin Books Ltd, London 2003.

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The Research Project

The starting point for the eponymous research project was an obser-vation that great many of the newly founded (in the first decade of the 2000s and later) museum were the history-oriented ones. As over two decades after the former political regime transformation had passed, the Poles started to witness vivid development of the institutions that aim to record, secure and cultivate the memory and recollections of particular pe-riods in their country’s history. Without a shadow of a doubt, a significant mission such institutions carry is an input in shaping and defining the Pol-ish national identity. In a world where globalization is a certain fact, these museums and their likes are not only supposed to educate the subsequent generations to come, but also to answer often uneasy questions concern-ing the self-identification of a society they are dedicated to. Certainly, as indicated above, such moment in time, while observed within a broad con-taxt of the country’s history, bears very little trace of sheer coincidence. As Anna Ziębińska-Witek has it, the museums, treated as a peculiar reservoir of the means to represent the phenomena of the past, are themselves a key factor in the processes of rationalizing and institutionalizing the history as such (…)2, which – as we might want to add after the authors quoted earlier in the present thesis – adapts the past to match specific and valid contemporary goals.

Over the last decade, numerous new museums have been founded and inaugurated, whereas many of the ready-existent ones were either

2 A. Ziębińska-WItek, Historia w muzeach. Studium ekspozycji Holokaustu, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej, Lublin 2011, p. 7.

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thoroughly renovated or have brought to life their new branches, where the exhibition areas have been arranged in accordance with the modern patterns, often influenced by the tendencies and trends discussed earli-er in the course of the present thesis. Undoubtedly, the first one of such then-emerging kind which – being itself rather openly inspired by the Hol-ocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. and the Museum of Terror in Buda-pest – laid new standards for a  vast array of institutions and exhibitions to come, was the Warsaw Rising Museum. Ten years after its inauguration, it has been so far visited by 4.6 million people so far3. The Rising Museum was also the first among the Polish institutions to utilize multimedia on an unprecedented scale, as a means of enhancing the visitor experience. Hence, its inauguration day is widely regarded as the milestone date in the histo-ry and development of Polish museums and memorialization, marking the beginning of the decade of intense development and growth for the local infrastructure of memory.

The main aim of my research was an attempt to answer the question regarding the means the history-oriented museums utilize to engage the visitors’ attention and, in turn, what is the impact the applied exhibition strategies – including invitation to interactive participation – have on the way the visitors experience a particular exhibition and on their attitude to-wards the exhibited subject.

At the stage of particular institutions selection, I decided to focus on the exhibitions dwelling upon the experience (or upon a choice of individu-al experiences for that matter) of the World War II. After Sharon Macdonald, I assume that the heritage of the World War II constantly remains this very kind of a past she proposed to refer to as a difficult heritage – which is almost unanimously recognized as substantial to the modern era Polish identity while simultaneously being a subject of arguments, heated discussion and a potential social divisions forming factor, as well as ever-present bargain-ing card in the contemporary political debate. Given the above, I decided to broaden my initial choice of two institutions – Warsaw Rising Museum and Oskar Schindler’s Factory – by adding in the first instance the Museum

3 Warsaw Rising Museum webage: http://www.1944.pl/o_muzeum/o_nas/ (accessed: October the 2nd, 2014).

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of the Home Army in Cracow to the set. Another criterion of the present selection was that the institutions I eventually picked – apart from the gen-eral subject cohesion – shared particular common features and were repre-sentative to specific exhibition strategies. The aim of the research was not so much a comparative analysis of selected institutions but rather a scruti-ny of the effect the employed means and specific exhibition strategies em-ployed there impose on shaping the final visitor’s experience, as well as – in turn – drawing an extent of general conclusions (based on the quantitative research) regarding the contemporary audience visiting the historical mu-seums in Poland nowadays. At the same time, I intended to select the exhi-bitions the mutual juxtaposing of which could bring an additional value to the reflections upon the modern strategies of representing the World War II experiences. Hence my decision of incorporating one temporary exhibi-tion into the research which – while significantly differing to the remaining selection – constitutes in itself a proposal interesting enough to complete the broader picture the present thesis attempts to construct. This exhibi-tion is „Reinefarth in Warsaw. Evidence of Crime” (“Reinefarth w Warszaw-ie. Dowody zbrodni”) that could be viewed since August the 5th, 2014 in the Museum of Wola in Warsaw.

The exhibitions I chose are interconnected by much more than merely a subject matter – while acknowledging the apparent significant differences being equally present. As far as the organizational status is taken into ac-count – among four of the selected museums one can find two branches of larger institutions – both instances are the municipal historical museums of the largest Polish cities: Cracow and Warsaw, whereas the remaining two are independent institutions (Warsaw Rising Museum and Museum of the Home Army ). The latter two constitute autonomous, self-governed institu-tions of culture, similarly to the Museum of Warsaw and the Historical Mu-seum of the City of Cracow, branches of which are the subject of interest of the present thesis.

The investigated institutions also differ in size and visitors’ attendance. From among the chosen ones, an undisputed attendance leader (statis-tically-wise) is the Warsaw Rising Museum. Moreover, in three instances I  concentrated on the analysis of the experiences of viewers visiting the permanent exhibition (Warsaw Rising Museum, Oskar Schindler’s Factory,

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Museum of the Home Army ), as opposed to the temporary exhibition in the case of the Museum of Wola. Also, the geographical span of the research was by no means a decisive factor in the process of institutions’ selection, but rather a resultant of the criterion I applied as the most significant one in the choice. Firstly, the basic principle of the selection was the gener-al subject of an exhibition. In all examined cases, the exhibitions dwelled upon a historical event, a problem or a question extracted from the broader context of World War II. Two of them focus on a specific event – that is the Warsaw Rising, the distinction being the Warsaw Rising Museum records and recalls the entire course of insurgent battles, drawing a broader con-text for the happenings taking place between August the 1st and October the 3rd, 1944, whereas the Museum of Wola exhibition concentrates on an event extracted from the background of the very Warsaw Rising, namely – the Wola Massacre, with specific focus on the documents serving as ev-idence of this crime and on the very figure of the alleged culprit of the dis-trict residents’ slaughter, executed by the SS squads and the Nazi-German police in the early days of August 1944, the death toll of which estimates are anywhere between 38,000 and 65,000 casualties. These exhibitions em-brace as a focal point one specific event, or a chain of consequent events commonly interpreted as a larger whole, which in turn become a starting point for telling a story about a specific fragment of the history – including the social one – of World War II, indicating both the processes leading up to the very event, as well as its consequences and aftermath. The next pair of exhibitions – „Kraków under Nazi Occupation 1939-1945” („Kraków – czas okupacji 1939-1945“) in Oskar Schindler’s Factory and the exhibition in Mu-seum of the Home Army both aim to scrutinize a specific problem and its evolution over the entire course of World War II, analyzing the anteceding processes as well as the residual effects. The base subject of Oskar Schin-dler’s Factory exhibition is the daily life of Polish and Jewish city dwellers of Cracow and its German occupants, in relation to the war period history of Deutsche Emailwarenfabrik – DEF (German Enamelware Factory), where the present day museum is actually set – and the factory founder and own-er, Oskar Schindler. The Museum of the Home Army is devoted to the histo-ry of the Polish Underground State (Polskie Państwo Podziemne) and Polish Armed Forces (Polskie Siły Zbrojne), the key idea behind it being an attempt to present the holistic portrayal of Polish Underground State, with its spiritual

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origins and the shape of its patriotic heritage to the present day4. Although all of the discussed institutions present a selected fragment of the social history of Poland during World War II, in the case of Warsaw Rising Museum and Museum of the Home Army the emphasis is equally laid on the histo-ry of military deeds and the history of a  particular military organization, whereas the instances of Museum of Wola and Oskar Schindler’s Factory strongly accentuate the fortunes and experiences of civil population.

