2015 # 1 (9)
Violette C.
Hunting (hunting) museums: museography in European hunting museums (an anthropologic approach)
Abstract
It is difficult to classify hunting museums. Most of them are located in Europe –mainly in central Europe– and were created by hunters for hunters. They contain miscellaneous collections that often consist in weapons, trophies, accessories and artworks. They carry a local or a national line and in that way they reveal societies’ attitudes toward their environment and they witness hunting history in each country.
In order to reach a larger audience, hunting museums are now adapting themselves and participating in the population’s conception of hunting, hunters and nature. Conversely, they build these representations. These conceptions are in constant evolution and many hunting museums are therefore reorganizing. Changes include new museographical tools and considering hunting as an “intangible heritage”.
In this study, the author intends to draw a link between museographical and anthropological realities based on the analysis of three hunting museums in Europe: the musée de la Chasse et de la Nature (Museum of Hunting and Nature) in Paris, France; the Deutsches Jagd- und Fischereimuseum (German Hunting and Fishing Museum) in Munich, Germany; and the Suomen Metsästysmuseo (the Hunting Museum of Finland) in Riihimäki (Finlande).
Key words
museology, museum, anthropology, hunting, museum of hunting, art of hunting, exposition, collections of hunting museum