A visit to Elsinore and the Danish Technology Museum
Last month I stayed in the Hamlet Hotel in Elsinore which had character and a very helpful owner. I was working at the Danish Museum of Technology so had little time to explore. This meant most of my time in the town was at night.
There was a full moon which made exploring very atmospheric. Seeing the town lights almost outshone by the moon visibility was good. The late medieval and early modern town was charming to walk around. The church had a fien gothic look under the moonlight but seeing the castle in the distance was even better!
At the Technology Museum
At the Technology Museum, based in the the learning room, I did get a tour of the museum. It is a very traditional museum with an emphasis on transport. From childhood visits to the London Science Museum and steam fairs this felt familiar to me.
I really enjoyed the fine collection of fire engines. I put this interest in fire engines down to watching the firefighters at the fire station opposite my father’s print shop in childhood. Going inside the recreated fire station felt like a real treat! In the patents gallery seeing the 1965 Lego set submitted for patent was another echo of childhood.
More to see in Elsinore
Lack of time meant catching the ferry to Sweden. So I missed seeing the castle and going in the church. There was more of the town to explore too. I’ll just have to go back another time!
The Viking Ship Museum in Oslo
It started with the Gokstad ship
Visiting the Viking Ship Museum
Prow of the Oseberg ship
The Gokstad ship
The Gokstad ship seen from above
Gokstad ship burial chamber and small boat
The Tune ship
Film playing in the museum
The objects and textile gallery
Detail of a sled ornament
The museum shop and cafe
Viking Ship Museum cafe
And there’s more
3D scanning to help plan conservation
Henry Lamb at Salisbury Museum – art , literature and war
I knew of Henry Lamb’s work only though his portrait of Evelyn Waugh. On seeing this exhibition at Salisbury Museum I realised I had seen some of his Second World War paintings of Canadians before. So this exhibition was a great chance to see more of his work and find out more about the artist.
The exhibition at Salisbury Museum
The museum itself is close to the cathedral and the staff are very welcoming. It is paid admision so be prepared for that.
The exhibition covered the artist’s life from start to finish with plenty of work from each phase. As well as finished work sketches were included. In the war artist section this showed how he made colour notes on sketches. These informed the finished work which was also on display. I thought this was a lovely bit of curation.
Some of the highlights were seeing major works alongside family portraits. Also the quotes from others and his relationships as a young artist. He was legendarily good looking, so there was plenty to read about! The portraits of his family and children were a contrast to the earlier and war work. Again seeing a body of his work on his family made the exhibition worthwhile.
The permanent displays
We had a good look around the rest of the museum. The archaeology galleries are very well laid out and plenty of objects to discover in cupboards and drawers. Seeing familiar objects from photographs in context with related finds is always interesting.
From the very contemporary archaeology galleries the costume display is very much traditional regional museum in feel. We both liked this mix of new and old in presentation though. The costume collection is impressively varied and naturally has local connections. The reconstructed doctor’s surgery is a reminder of how tough things were before the NHS.
If you’re in Salisbury I’d recommend a visit to the museum. And they have their own cafe.
How museums get new objects
New artefacts for old?
Something I’m regularly asked when people find I work in a museum is “how do museums get new objects”?. The answer probably is that it varies. Where there’s a collecting policy the process is transparent but otherwise an enigma inside a mystery.
On visiting the National Army Museum in Stockholm in early September 2017 I saw their exhibition dedicated to explaining this mystery.
How museums get new objects – the exhibition
The Army Museum’s exhibition was in their temporary exhibition space on the ground floor. I liked the focus on objects for visitors to reflect on and practical examples. Also the emphasis on who made decisions.
A key part of the exhibition was an infographic showing the path an object follows to join the collection. Unfortunately this was in a shadow so whilst legible in the museum didn’t photograph well. This was supported by another display explaining who makes the decisions.
This display was very honest about the influence of individuals and groups on collecting policy. It stated that in the museum’s early days former soldiers were making the decisions but now it’s mainly highly educated middle class people.
An object that didn’t get in
An example of new objects was based around items used by an officer in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Most items were conserved ready to go into the collection. One item was not and this was the shipping crate the officer had lived in. Why was it rejected? Because it wasn’t the actual container the officer used but one the shipping company sent. So a good example of an object being rejected because of a lack of direct association with the museum’s purpose and lacking heritage authenticity.