From among the entire set of analyzed institutions, only Oskar Schin-dler’s Factory is situated in the location significant enough to be in itself both the subject and the object of the exhibition. However the thread of Oskar Schindler’s biography, especially its war period episode related to the so called Schindler’s List, is indeed one among many other threads pre-sented within the on-site museum, the very building does not only serve as a mere functional exhibition space but carries a specific emotional load and constitutes – beside the very exhibition – an actual component of what is „shown” in the museum, while of course the former factory space has not only been divided (the other part now houses the Museum of Contem-porary Art in Cracow MOCAK), but also rearranged and adapted to align with the needs of the exhibition scenario and the functional requirements. Although one could certainly interpret the locations of remaining three in-stitutions as related – be it directly or not – to the questions the museums they house are devoted to (Warsaw Rising Museum and Museum of Wola are both located in the district where the insurgent battles took place and where civilians were executed en masse, whereas the Museum of the Home Army is housed in the building where the command center of the Fort Cra-cow (Twierdza Kraków) once was), it is only Oskar Schindler’s Factory that bears a full-fledged site-specific character.

WARSAW RISING MUSEUM

Warsaw, 79 Grzybowska Streetdate of opening: July the 31st, 2004date of establishment: February the 10th, 1983average number of visitors: 39 000 people per month

4 Museum of the Home Army webpage: http://www.muzeum-ak.pl/muzeum/index.php (accessed: October the 2nd, 2014).

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organizer: Warsaw Rising Museum is an autonomous, self-governed insti-tution of culture for the capital city of Warsawdirector: Jan OłdakowskiMISSION: The basic aim of the institution is conducting scientifical research and educational activities in the area of the 1944 Warsaw Rising history as well as the history, acquis and heritage of the Polish Underground State, specifical-ly via gathering, processing and conserving the items related to the mentioned subject matter’s thereabouts, their spreading and popularization; activities aiming at consolidating and integrating the veterans and the active-duty mili-tary communities, as well as upbringing and educating the young generations of Poles in the spirit of patriotism and respect for national tradition, are also of substantial importance5.

MUSEUM OF THE HOME ARMY

Cracow, 12 Wit Stwosz Streetdate of opening: September the 27th, 2012date of establishment: 2000average number of visitors: 3 770 people per monthorganizer: Museum of the Home Army is an autonomous, self-governed in-stitution of culture6

director: Janusz Mierzwa (PhD)MISSION: The mission of the exhibition assembled as a part of the EU co-fund-ed project „Revalorization and adaptation of the building at 12 Wita Stwosza Street in Cracow for the needs of Museum of the Home Army” is:

• demonstrating the life of the nation and the ceasless continuance of its state under the Nazi German and Soviet occupation, as a phenom-enon of unprecedented scale,

• demonstrating the phenomenon of the Polish Home Army as a part of the Polish Armed Forces, both subordinate to the Polish Govern-ment-in-exile and serving as the armed forces of the Polish Under-

5 The excerpt taken from “The Aims and Tasks of the Museum” : http://www.old.1944.pl/index.php?a=site_text&id=1953&se_id=1955 (accessed: September the 12th, 2014).

6 Detailed documentation of the legal status available at the Museum of the Home Army website: http://www.muzeum-ak.pl/muzeum/index.php (accessed: October the 1st, 2014).

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ground State itself at the same time,• demonstrating the personal dimension of war through the lives and

experiences of particular individuals, with a specific focus on the Home Army soldiers, their demeanor, motivations and deeds7.

OSKAR SCHINDLER’S FACTORY

(A BRANCH OF HISTORICAL MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF CRACOW)

Cracow, 4 Lipowa Streetdate of opening: June the 10th, 2010average number of visitors: 22 000 people per monthorganizer: Historical Museum of the City of Cracow is an autonomous, self-governed institution of culturedirector of Oskar Schindler’s Factory branch: Monika Bednarekdirector of the Historical Museum of the City of Kraków: Michał Niezabi-towskiMISSION: In December of 1945, during the sitting of the National City Council the museum’s statute project has had been presented. According to its contents, the museum was supposed to become „an autonomous and independent mu-nicipal institution, aiming to gather and meticulously secure any items bearing value of a historical remain that would illustrate the life and culture of Cracow, from the ancient times until the recent era, as well as developing the scientific, research and educational activity8”

MUSEUM OF WOLA

(A BRANCH OF MUSEUM OF WARSAW)

Temporary exhibition: Reinefarth in Warsaw. Evidence of Crime.August the 3rd, 2014 till December the 21st, 2014date of opening: 1974 (Museum of Warsaw, formerly Museum of Old War-

7 Museum of the Home Army webpage: http://www.muzeum-ak.pl/muzeum/index.php (accessed: October the 2nd, 2014).

8 Historical Museum of the City of Cracow webpage: http://www.mhk.pl/misja-i-histo-ria/1 (accessed: July the 2nd, 2014).

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saw, originally founded in 1936)average number of visitors: 730 people per monthorganizer: Museum of Warsaw is an autonomous, self-governed institution of culturedirector of the Museum of Wola branch: Hanna Nowak-Radziejowskacurator of the temporary exhibition: Hanna Nowak-Radziejowskadirector of the Museum of Warsaw: Ewa Nekanda-Trepka

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Between White Cube and Black Box

The whole set of the exhibitions analyzed in the present thesis – as mentioned above – share the lowest common denominator of a  topi-cal range: they focus on a particular question or an event set forth to the foreground out of a  broader context of World War II, around which the narrative is built. All of them are the outcome of a search for the modern and appealing exhibition strategies, creating a counterbalance to what is commonly identified as a „traditional” museum exhibition. All of them – al-though each one presents a certain amount of exhibits – are fine examples of applying exhibition strategies that are not unambiguously subordinate to the object’s presentation, that is: for which exhibiting the object in the best manner possible and available does not denominate the predominant rule of construction. Hence, each museum under discussion puts a strong emphasis on the very exhibition space as an integral constituent of the pro-posed narration – and, as such, this space’s becoming an exhibit in itself. As one might have it: the space abundant in meaning aims to exhibit, among others, itself. Designed in such manner, the space – however diversified the means to achieve that might be – is to evoke an experience of immersion9. Such goal could not be achieved if not for the application of media hav-ing effect on multiple senses, while most of these measures are directed at engaging the sight and the hearing. Moreover, all the exhibitions con-sciously initiate a dialogue with the habits and steadily-acquired practices

9 As I presume, it is this very type of experience that Anna Ziębińska-Witek calls a per-formative one. It means – as she has it - it abandons the traditional, safe distance between exhibition and the audience, and redifines the relation between the viewer and the viewed, see: A. Ziębińska-Witek, Ibid., p. 49.

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of reception, an entire set of which the audience bring along while visiting a museum, to enhance the offered experience even further by contrasting it with the ones the visitors likely expect and are used to10.

Three out of four discussed exhibitions share further common features that might to an extent result from common sources and inspirations, as well as convergent points of reference of the exhibitions’ creators. Partial-ly – taken into account the temporal distance separating each exhibition’s inauguration – it is also an outcome of the creators being directly inspired by the exhibitions that had emerged earlier in time. Beyond any doubt – as already remarked above – the Warsaw Rising Museum had set a benchmark and paved the way for younger institutions of alike model, emerging after 2004. However controversial the model might have proved to be, there is no argument it does remain a significant point of reference. In that sense, Warsaw Rising Museum (2004), Oskar Schindler’s Factory (2010) and the Museum of the Home Army (2011), regardless of the apparent differences, might be considered as different varieties of the same model put into prac-tice, relying on scenographic strategies applied to construct the exhibition space that is to represent (or – however pejorative the term is often read – to simulate) certain elements of a real-world space and, as such, to evoke an impression of  “traveling in time”. I purposefully put the expression in inverted comas, as by no means do I  intend to imply the visitors actually experience the “time travel” per se – but rather feel (and that is how they most often describe the experience themselves) as if they moved back in time. Such understanding underlines the discussed spaces are metaphor-ical and, more often than not, it is such expressions (“time travel” and the likes) that best describe their experience. As far as the very construction is concerned, they are often based on a mechanism of a synecdoche, which – in accordance with the pars pro toto principle – replaces the whole with a fragment. Hence, a scenographic element of a wall, a few meters of cob-blestone, a fragment of a tram-car or of an apartment’s interior, proves suf-ficient enough to evoke the desired effect. The primary function, one may argue, of so-constructed exhibition spaces is to facilitate the visitors’ emo-

10 However, as the results of the conducted research prove, some strategies have already managed to replace the new standards.

