The Emotional Museum. Thoughts on the “Secular Relics” of Nineteenth-Century History Museums in Paris and their Posterity

This article examines the discourse elaborated in Paris’ historical museums during the nineteenth century through the display of personal, private objects “having belonged to” famous historical figures, artistes and writers. How and why do we exhibit objects in and of themselves as banal as the hand...

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Main Author: Felicity Bodenstein
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Conserveries Mémorielles 2011-04-01
Series:Conserveries Mémorielles
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/cm/834
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author Felicity Bodenstein
author_facet Felicity Bodenstein
author_sort Felicity Bodenstein
collection DOAJ
description This article examines the discourse elaborated in Paris’ historical museums during the nineteenth century through the display of personal, private objects “having belonged to” famous historical figures, artistes and writers. How and why do we exhibit objects in and of themselves as banal as the handkerchief of Napoleon or locks of Marie-Antoinette’s hair? In the scheme of the rational public museum, what meaning was and is still given to these objects of little documentary or artistic importance?Indeed this museographical tradition still holds an important place in museums today, especially in biographical or personal museums, its appearance during the Revolution and its subsequent development will be considered as the transposition of a commemorative practice taken from Catholicism and introduced into the secular world of French Republican museum but also as a transfer from the private to the public sphere. This allow us to examine the agency of such objects as triggers that allow history to be experienced as an emotion.
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series Conserveries Mémorielles
spelling doaj-art-e637d4f3787943bb95108f90195d07e72025-02-05T16:16:52ZdeuConserveries MémoriellesConserveries Mémorielles1718-55562011-04-01The Emotional Museum. Thoughts on the “Secular Relics” of Nineteenth-Century History Museums in Paris and their PosterityFelicity BodensteinThis article examines the discourse elaborated in Paris’ historical museums during the nineteenth century through the display of personal, private objects “having belonged to” famous historical figures, artistes and writers. How and why do we exhibit objects in and of themselves as banal as the handkerchief of Napoleon or locks of Marie-Antoinette’s hair? In the scheme of the rational public museum, what meaning was and is still given to these objects of little documentary or artistic importance?Indeed this museographical tradition still holds an important place in museums today, especially in biographical or personal museums, its appearance during the Revolution and its subsequent development will be considered as the transposition of a commemorative practice taken from Catholicism and introduced into the secular world of French Republican museum but also as a transfer from the private to the public sphere. This allow us to examine the agency of such objects as triggers that allow history to be experienced as an emotion.https://journals.openedition.org/cm/834
spellingShingle Felicity Bodenstein
The Emotional Museum. Thoughts on the “Secular Relics” of Nineteenth-Century History Museums in Paris and their Posterity
Conserveries Mémorielles
title The Emotional Museum. Thoughts on the “Secular Relics” of Nineteenth-Century History Museums in Paris and their Posterity
title_full The Emotional Museum. Thoughts on the “Secular Relics” of Nineteenth-Century History Museums in Paris and their Posterity
title_fullStr The Emotional Museum. Thoughts on the “Secular Relics” of Nineteenth-Century History Museums in Paris and their Posterity
title_full_unstemmed The Emotional Museum. Thoughts on the “Secular Relics” of Nineteenth-Century History Museums in Paris and their Posterity
title_short The Emotional Museum. Thoughts on the “Secular Relics” of Nineteenth-Century History Museums in Paris and their Posterity
title_sort emotional museum thoughts on the secular relics of nineteenth century history museums in paris and their posterity
url https://journals.openedition.org/cm/834
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