Interpretation

Interpretation & Education

Visitors should enjoy and understand the museum they visit. Effective interpretation allows each visitor to personally connect with a resource or place and to care about the museums on their own terms. Interpretation is about getting the story across to the public. This can take place in text and images (text panels near showcases, guidebooks, websites, apps or movies), but can also be done by guide persons and is then called Live Interpretation: “any live interaction between museum / site staff and visitors” (Imtal-Europe).

Live Interpretation is an important method of presenting. It includes any interpretation, using living people to address the audience. One can simply start with guided tours, workshops and semi-formal School programs. If we move on to living history-type activities, we get demonstrations of historical craft, storytelling and costumed first- and third-person interpretation.

Check our Themed Collections:
Adult Education
Teaching Children

Mural Painting of a Roman Lady from Viminacium: From Roman Matron to the Modern Icon

Jelena Anđelković Grašar and

Milica Tapavički-Ilić (RS)

EXARC Journal Issue 2015/2

Interpretation

In very rare cases, a deceased woman is depicted alone, as in the tombs of Čalma

Read more about Mural Painting of a Roman Lady from Viminacium: From Roman Matron to the Modern Icon

Putting on a Show - The How and Why of Historical Shows and Theatre in a Historical Setting or Theme-park

Jaap Hogendoorn (NL) and

Erik Collinson (UK)

EXARC Journal Issue 2015/1

Interpretation

As long as people have walked the earth, stories have been told; from stories around the campfire told by older people to entertain and educate the young, to 15th century knights dressing up as Romans during themed tournaments. Telling a story is putting on a little show; a show is a great way to tell a story... Including Spartacus in Archeon by Erik Collinson

Read more about Putting on a Show - The How and Why of Historical Shows and Theatre in a Historical Setting or Theme-park

Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) and Reenactment - Concept, Problems, Approaches in Our Experience

Gábor Fábián (HU)

EXARC Journal Issue 2014/2

Interpretation

There are several reasons why this is so. First of all, re-enactment itself started with the recreation of battles; the tradition goes back all the way to the Roman Empire (for example the naumachia scene during the opening of the Flavian Amphitheatre)

Read more about Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) and Reenactment - Concept, Problems, Approaches in Our Experience

Recommended Literature

ANDERSON, J., 1984, Time Machines. The World of Living History. Nashville Tennessee: The American Association for State and Local History.

DUISBERG, H., 2008, Living History in Freilichtmuseen. Neue Wege der Geschichtsvermittlung, Ehestorf: Förderverein des Freilichtmuseums am Kiekeberg.

GOODACRE, B. & BALDWIN, G., 2002, Living the Past: Reconstruction, Recreation, Re-enactment and Education at Museums and Historical Sites, London: Middlesex University Press.

TILDEN, F., 1957, Interpreting our Heritage, Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.

Interpretation Manuals

2015 Guidebook for Live Interpretation in AOAMs

Size: A4, 40 pages

As part of the OpenArch project, Archeon (NL) published a guide on the use of Live Interpretation in Archaeological Open-Air Museums. This booklet should become an...

Read more and get a PDF

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation – EXARC Fellowship

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation – EXARC Fellowship. Photo: Colonial Williamsburg

EXARC is proud to cooperate with America’s largest outdoor living history museum, Colonial Williamsburg, in an annual fellowship offer. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation annually invites applications for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation – EXARC Fellowship. Fellowships are an important component of the work of the Education, Research and Historical Interpretation Division. Fellowships primarily support research on topics related to British America, the American Revolution, and the Early Republic. Read more

Photo: Colonial Williamsburg

Grundtvig Learning Partnership at EXARC

EXARC and a number of its members applied in 2010 for a Grundtvig Learning Partnership. Grundtvig was a part of the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLLP) of the European Union which among others involves Leonardo and Erasmus. The Grundtvig Programme was focussed on adult education and in our case involves several museums, open-air museums, universities and high schools.We worked with our partners from across Europe to share practice, discuss problems and compare solutions on our particular topics. Obviously our project was about non-formal learning in different aspects. While writting an application two projects have been formed: Didarchtik and Zeitgeist.

Interpretation & Education

Interaction with Visitors

Featured EXARC Members Interpretation Groups

Featured in the EXARC Journal

Mural Painting of a Roman Lady from Viminacium: From Roman Matron to the Modern Icon

Putting on a Show - The How and Why of Historical Shows and Theatre in a Historical Setting or Theme-park

Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) and Reenactment - Concept, Problems, Approaches in Our Experience

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation – EXARC Fellowship

Grundtvig Learning Partnership at EXARC

EXARC

Social Media

Creative Commons Licence

Interpretation & Education

Interaction with Visitors

Featured EXARC Members Interpretation Groups

Featured in the EXARC Journal

Interpretation

Mural Painting of a Roman Lady from Viminacium: From Roman Matron to the Modern Icon

Putting on a Show - The How and Why of Historical Shows and Theatre in a Historical Setting or Theme-park

Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) and Reenactment - Concept, Problems, Approaches in Our Experience

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation – EXARC Fellowship

Grundtvig Learning Partnership at EXARC

EXARC

Social Media

Creative Commons Licence

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