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tional involvement in the story being told. Among the metaphors used by the viewers to describe the discussed experience, beside the “time travel”, most recurrent were also a “transfer to a different reality” and a “touch of the past”. All of these imply an impression of a distance separating a view-er from the past reality is being reduced, evoking an impression of getting closer to it or, as one may have it, “entering it”. Such temporal and special distance reduction is a  factor enabling the emotional involvement, or “stepping into” someone else’s past experience.

To emphasize the differences on a visual level between the three above mentioned exhibitions – in Warsaw Rising Museum, in Oskar Schindler’s Factory and in Museum of the Home Army – and the strategy deployed in the Museum of Wola, I  shall resort to the opposition applied to describe the exhibition strategies in different institutions of this kind. Namely, the opposition between a  white cube, characterizing the stereotypical space utilized to exhibit art, and a black box – a term recurring in the analysis of exhibition spaces specific for scientific centers and / or art museums, pre-senting visual art, digital art and varying sorts of video-installations (in such context often referred to as a black cube). The spaces of three above mentioned exhibitions can be considered “black boxes” in the sense of a  prevalent half-dimness apparent there, while maintaining a  preferred palette of black, brown, grey, beige and sepia shades (to enhance the “ret-ro” effect), with occasional traces of red to mark the accents11. The interior of the “box” serves as a container for the elements of scenography which usually fill the space in the building (utilized for the needs of exhibition) so tightly there is no need for additional lighting with the actual day-light12. As one of the respondents remarked, the exhibitions in historical museums usually operate with a white text on a dark background, whereas exhibi-

11 As one of the respondents surveyed at Warsaw Rising Museum has it: “(…) the color palette has been…shades of grey and something reddish, and that’s how I recall it today, that it was more like…it wasn’t white, that’s for sure, rather these darker colors”.

12 Although I concentrate here on three exhibitions forming the subject of interest for the present thesis, this scheme clearly manifests itself with reference to other historical exhibitions, like the one devoted to Holocaust in Imperial War Museum in London, the exhibition in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, and partly as the exhibition in Cape Town Holocaust Centre (South Africa), the one in Jewish Museum in Berlin, and many others.

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tions in art museums – most often fill the white background with the dark text. Such opposition between white-on-black and black-on-white accu-rately demonstrates the most significant, superficial distinctions between the exhibitions discussed above and the exhibition strategy applied by the authors of the „Reinefarth in Warsaw. Evidence of Crime” exhibition, which situates itself noticeably closer to the white cube. It appears that the neutrality and transparency, habitually associated with the white cube, is in itself thematized within this exhibition and in relation to the question it un-dertakes. Such understanding would make the Museum of Wola exhibition a metaphorical space as well, however – rather than to physical, real-world spaces – it refers to ideas and concepts directly related to the central theme of the exhibition: the evidence material from the court trial, through which it reflects on the very mechanics of the justice system in the context of the system of values the former is founded upon13.

While acknowledging the above juxtaposition is not entirely free of generalizations, I am nonetheless convinced they allow for the major ques-tions of the present thesis emergence to the foreground. Although the differences do exist between the exhibition spaces of the Warsaw Rising Museum, Oskar Schindler’s Factory and the Museum of the Home Army themselves as well, I reckon that from the perspective of the research ques-tion put forth by the present thesis, they prove to be of minor importance and, as such, should be scrutinized within a  separate study. Hence, the emphasis has been put here on the similarities of the exhibition strategies deployed in these institutions, seeing them as representative to certain broader tendencies in creating representations of the past within the con-fines of a museum, as discussed in the initial part of the present discourse. They are based on similar principles (that to effectively convey a message or a story of the past, it proves necessary to reduce the distance separating the visitors from the subject of the story told, in order to enable – or en-hance – their emotional involvement in the said history) and they set forth

13 Particularly important in this context is choosing Hannah Arendt – with selected frag-ments of Eichmann in Jerusalem in particular – for a peculiar “patron” of this exhibition, what, I reckon, can be justified not only by the obvious (albeit significant) proximity of the themes undertaken, but also, on a more profound level, by the weight of the ques-tions Arendt deliberates on in her works.

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similar goals (increasing the effectiveness of the very process of remem-bering / learning, but also – through the reference to a personal experience – shaping a certain demeanors).

The goal of the Museum of Wola exhibition does not appear to be radi-cally different, even though varying means leading to its achievement were applied. Rhetorics of so-organized exhibition space positions a visitor as an individual invited to make a judgment (or maybe to fill the gap left out by the one that has never been exercised?), which has been further enhanced by the deployment of the metaphor of opposing parties in the very exhi-bition space arrangement (a  rather direct reference to the parties in the courtroom setting), as well as – associated with the files and evidence ma-terial, conveyed in the visual space – metaphor of black-on-white evoking the atmosphere of sternness, restraint and moderation through the visual means applied. This kind of space presupposes an experience that is to be updated by the visitor. It also offers the viewer – or rather expects the view-er to assume – a particular position, implying (if the user decides to take it) his or her personal (and hence emotional) involvement.

The exhibition strategies described above do project a peculiar sort of experience, but the analysis of tools applied for their construction alone does not enable even the remote insight into what becomes a share of the visitors as both the audience and co-authors of such experience. Further in the course of the present thesis I shall attempt to answer the question in what ways these experience scenarios – inscribed in the above mentioned exhibition spaces – are or could be updated by the visitors and what could be their influence on shaping the viewers attitude towards the thematic questions of the discussed exhibitions.

Beyond any doubt, the question is complex and the task ambitious. Given the above – the present thesis constitutes merely an attempt to con-front the problem, as well as – at the same time – an endeavor to assess the possibilities offered by the research tools.

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Methodology

Museology, the studies of heritage, as well as studies on the visitors, abundantly draw from the research methods once specific to other disci-plines, mainly ethnology and cultural anthropology, archeology, history, history of art, and many more. In the introduction to the volume gathering methodological remarks regarding the heritage studies, the editors of an-thology, Marie Louise Stig Sorensen and John Carman, propose a division of the research methods utilized in heritage studies into three groups, de-pending on the subject of scrutiny, namely – ones applied in research of text, people and objects14. Analysis of people and their demeanors, as they admit, is an area most extensively explored so far within heritage studies in general, the basic research methods applied being participant observation and various types of an interview15.

In the research I conducted, I myself decided to use these very meth-ods, while extending the set of tools to the quantitative ones as well. From among all possible ways of integrating quantitative and qualitative re-search, the most relevant one in the light of the present research question appeared to be a  facilitative16 approach, emphasizing the mutual support

14 Heritage Studies. Methods and Approaches, ed. M. L. Stig Sorensen, J. Carman, Routledge, London New York 2009, pp. 6-7.

15 Ibid., p7.16 Martyn Hammersley distinguishes three ways of merging the qualitative and quantita-

tive research: triangulation, facilitation, and a merge of these two approaches as mutu-ally supplementary research strategies, see: M. Hammersley, The Relationship between qualitative and quantitative research: paradigm loyalty versus methodological eclecticism, [in:] Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods for Psychology and the Social Sciences, ed. John T.E. Richardson, BPS Books, Leicester, pp. 159-174, cit. after U. Flick, Projektowanie badania jakościowego, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warszawa 2012, pp. 31-32.

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of both approaches for one another. I treated each of them as potentially providing hypotheses and inspiration for the one another17, simultaneously utilizing the qualitative research foremostly as a tool of obtaining data that draw broader context for the material obtained as a result of interviews and in the course of participant observation.

