Few places in our world are more educational than museums. After all,
where else could we hope to see so many pieces of actual history that
tell so many stories about our ancestors? From prehistoric spears to
Egyptian mummies, from ancient Greek sculptures to medieval armor, and
from the first radio to to the first planes used in war during WWI,
museums have it all. Unfortunately, there are millions of people with
direct access to museums that have never even visited one. There are
many possible reasons for this–perhaps they think just looking at old
things would be boring, or perhaps they are unaware just how different
the world was in the past and see no reason to take interest. Whatever
the reason for not taking advantage of the incredible amount of tangible
knowledge museums offer, and regardless of age, Museum Day is the time
to invest in education in its most fascinating form.
The History of Museum Day
The
International Council of Museums (ICOM) created International Museum
Day in 1977. The organisation chooses a different theme for the day and
coordinates every year. Some of the themes include globalisation,
indigenous peoples, brigding culture gaps and caring for the
environment. Every year since 1977, all of the museums in the world are
invited to participate in this day to promote the role of museums around
in the world, by organising enjoyable and free activities around the
year’s theme. International Museum Day has become steadily more popular
since its creation, with International Museum Day 2009 being
participated in by 20,000 museums in over 90 countries. In 2012, the
number of participating museums had jumped to 30,000 in 129 countries.
How to Celebrate Museum Day
There
is no better way to celebrate Museum Day than to take a trip down to a
nearby museum, either alone, with friends, or even your children if you
feel they are old enough to appreciate the place. Depending on where you
live, the museums you might be closest to could be ones connected with
anything from farming to fashion, from astronomy to archaeology, from
art to natural history. If it turns out that the museums in your
immediate area are not ones that would interest you, maybe you could
consider a day trip to a nearby city to visit a museum better suited to
your interests? Carpooling with a friend or two will make the trip
cheaper and very possibly more interesting.
Another thing to think
about is how well you tolerate crowds. Museum Day is an increasingly
popular worldwide event, so it is quite probably that many of the larger
and better known museums will be pretty crowded on this day, especially
since many museums do not charge an entrance fee then. If you do not
feel like standing in long lines to see every single thing or having to
maneuver your way through crowds of people, paying more attention to not
stepping on anyone’s shoes than the objects on exhibition, you may want
to visit the museum of your choice a few days before or after Museum
Day. On weekdays, museums are often quiet places where one can come to
study our ancestors’ lifestyles and contemplate what motivated them to
behave and develop as they did. However you decide to celebrate Museum
day, don’t let this opportunity to find out about the history of the
human race go
