The museum is a special social institution that performs many sociocultural functions. It makes sense to consider the concept and functions of a museum in modern conditions, since the passage of time has a considerable influence on this definition.
The essence of the museum
A museum is a special kind of cultural institution that is a concentrated expression of the culture of the present and the past. Through this social institution, a person can adapt to the ever-changing conditions of the world. Being in a museum, a person enters into a dialogue with culture and historical events, which forms his spectrum of value ideas. Each visitor perceives museum exhibits in his own way, and that is why comprehension and analysis require a separate explanation and contemplation. The museum provides a person with a holistic view of the past and present tense through his own spiritual efforts, as well as overcoming external and personal stereotypes and internal barriers.
The implementation of the main functions of the museum contributes to the establishment of socio-cultural relationships in society. It also performs the function of ensuring the interaction of different cultures, the study of national traditions and cultural heritage.
The concept
The concept of a museum is associated with the dichotomous nature of its goals: preservation of historical and cultural heritage for future generations and its simultaneous discovery for contemporaries. The very word "museum" came to us from Ancient Greece - museion - the temple of muses.
In ancient Greece, however, the concept of a museum differed significantly from its modern presentation: the museum was a place of contemplation and comprehensive knowledge of the world, a place of reflection.
In the Russian Encyclopedia, a museum is defined as a historically determined multifunctional institute of social memory, with the help of which a public need is realized for the preservation and representation of a special group of cultural and natural objects that society defines as especially valuable.
The constituent concepts of a museum are called:
- A collection of items that the collector interprets as value.
- The “Temple of Muses” is a space for collective action and collecting various works with a view to further understanding.
- Communication on the subject of the presented values.
The concept of a museum also includes a specific phenomenon of socio-cultural memory: a museum is created and exists to preserve memory, as well as to stabilize common values and norms in an existing society.
A museum is called a cultural, educational and research institution that carries out storage, acquisition, accounting, study and popularization of cultural, historical and nature monuments in accordance with its social functions of the museum. In this definition, the museum has a close relationship with its social function - the exhibits in this case play the role of direct sources of information about the culture, history, nature of individual societies or areas.
In the definition of this concept, the priority is enlightened, scientific and research nature, which serves to meet the needs of society in the use and storage of objects of surrounding reality as elements of historical memory, aesthetic value and social information.
The museum is intended for the accumulation and storage of information, as well as the identification of various patterns that relate to the processes of study, as well as the transfer of knowledge through museum exhibits. Seen from this point of view, the museum is both a social institution and a source of information.
In modernity, in addition to the processes of historical cognition, as well as the transfer of knowledge and experience and cultural and philosophical understanding, a component of aesthetic value is also invested in the concept of a museum. Now the museum has also become a cultural center and a powerful tool for social and cultural influence. At this point, the communicative component is also included, which implies the deliberate creation of museum funds in order to transmit complex information about the world through this specific communication channel. Thus, a special dialogue is created, which is aimed at creating a common holistic view of museum exhibits.
Functions
The museum contains many functions, however, as a rule, there are two most basic functions of the museum:
- Documentation function.
- The function is educational and educational.
Documentation
Documentation involves organized and targeted structuring of the reflection of various historical events, phenomena and facts, as well as socio-cultural processes through museum exhibits. This museum function is realized in the course of cognition and study of exhibits for the subsequent scientific description of objects. Thanks to such detailed descriptions, visitors have the opportunity to correctly and objectively perceive the objects presented in the museum.
Education
The educational function of the museum is based on the impact of exhibits on museum visitors. The latter is expressed in the large amount of information that each person who plunges into the museum’s information space receives. In the process of implementing this function of the modern museum, the cultural and cognitive needs of society are stimulated and satisfied. This function also manifests itself in various forms of expositional, cultural and educational activities.
The socio-cultural functions of the museum are of great importance, greatly influencing the perception, education and relationships of people in society. In modern society, visiting museums is considered a real social, historical and cultural duty: people are sensitive to cultural and historical memory, carefully preserving it and passing it from generation to generation. This role of the museum is facilitated by additional functions that it performs along with its main:
- The communicative (social) function of the museum.
- The function of symbolic impact on society.
- The function of organizing healthy leisure.
- The function of the universal preservation of national and cultural-historical memory.
- Socio-cultural function.
- The function of interaction on various spheres of the life of society and the individual.
- The function of professional museum activities.
The functions of the museum in modern society are quite extensive, since the museum plays many culturally, historically, socially and educationally significant roles.
Socio-cultural function
Whether it is a function of a local history museum or a function of a school museum, within the framework of its socio-cultural role, this cultural institution becomes a kind of intermediary between visitors and museum exhibits. In this phenomenon, the specificity of the museum as a communication system is manifested, which contributes to its definition as a socio-cultural institution. Realizing this function, the museum appears as an information and communication center, with the help of which the society gets the opportunity to satisfy its needs in the preservation and subsequent use of objects of surrounding reality as evidence of objective reality.
Thus, the museum also performs the function of transmitting socially significant knowledge. Objects of culture and history are carefully researched and presented as primary sources of knowledge, taking into account the existing understanding of the purpose of the museum and its role and functions in modern society.
Leisure activities
This entertaining function of museums (local history, historical - it doesn’t matter) is manifested in modern times when they began to realize their goals and tasks of acquainting visitors with the cultural and historical heritage of certain regions or other places. The fulfillment by the museum of this function is determined by the need of society for cultural forms of entertainment and leisure, as well as the need for emotional and cultural development.
Social memory function
It is sometimes distinguished separately from the documenting function, since some characteristic features of a particular historical period often impose its own specifics on museum work, as a result of which museums are transformed along with changes in the political, economic, social and spiritual spheres of society. For different peoples, representatives of various social groups and residents of different countries, this manifests itself in different ways, which forms its own special approaches to the classification and systematization of ideas about the world, the desire for beauty, harmony and aesthetics, which leads to the emergence of special specifics for the representation of museum exhibits. With this function, museums are able to preserve social memory, fixing it with the help of their exhibits.
The function of professional museum activities
This aspect is manifested in the form of division of labor. The general specialization of the museum employees performing their functions requires a sufficiently high level of training in the cultural, historical and social sphere. In practice, this function is implemented in all areas of museum work, which includes exposure, pedagogical, restoration, research, stock, educational and other activities.
Symbolic Impact Function
This function is due to the presence of an impressive layer of cultural symbols of various levels in different peoples. For example, at the state level, you can name such symbols as a flag, anthem, coat of arms, while at the city level symbols such as monuments, famous places, natural attractions and much more will be added. In the cultural and everyday level fall national clothes, musical instruments and much more. This category also includes various patterns of behavior and typical attitudes, the study of the past and social memory, which can be demonstrated in the form of museum exhibits or other evidence fixing the surrounding reality.