Research conducted within the project “A  Museum and the Rep-resentations of History” is an ethnographical study of a  visitor’s experi-ence as a peculiar sort of phenomenon. Museum exhibition is perceived as communicative, discursive structure, while simultaneously constituting an environment projecting a particular experience, that can potentially be – in a personalized albeit founded on a specific, physical and social context way – updated by the viewer.

The starting point for the process of gathering the information were study visits in selected institutions, the aim of which was, before other reasons, getting minutely acquainted with each museum’s space, the form and the contents of the exhibitions and preliminary reconnaissance regard-ing the visitors’ traffic as well as attendance on particular weekdays and at given time of the day. The visits also presented an opportunity to observe the way the visitors move around a given museum, to identify a preferred trajectory of a visit (in the instances where it has not been superimposed by the shape and arrangement of particular exhibition) and / or its potential variations, as well as to identify the spots within an exhibition either fa-vored or omitted by the viewers altogether. In each case, before starting to gather the material, I began each visit with prolonged conversations with the museum staff, taking advantage of their knowledge as well as daily ob-servations regarding the perceptive strategies, either specific to or shaped by particular institutions. Participant observation also constituted an im-portant element of the entire set of interactions I initiated with the visitors during the study visits, while gathering the quantitative material and con-ducting interviews.

The second stage of gathering data was the survey research, aiming to determine who the people visiting a museum actually are: what are their motivations and expectations, is the visit at the time of a survey their first

17 U. Flick, Ibid., p 31.

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or another one in a  row, how often and why they visit museums in gen-eral, are they visiting alone, with a company or as members of organized group, what is their formal education level, where they obtain the historical knowledge from, and what is the declared level of satisfaction from a visit. Moreover, it had been the surveyed groups that I recruited the individuals from, who in turn were interviewed in detail later on during the third stage of the research.

The numbers of surveys obtained from particular institutions fluctu-ates between 52 and 53 for Oskar Schindler’s Factory and the Museum of Wola respectively, through 85 for the Museum of the Home Army, to as much as 150 for the Warsaw Rising Museum. The significant differences in quantity mainly result from the diversified visitors’ attendance in the sur-veyed institutions18, as well as – which proved to be a particularly important factor in the instance of Oskar Schindler’s Factory – from the proportion be-tween Polish and foreign-language speaking visitors. From among the scru-tinized institutions, the highest visitors rates belongs to the Warsaw Rising Museum, with daily average of 1,500 visitors19, which adds up to 39,000 per month and ca. 470,000 per year, with the foreign-language speaking guests constituting 18% of the overall visitors number. Another frequent-ly attended museum proved to be Oskar Schindler’s Factory, with as many as 270,000 visitors altogether in 2013, which gives an average of 22,000 visitors per month, while the numbers for the current year so far allow to predict this number will become even greater. From among nearly 270,000 visitors20 in 2013, as many as 167,821 were foreign-language speakers, which constitutes over 62% of the gross visitors number. Relation between the Polish and foreign-language speakers in Oskar Schindler’s Factory balances around the same level since the institution’s inauguration: from ca. 62% in 2010 (from the overall number of 111,428 visitors between June of 2010 and the end of the year, the foreigner number counted 68,506), through near-ly 70% in 2011 (139,681 foreign visitors out of 199,684 gross visitors num-ber), up to ca. 65% in 2012. The attendance statistics for the Museum of

18 The data regarding the attendance in particular institutions were obtained owing to the courtesy of each institution, based on the relevant statistics available on-site.

19 Data for the current period.20 Precisely 269,950 people.

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the Home Army demonstrate an increased number of visitors compared to the anteceding year – in 2013 the museum had been visited by 34,239 peo-ple (which gives over 2,800 visitors per month), whereas this year (201421) – 41,509 people (which in turn makes 3,700 visitors per month), while the organized groups constituted over 20% of the overall visitors number in 2013 with ca. 25% in 2014 so far22.

As the aim of the research was not a  comparative analysis based on quantitative data obtained from particular institutions, the varying number of surveys for each of them presented no obstacle for the planned scrutiny, while certainly in the course of the project I attempted to obtain as much in-formation as possible. Above all, in each institution’s instance, the surveys served as a background and a context for the detailed analysis of the ma-terial acquired from the interviews conducted later on, as well as – treated collectively, summing up to 342 – as the basis to draw certain conclusions regarding the audience visiting Polish historical museums. Needless to say, it must be taken into account that the institutions selected for the research are of a very peculiar profile – situated in two largest cities of Poland, two of which (Warsaw Rising Museum and Oskar Schindler’s Factory) being very popular and acclaimed among visitors, unambiguously recognized as the tourist attractions. Adding to that, the Museum of the Home Army, howev-er inaugurated later than the above two and with a renown not yet equally established, offers a scale, spacial extent and range of appeal comparable to both nonetheless. Last but not least, significantly different in each of the above three criteria, the Museum of Wola completes the entire set. Despite the differences – and partly due to them – the overall survey results along with the analysis of the material obtained from interviews conducted, are setting point of departure for outlining the characteristics of expectations, motivations and habits of Polish audience visiting the historical museums, as well as of the experience the latter generate.

The survey for each of the institutions contained the same question-naire that consisted of: basic information questions regarding a visitor, sig-nificant in the light of research problem (age, education, mode of viewing:

21 Data gathered on November the 25th, 2014.22 As above.

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autonomous, accompanied by relatives or close friends, or within an or-ganized group, place of residence: to distinct between the locals and the sightseers), questions regarding the visitor’s companions (distinguishing the children and the guests invited by the visitors), question regarding the frequency of attending historical museums in general, question regarding the motivations behind the visit, questions regarding the level of viewer’s satisfaction after the visit and an additional set of questions about what caught their special attention during the visit and what they particularly remembered, whether or not they bought a souvenir and if they intend on recommending the museum visit to anyone and / or returning on sometime in the future themselves. The last set of questions attempted to establish whether the viewers’ whole visit experience proved to be significant or in-tense enough for them to make them try to perpetuate the memory of it, tell others about it or re-live it themselves. Moreover, the survey contained three open questions: a question to point out and name specific emotions the museum visit evoked, a question about an object or element that they particularly remembered and a question asking for consent to give an in-terview along with the request to leave an email or a phone number in case such consent was given. The location to conduct the survey was always agreed with the staff of the institution, taking advantage of their kind sug-gestions. It was necessary that the location where I stopped the viewers for a while, asking for their participation in the research and briefly explaining its purpose, allowed them to complete the survey afterwards as well. These places were most often the areas right beside the exit from the museum, where the visitors could find a  table or a  counter to sit by and fill in the questionnaire at.

However some interviews were conducted directly after the respond-ents have finished their museum tour, the majority of these conversations took place after a certain amount of time. The temporal distance between the conversations and the actual visits, however, was in most cases short enough not to observe significant distortions in viewers’ recollections. That said, I believe that – should I have opportunity to carry on with the investigation within this research field – I would be inclined to purposely increase the time distance and return to some respondents after signifi-cantly prolonged amount of time to conduct the interviews once more. The

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interviews mostly served to demonstrate the insight into the ways in which the visitors describe their visit experiences and the exhibited content they had an opportunity to view, as well as the emotions the above evoked (if any) altogether. They also aimed to embrace the way the particular museum affects its visitors and the effect it has on their knowledge and perception of the exhibited subject.

As far as the very viewers subjected to research are concerned, it had been as early as the preliminary stage when I had to make choices narrow-ing down the group of potential respondents, which I ultimately confirmed after the study visits and museums staff consultations. Bearing in mind the researched problem addressed in the present thesis, I decided in the first instance to resign from taking into account research-wise the foreign-lan-guage speakers. Actually, it had been no later than during the very process of preparing the idea of the project when I had already made a decision to exclude this group of viewers. Another group ousted from the research was an instance of an organized group, including the museum tours for schools. Doubtlessly, such viewers otherwise constitute a  very interesting group, deserving a  separate study. However, touring a  museum as a  member of an organized group, often with an on-site or specifically employed for that occasion guide, additionally put in the context of visiting another city and other elements of such trip’s programme, proceeds entirely different than the individual visit and, hence, constitutes a completely different type of experience. Additional reason behind such decision was I have been specif-ically after having a closer look at the motivations that trigger the viewers’ will to visit a museum, due to the fact that – as discussed in the initial part of the present study – they are considered crucial by many researchers for shaping the visit experience. Hence, I  mostly concentrated on the group whose visit was an initiative of either themselves or family and friends, as a form of spending a free-time. Moreover, following the exclusion of organ-ized groups per se from the study, I decided (however not always have I had full control in that matter) to also exclude the smaller guided tours (with ei-ther on-site or external guides). All things considered, I decided to conduct the research mostly during weekends or on holidays.

The material obtained as an effect of the qualitative and quantitative research provides the data, analysis of which far exceeds the constraints

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of the present study, as well as it produces engaging contexts and intui-tions regarding the questions not directly connected to the central theme of the present thesis23. While doing the mandatory selection and concen-trating mainly on the material potentially bearing answers to the research question put forward, particularly vast passages of this thesis are devoted to the conclusions arising from the participant observation and the ques-tions undertaken during interviews, marking in the footnotes – should the information not appear in the main body of the text – which museum the given conversation was about. Significantly enough, in many interviews regarding the Museum of Wola, Oskar Schindler’s Factory and the Museum of the Home Army, apparent are the recurring references to – often distant in time – a visit in Warsaw Rising Museum, hence the remarks concerning the latter one may actually come from conversations originally regarding the former ones. The very observation is treated here as a significant con-clusion resulting from the research conducted. Although the statistics and unfading popularity of Warsaw Rising Museum unambiguously indicate that the experience of a visit in this particular museum is probably shared by the considerable number of potential respondents, the research also allowed to draw certain conclusions regarding the significance of the said experience not only for the way in which the viewers perceive the event presented in the museum, but above all – for shaping the expectations brought along by the visitors to different museums, preferred types of rep-resentations of historical representations within a museum and the role associated with them.

Putting in order and analyzing the material obtained from the inter-views, I decided not to superimpose the steady terminology and categories upon the phenomena and the processes and so the terms and expressions

23 The survey results charts presented in cross-tables enable tracing the relation between such factors as the level of satisfaction after the visit versus a feeling of having acquired a portion of knowledge, education level versus the repeated visits factor, motivations and expectations versus the way of viewing/touring the museum, etc. Such questions – supported and supplemented by further research – I intend to develop in the doctorial dissertation now in the making.

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as uttered by the very respondents, by creating a set of in vivo24 categories, have become the tool of the analysis, to which I shall henceforth refer in the present thesis.

24 However such approach is commonly utilized – for more information regarding in vivo, see (among others): B. Fatyga, Koncepcja badania dokumentów strategicznych w ich czę-ściach dotyczących kultury, report available on: http://ozkultura.pl/sites/default/files/strona-archiwum/%20Barbara%20Fatyga,%20KONCEPCJA%20BADANIA%20DOKU-MENTÓW%20STRATEGICZNYCH.pdf (accessed: October the 10th, 2014).

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Research conclusions summary

who visits museums?

In the course of a conscious choice, I resigned from considering the or-ganized groups of visitors relevant research-wise. Although their numbers tend to differ for various institutions, it usually constitutes a considerable percentage of the overall visitors number25. Who are the ones, then, who visit a museum out of their own initiative, treating it as a form of spending their leisure time?

Nearly 60% of all the respondents – recruited from the willingly visit-ing ones in their free time – declared they brought their family or friends26 along, with the age span of 60%27 being between 25 and 60 years old and 34%28 remaining – 24 years old or less. Over 62%29 of the gross number of the visitors declared to have obtained higher education, with 27%30 declar-ing a secondary31 one.

The very presence of the visit companions and their role in the affair was also one of the significant observations made and it found confirma-tion in the quantitative research results (the question „has anyone come with you to the museum today?” was answered „yes” by 89,2% of respond-ents, while 59,4% of all surveyed visitors in all museums altogether de-

25 Between ca. 80-85% in the Rising Museum.26 Precisely 59.4%.27 Precisely 58.2%.28 Precisely 34.5%.29 Precisely 62.3%.30 Precisely 27.5%.31 Which proved related to the visitors’ age.

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clared they are visiting with family or friends32), which corresponds with other researchers’ results, among others – the ones brought forth by John H. Falk in the context of American society33. Filling the questionnaire was in many instances treated as an integral part of the collective museum vis-it experience. The component of „acting together” occurred to be so im-portant that many times I had been forced to repeatedly explain why I am specifically after one single survey not being filled collectively (e.g. by sev-eral members of a family, a couple of teenagers or by both of the spouses). Similarly, multiple times – especially among the families – proposals were made by the respondents to have one family representative fill the survey in on behalf of all others, which I was initially inclined to read it as a de-cision resulting from economical calculation of leisure-time saving (while one member fills the questionnaire in, the others may take time to shop in the souvenir store, outdoors or in any other way for that matter), however in the course of gathering the material I observed the groups do not want to split as willingly as I initially anticipated and in most cases all of the mem-bers want to participate in the collective survey-filling by one designated representative. Repeated attempts to convince visitors to fill the question-naires independently had usually met positive replies34.

32 Among the remaining respondents, answering the question about the manner of visit-ing, 23,1% ticked the option “autonomously” and as little as 9.9% - the option “within the organized group”, while the low quantity of latter sort answers results from the fact that the research has been conducted mainly during weekends and holidays, when the museums are rather scarcely visited by organized groups (however exceptions could be observed). By no means does it constitute an evidence of poor attendance of organized groups in the surveyed museums (statistics of Warsaw Rising Museum unambiguously indicate that ca. 80-85% of all visitors throughout the last decade were the ones from the organized school groups, whereas for Oskar Schindler’s Factory this value fluctu-ates between 18% and 21% for the subsequent years).

33 Apart from that, Falk and Dierking juxtapose the results of different instances of re-search, including the ones exposing similar schemes present in the countries of the West, i.e., Great Britain, see: J. H. Falk, L. D. Dierking, The Museum Experience, Washing-ton, DC 1992, p.20.

34 A significant factor affecting this repetitive scheme is clearly the fact that that at the moment when the initial distrustful reaction towards the participation in the survey becomes familiarized by one of the group members- especially when it is a parent – it becomes more attractive for the rest.

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The only exceptions to the above proved to be families with little chil-dren35 (especially with several years old ones). In majority of such situations, the children were allowed by the parents to participate in the process of filling the survey in (they have been often appointed to the task of ticking the answers pointed out by the parent), while at the same time being ques-tioned or convinced by the parents to recount the other museums visits so far. The surveyed parents have often been adding a direct commentary to these recollections, justifying their children-raising and educational de-cisions, often complaining about the general shortages of formal educa-tion (e.g. „the school is unable to interest children with the history” that kept recurring in the interviews), praises addressed towards the museum as a satisfactory educational environment („it is in the museums where the children can actually learn something, it does interest them because it is presented in an attractive form”) and dwelling on the personal educational policy („me and my wife take children to the museums anytime we trav-el, and even if we don’t go anywhere, we do visit local exhibitions on Sun-days36”).

The visitor experience – however individualized it may be – is strongly rooted in the social context, with a significant component of interaction with family and friends (a separate category is constituted by the people to whom, for various reasons, we want to show the museum to – 16.6% took the guests visiting their homes to the museum). It does correspond to the remarks of Falk and Dierking who not only pay special attention to the role of the social context in the shaping of visitor experience, but also to its particular importance for the way the visitors perceive the museum, dominated by the functional standpoint, resulting from the practical needs (museum as the space where the children or guests can be taken for enter-tainment) and clearly defined role with which they identify (role of a con-sumer / a client – as opposed to an expert / designer).

35 From among the overall number of the respondents, 15.7% declared they were visiting the museum with a child.

36 The remarks are direct quotations from the notes taken at the time of research.

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boundaries of an assumed role

The question of the role with which the visitors identify found its re-flection in my research – both quantitative and qualitative ones. Although the visitors zealously share their impressions from a museum visit and are equally eager to express opinions regarding the exhibition, the character of these opinions is clearly limited to the mentioned functional perspec-tive. The questions that presumed triggering a critical reflection upon the current and the potential shape of an exhibition and its very construction, were met with little understanding with a  clear indication that such dis-course is located within the experts’ domain and exceeds the competence of the respondents37. On one hand, such situation could be interpreted with reference to the theses of Laurajane Smith quoted earlier, who claims that – in the context of discussing the history and heritage, as well as their representations – the division into „experts” and „laymen” is particularly solidified and very strongly internalized, especially by the latter ones38. On the other hand, following the intuition of Falk and Dierking, one could as-sume that the above emerges from the fear that the visitors will not recog-nize themselves as proper addressees of such kind of questions. Although the visitors, characterizing the museum space, enthusiastically juxtaposed the impressions from the institution visited at a  time of a  research with what they intuitively identified as a  „traditional museum”39, pointing out

37 I decided to incorporate two questions that presumed the necessity of a reflection on the very construction of the exhibition, to which most respondents replied negatively: the question “do you think some subjects have been granted too extensive exhibition space?” has been answered “no” by 94.7% of the visitors, while the question “do you think any subjects have been granted too little exhibition space?” has been answered negatively by 87.4% of the visitors (collective data for all the institutions discussed). These results may, before anything else, prove that this type of reflection exceeded the role with which the visitors were willing to identify themselves. Both questions, if an-swered positively, assumed room to exemplify such selection but even the respondents answered one of these questions positively, few of the surveyed visitors pointed out particular elements, e.g. “weapons section” in the Warsaw Rising Museum and “empty space in the ground floor” in Museum of Wola.

38 See: L. Smith, The Uses of Heritage, Routledge, London 2006.39 Some visitors used an expression “traditional museum”, others called it a “standard mu-

seum” or “classic museum”.

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and emphasizing the differences between institutions of the latter sort and a  „modern museum”, underlining with equal zeal the importance of the strategies applied in these modern ones as more effective means of con-veying knowledge about the history, they almost unequivocally40 refused to engage in critical discussion of the very exhibition under the criteria of the choice of contents and the form of their presentation. The viewers analyzed the museum space mostly from the perspective of two potential functions: as an educational space (focusing mainly on its potential effec-tiveness in conveying knowledge and shaping demeanors) and as the one to spend leisure-time in, especially accompanied by family and friends (focus-ing on the area of comfort and attractiveness41).

The above mentioned research evoked by Falk and Dierking also show that among the family groups in American society, the most popular sort of institution – apart from the museums targeting the children exclusively – are the science and technology centers, whereas the historical museums (beside the museums of natural history) constitute a more rare choice, while the family groups constitute the least fraction of overall visitors count in art museums42. Beyond any doubt, it is very unlikely to find an analogy in such context, mainly and foremostly because the entire offer of the muse-um market in Poland is by all means structured differently43. A context not to be disregarded is also the meaning attached to the history education as a crucial factor in upbringing and encouraging universal values44 among the youth, which often constitutes a decisive factor while taking an initiative of a collective historical museum visit, especially among families with chil-

40 In this context, the respondents in Museum of Wola proved to considerably differ; in the instance of Warsaw Rising Museum – only two respondents made an exception.

41 A quote from one of the interviews with the respondent in Warsaw Rising Museum: “The building is very modern and facilitates all the possible needs, it is adapted for disa-bled visitors and the queues don’t make you wait for too long, so (…) such experience is good without being additionally frustrating”.

42 Falk and Dierking quote the research results, according to which the family groups may constitute around 80% of the overall number of the visitors in the centers for science and approx. 10% of the art museums visitors.

43 However Centrum Nauki Kopernik (Kopernik Center for Science), commonly perceived as modern and appealing, enjoys considerable popularity among the visitors.

44 However the set of values in question tends to be differently defined.

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dren. The educational function tends to be commonly underlined as well, with an emphasis on the target group of young people – sometimes clearly pointing at the post-primary school youth45.

alternative education in values

In the perception of the meaning a museum visit carries along – espe-cially with reference to the Warsaw Rising Museum, Museum of the Home Army and Oskar Schindler’s Factory – which is strongly marked by the per-sonal context and individual motivations behind such visit, the respondents highly emphasize the educational function. The conducted research shows that the museum is foremostly perceived as an attractive educational envi-ronment, creating on one hand an alternative to the formal education which is often identified as „rough” and „boring”, unfit to the needs of a contem-porary young human being, and on the other – a tool of shaping the desired demeanors and educating in universal values. The youth aside, the target group often pointed out are also the foreigners, who, owing to the muse-um visit, expand their knowledge of the Polish history. In such instance, a museum visit is perceived as an alternative to official historiography and popular-science publications, which not only are described as less attrac-tive but also as the kind of sources the discussed target groups will never come to use. In the case of foreigner guests, a museum is often identified as a sole opportunity to get acquainted with the basic facts and milestones in the history of a country (as they are otherwise out of the formal education scope).

Even though the thread of educating the foreigners in Polish history manifests itself as a secondary one, in the research results the emphasis on educational function proves dominant, with clear pointing out the youth as an addressee and the crucial target group. Exposing the role of a museum as a tool of education the youth (e.g. indicating a specific age category – in this instance, most often the post-primary school age, defined as par-ticularly “difficult”) on one hand, of course, emerges from a conviction that

45 One of the respondents – dwelling on her own recollections – emphasized a strong need for education of the youth between these age margins.

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there exists an age group going through a crucial educational process, di-rectly linked to formal school education. The youth, however, is often being pointed out as the target group also owing to the type of the message (ap-plying means closer to the younger generation of visitors) and the type of experience (based on emotional involvement) the mentioned institutions have to offer.

Also the respondents professionally bonded with formal education ex-pressed a strong need of the supporting the traditional school education with the experiences of the discussed sort, with the museums being men-tioned as an attractive element carrying a potential to enrich the historical education as much as the cinema does, while the Polish historical movies produced in the past several years were rather unequivocally identified as a significant factor building up and increasing the engagement of the stu-dents in the subjects discussed during a lesson46.

The thread of educating in universal values and shaping the righteous demeanors constituted, along with being an alternative for the formal edu-cation (while remaining closely interconnected, too), another factor highly influencing the museum visit being granted a  special importance. A  mu-seum has been frequently described by the respondents as a  place with a  world-view changing potential. Although the values the respondents were pointing out as the key ones were not always convergent and tended to be differently defined – from promoting particular sets of values related to a certain viewpoint (e.g. a conservative one), to rather vaguely outlined universal values – there has been no argument among them whatsoever as to museum’s significance in educating in values as such.

Exposition of the educational function also recurs in the interviews as a key argument for the existence of the institutions of the discussed sort and for a potential need of founding new ones. The above is well reflected in the results of the quantitative research – among the most recently de-clared motivations behind a visit, the majority of respondents mention the need of getting to know a little more about history and recognizing a given event or topic as a significant one47.

46 A respondent in Museum of Wola, a historian, underlined the significance of the con-temporary cinematic productions on World War II for her professional practice.

47 The question about motivations was a multiple-choice one, so each and every visitor

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In addition to that, the vast majority of the respondents claimed that during their museum visit they learned something new (92,7%), while more than half of them declared the visit had no significant impact on chang-ing their perception of a  particular moment (or period) in the history of Poland48. However the theme of altering the visitor’s attitude towards an exhibited subject kept recurring particularly among the Museum of Wola respondents (which in turn was directly tied to the conviction they com-monly shared – that the exhibition’s theme has been unjustly marginalized so far), it also emerged among some visitors of the remaining museums.

experts and fiends

The results brought up above concerning the visitors’ declarations with regards to newly acquired knowledge had set an interesting back-ground for the analysis of the qualitative research material, where similarly asked questions were mostly responded to with a strong emphasis on the visitors’ own high competence while presenting history as their personal passion, cherished and developed independently on formal education (in most cases readily accomplished or left behind). Far more frequently than the survey results might have suggested, the visitors were inclined to ad-mit that during the visit they learned nothing new whatsoever, but merely consolidated the knowledge they already possessed.

It is worthy to evoke the deliberations of Falk and Dierking at this point, who, by analyzing the mechanisms determining selection of content (af-fecting what is actually remembered), foremostly stress the influence of knowledge steadily acquired beforehand and the significance of repetition. The knowledge gathered earlier facilitates the process of remembering

could pick more than one answer, while the question “why did you come to the museum today?” was either answered “to learn something new about the history” (by 26.4% re-spondents) or “because the event it presents is of importance to me” (by 23.5% respon-dents), while another frequently picked answer was “because it has been recommended to me” (11.4% respondents).

48 The question “did today’s visit altered anything in your reception of this moment in the Polish history?” was answered negatively by 52.3% of the respondents, while 44.2% answered “yes”. Few of the latter group provided more detailed justification of their choice.

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information related to something occurring as familiar, and the repetition reinforces its consolidation, which might explain the claim so common among the respondents that the visit only consolidated their previous knowledge.

Moreover, such mode of answer undoubtedly remains in accordance with zealously assumed role of a  hobbyist / an expert, integral element of which is possessing – be it extensive or not – knowledge in the area of history and emphasizing one’s own position over the other visitors. In the light of the discussed problem, the results of quantitative research con-stitute a valuable material: from among the preferred sources of historical knowledge49, the respondents enumerate books in the first place (22.7%), museums in the second (18.6%) and, subsequently, cinema and television (17.4%), family (13%), media (12.8%), to close the set with school in the last place (11.5%). It appears that such collation, juxtaposed with the analysis of the visitors’ responses, may question the value of family stories as in-tuitive sources of knowledge, whereas an association of “knowledge” as such with the materials applied in formal education seems to reflect on the reality more accurately. Also the questions about what the visitors remem-bered best out of the entire exhibition (while in that instance they primarily recalled certain places that occurred most moving to them) brought a set of answers distinguishing between the “knowledge” and the “experience”. At the same time during recollections regarding the emotions the muse-um visit evoked, the respondents eagerly brought forward the importance of the stories of World War II passed on in their family as elements estab-lishing a link between their individual biography and the history (especially the general and the political one), as well as a significant context for the experience of a museum visit or a factor determining what from within the exhibition they recognized as most important50.

49 Multiple-choice question.50 One of the respondents in Museum of Wola (only at a certain stage of the conversation)

provided a moving context for his museum visit experience. Namely, he himself esca-ped untimely death as he left with his parents for the summer vacation in Jozefow at the time of the gruesome happenings. Another one told about his experience of living in the Wola district and discovering its history – including the Wola Massacre as well – as a significant element of his daily experiences and building up a personal relation with these events. Both gentlemen underlined the importance of the possibility to bring about their own children to the exhibition or recommend it to someone else.

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In the quantitative research results quoted above, regarding the pre-ferred sources of historical knowledge, a high rank given to the museums may be read as confirming the fact that they are commonly recognized as significant educational environments as well as the tools for shaping a world-view. Simultaneously, from among the entire surveyed group, 35% denominate themselves as frequent historical museum goers (2-4 timer a year), while over 40% declare visiting historical museums once a year or less frequently and 14% of respondents – once every couple of years. Many of the surveyed visitors presented fixed expectations as to what a historical museum should look like.

what a historical museum should look like?

The survey showed a quarter of the gross visitors number visited a mu-seum another time in a row, while for some of them it was the second visit in the institution, whereas the remaining fraction returned there for the third of fourth time overall51. The majority of the respondents, describing the exhibition spaces of Warsaw Rising Museum, Oskar Schindler’s Factory, or Museum of the Home Army, clearly pointed out the features related to the “black box” metaphor I applied, while firmly stressing the importance of the predominant colors in the interior design (dark shades, often juxta-posed with red accents) and half-dimness or “atmospheric lighting”. Inter-estingly enough, the visitors characterizing the exhibition space in Museum of Wola considered its raw sternness and the dominance of whiteness with occasional black elements as original arrangement. One of the respondents decisively remarked, that the utilizing black text on a white background is specific for an art museum, whereas a historical museum usually operates with white text on a black background, even though – he added after a mo-ment of consideration – it is probably less legible. Another respondent sug-gested that dimming the light within the exhibition devoted to Reinefarth would considerably increase the feeling of immersion and contemplation

51 75% of overall respondents number visited particular institution for the very first time, while from among the 25% of the ones visiting the museum another time in a row, half visited for the second time whereas 31.8% of the re-visiting advised they came around for the fourth time or more.

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upon the presented subject. Among the remarks concerning the Museum of Wola, recurring ones were also the above mentioned juxtapositions with the Warsaw Rising Museum52, the latter constituting the point of reference – quite surprisingly – primarily in the field of the exhibition arrangement, and only secondarily basic theme-wise. Although majority of the respond-ents commented upon the ways the exhibition space has been arranged, emphasizing the role of contrasts in the first instance, they rarely associ-ated this curatorial choice with the very subject of the presentation. Quite commonly though, commenting upon a scarce amount of objects present within the exhibition space53, they derived this fact from the happenings of the very Massacre and the likes, aftermath of which often leaves no appar-ent traces nor objects that could be secured as memento.

An opportunity of a  direct contact with a  particular authentic docu-ment and object has been appreciated, though, by a group of Museum of the Home Army visitors54. One respondent also underlined the significance of Museum of the Home Army as the place carrying a potential of meeting the living eye-witnesses and participants of the events presented there, remarking that – while evoking the commonly emphasized importance of the exhibition’s interactiveness – the meaning of interacting with a living human being55.

52 Which were undoubtedly even more common as both the museums were located in Warsaw and majority of the respondents who visited the Museum of Wola, had already had the experience of visiting the Rising Museum.

53 The exhibition devoted to Reinefarth houses one tiny cabinet containing several photo-graphs and but one exhibit – a tie.

54 These visitors, though, themselves above 60 years of age, underlined the importance of the contact with authentic object for them, while instantly adding that for a younger audience, used to constant presence of computers, more attractive would be an exhi-bition utilizing technology and specific arrangement of space. “The most important thing is there is a great many of files and documents (…). Something that lived along with the human (…) The rest is just the designer’s imagination”; “Authentic documents, authentic photographs – because it is supposed to be a touch of history of sorts. And that’s what moves me most”.

55 “The Museum of the Home Army, apart from the exhibitory function as a museum, with all these exhibit-filled cabinets, is the space for meeting the people who are still alive. (…) My point being, that the term interactive is used, but this interactiveness is just the one with a computer. Can I tell what I really think as it’s being recorded? I think it’s worth less than a pile of crap! (…) If interactivity is to be present in such exhibitions,

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Museum as the means of getting closer to the past, or a “touch of his-tory”, resounds particularly vivid in the recollections of visits in Warsaw Rising Museum, Museum of the Home Army and Oskar Schindler’s Factory. A possibility of reducing the distance separating them from the past and an impression of immersion in all the recollections constituted a central theme, that directly resulted in emotional engagement of the visitors in the story told.

a time travel

The visitors, as already remarked above, not only seem to have fixed set of specific expectations towards a  historical exhibition, but also are able to clearly associate particular strategies with potential effectiveness in achieving goals, considered crucial by themselves, among which the above mentioned educational function is put to the foreground.

They often clearly point out the way in which particular means and strategies utilized within the exhibition translate into effectiveness in en-gaging the visitors’ attention, in order to impose on them even stronger an effect. Such reflection, however, does not seem to collide with their own experience of “being involved”. Moreover, describing their experience of immersion and the associated emotions, the visitors eagerly affix it with a meta-commentary, underlining the effectiveness of such strategy and – most often – its positive effects. In such context they most frequently bring forward an experience, which – however described with an aid of various metaphors – I collectively denominate here as a “time travel”, opening up the possibility of getting closer to the past and being immersed by it.

The experience of immersion is also reflected in the way the museum visit is described, through naming specific emotions it produced in the visitors. The material obtained from the quantitative research shows two groups of answers to the open question regarding the emotions accom-panying the visit are brought to the foreground. First one consists of the answers describing an attitude of interest in the contents presented within

than someone has to… This is my brand new thought. If they want interactivity than it’s okay if this computer is put somewhere, (…) but it is not the computer but the alive and breathing human being [that one should interact with”.

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the exhibition. This group often contained such answers as: “being drawn into”, “interest”, “curiosity”. The latter group contains the expressions aiming to seize and name the affective reaction to what the visitors were confronted with during the visit. The most frequent replies here were: “sor-row”, “fear / anxiety56” and – a little more scarce – “reflection / considera-tion” and “being touched / moved”, to the least often occurring “grief” and “being upset”. In the context of the question of potential power of appeal of particular exhibition strategies in evoking the experience of immersion and an impression of a time travel – this second group in particular presents an interesting material.

The differences between the Museum of Wola exhibition and the exhi-bitions of Oskar Schindler’s Factory, Warsaw Rising Museum and Museum of the Home Army also deserve special attention. In the case of the for-mer, the visitors most often mentioned the feeling of “sorrow” and, less frequently, “anger / wrath”, whereas the latter three for the most part evoked the feeling of “sorrow” as often as they made the viewers “moved / touched” and “fearful / anxious”. These expressions often recur in the in-terviews material as well.

In the instances of Museum of the Home Army, Oskar Schindler’s Fac-tory and the Warsaw Rising Museum, a vast majority of respondents un-derlined that – as an answer to the above mentioned frequently evoked shortages in formal education and “raw” workbook knowledge – the muse-um positively stands out because it allows to “feel how it must have been back then57”. Many respondents emphasized the meaning of emotional en-gagement for the lasting of memory, as well as triggering of the processes of a true understanding of the past events’ meaning in order to change or shape certain types of demeanor.

56 Also in the variation of first person singular: “I was scared” / “I was afraid”.57 A respondent from Oskar Schindler’s Factory.

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visitor’s experience: an attempt of reconstruction

It is the three contexts that build up to create the experience model proposed by John H. Falk and Lynn D. Dierking: the personal one, the so-cial one and the physical one. The first one roots the museum visit in the individual experience of the visitor, his or her biography and the acquired knowledge, the second one embraces the entire set of social interactions that accompanies the visit, the third one in turn is interconnected with the way a visitor places him or herself in the particular museum space, one that can significantly affect his or her frame of mind and the reception of the presented contents – both through the prepared exhibition strategies and in the broader sense.

In the course of the analysis of the discussed material from the quali-tative research, the foreground is taken by the categories concerned with the three particular contexts, that were in most instances reflected in the quantitative research as well.

The participant observation conducted in the discussed institutions demonstrated the importance of the social context in the experience of visiting them, which was further confirmed by the material gathered in the quantitative research58. Moreover, the educational aspect has often been put to the foreground by the respondents. It proved to be of particu-lar importance in the instance of families with children but is by no means confined to that group exclusively and beyond any doubt serves as an ar-gument for the ones who are eager to consider themselves fiends, caring for expanding their knowledge59. Vast majority of the respondents were in-clined to recommend the museum to other people in the future (indicating various groups, most often the youth), with most of these visitors claiming they have already recommended it to either family or friends.

58 9.6% – it was a multiple-choice question. At the same time, the visitors who took part in quantitative research, chosing from various motivations behind the decision to visit the museum, did not indicate the will to spend their leisure time like this.

59 One respondent in the Museum of Wola presented a long list of people, to whom she recommended a visit in the museum, including her co-workers, family and friends, and then she underlined that she always tries to share such experiences with the people around and to recommend the events and places she considers worthy.

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A  conviction of an educational potential of a  museum, as means of alternative education and a tool of educating in universal values, is a cat-egory interconnected with the personal context of a  visit, and the indi-vidual needs and motivations related to it. It is aligned with the commonly expressed presumption that the personal and emotional involvement is significant for effective learning. Falk and Dierking, analyzing the process of learning within a museum, underline the impact of strong emotions in the process of remembering60, which is also often recurring a theme in the remarks and declarations of exhibition creators. At the same time, as interviewing the visitors indicated, the emotional engagement facilitates building a  personal relation with the events of the past, which is based on – experienced in varying ways – identification with the participants of the presented events61, inscribing one’s own story onto the one present-ed in the museum through the reference to the stories told by family and friends, personal recollections and daily experiences62 or positioning one-self as the heir of the stories presented in the exhibition63. Although in the quantitative research a vast majority of visitors declare that the museum visit contributed to expanding their knowledge and despite the commonly shared conviction that a  museum is, before anything else, an education-al environment, the very course and the specifics of the process of learn-ing in the discussed museums would require conducting a  broader scale

60 Ibid., pp.100-114.61 A respondent in the Museum of the Home Army: “I’ve always imagined myself in such

situation, in these times (…). What would I do? How would I act?”; a respondent in War-saw Rising Museum: “It is a little depressing that we are not as they were, that couldn’t fight like this for our city, our country”; respondent in Warsaw Rising Museum:”(…) if in the present day, me and my peers were given the chance to make a similar decision, to fight or not to fight, I would grab a gun with no hesitation, and I would not care for some politics or for the city buildings – the buildings can always be rebuild. So as such, I recall this museum visit as very heart-warming, I left so, I would say, encouraged”; one of the respondents in the Museum of Wola, during the survey filling, how difficult an experience was for her to be confronted with the interview with Wanda Lurie presented within the exhibition (she was a woman who survived the Wola Massacre, while being in an advanced stage of pregnancy), because she could not help but identifying with the protagonist of the story and kept on deliberating on her pregnancy and maternity.

62 Such as an experience of living in a place stigmatized by certain happenings.63 This thread recurs during the conversations with the Warsaw Rising Museum visitors

but also with the Museum of Wola ones.

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research, concentrating mainly on this very aspect of visitor experience64. A proposal of the broad understanding of the process of learning created by Falk and Dierking, assumes also that this process is in itself far more than mere information acquisition (e.g. regarding specific facts, interrela-tions between particular events, etc.), which is denominated by the above quoted respondents as “scientific / textbook / raw knowledge”. In their in-dividual perception, the emphasis is clearly put on developing the skill of understanding, that is supposed to be rooted in emotional engagement, immersion, “being drawn into”, or – as one might call it – in the experience of distance reduction.

The above recognitions demonstrate that the exhibitions assembled around spectacle-based strategies and aiming at constructing an emotion-al engagement of the visitor through the impression of immersion, consti-tute a type of representation which tends to be favored and privileged by the viewers65. The appeal of such exhibitions, without a shadow of a doubt, contributes to consolidating the picture of a particular event or a moment as an important one, and to spreading forth the particular type of narration it is related to66. It is hardly possible to unambiguously repel the allegations put forth by Kevin Walsh67, who claims that the strategies of this sort do not necessarily align with stimulation of a  critical reflection on the past, through exposing the meaning of a  perspective and a  context in which a given narration is formulated, as well as its associations with particular needs of the modern times. Simultaneously, it does nonetheless outline a fascinating research field to continue the scrutiny of.

64 Without a doubt, even the respondents who declared in interviews that the museum vi-sit merely solidified the knowledge they already possessed, have also – especially in the light of the definition proposed by Falk and Derking, that exposes the process-oriented and accumulative character of the act of learning – learned something themselves.

65 This is confirmed by the differences in the reception of exhibitions in the Museum of Wola and the remaining three museums.

66 Through the emotional engagement of the visitors, the mechanism of identification and / or linking the story told with one’s own biography, that facilitates this story’s per-sonalization and familiarization process.

67 K. Walsh, The Representations of the Past. Museums and heritage in the post-modern world, Routledge, London New York, 2002, p. 104.