May 9, 2008
Along with the monuments to achievements, we should also go to sobering exhibits of humankind's failures
Most travelers have a vague desire to visit the world's most famous museums of art: the Louvre in Paris, the National Gallery in London, the Kunsthistorisches in Vienna, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Prado in Madrid, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Uffizi in Florence, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the various elements of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. To these should now be added museums of conscience, places that commemorate acts of inhumanity, that tell of our failures over the centuries to create a better world. It is only recently that the travel industry has awakened to this latter group of unsettling exhibits that should figure prominently in an individual's development and growth.
The museums of conscience are generally felt to be six in number:
Goree Island in Senegal, site of "Slave House," where as many as 25 million African slaves were shackled and herded into boats and sent to continents far away. Millions of them died in the course of the voyage.
Manzanar National Historic Site in California, where 110,000 Japanese-Americans, all of them full citizens, were interned from 1942-45.
The Leper Colony on the Kalaupapa Peninsula on the island of Molokai, Hawaii. To an almost impenetrable area flanked by steep cliffs of rock, thousands of persons suffering leprosy were forcibly sent and simply abandoned in conditions of famine, exposure and other hardships. Because leprosy (Hansen's Disease) is now under control, the colony can today be toured, led by the few remaining residents who once suffered from that disease and have opted to stay on.
The Workhouse in Southwell, Notts, Great Britain, constructed in 1842 as a model for many other such institutions, in which unfortunate people were imprisoned in circumstances of great hardship, simply because they were poor. The operation of such "poorhouses" reached a peak in Victorian times, when Britain was colonizing the world.
The Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., our American equivalent of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, describing the extermination of millions of Jews by Nazi Germany in World War II.
The Tenement Museum in downtown Manhattan (the Lower East Side), re-creating the horrendous conditions to which immigrants to the U.S. were often subjected from 1863 to 1932.
Usually on our trips abroad, we visit monuments (museums) to the rich and famous. Visits to museums of conscience are a healthy counter-balance.
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The museums of conscience are generally felt to be six in number:
Goree Island in Senegal, site of "Slave House," where as many as 25 million African slaves were shackled and herded into boats and sent to continents far away. Millions of them died in the course of the voyage.
Manzanar National Historic Site in California, where 110,000 Japanese-Americans, all of them full citizens, were interned from 1942-45.
The Leper Colony on the Kalaupapa Peninsula on the island of Molokai, Hawaii. To an almost impenetrable area flanked by steep cliffs of rock, thousands of persons suffering leprosy were forcibly sent and simply abandoned in conditions of famine, exposure and other hardships. Because leprosy (Hansen's Disease) is now under control, the colony can today be toured, led by the few remaining residents who once suffered from that disease and have opted to stay on.
The Workhouse in Southwell, Notts, Great Britain, constructed in 1842 as a model for many other such institutions, in which unfortunate people were imprisoned in circumstances of great hardship, simply because they were poor. The operation of such "poorhouses" reached a peak in Victorian times, when Britain was colonizing the world.
The Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., our American equivalent of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, describing the extermination of millions of Jews by Nazi Germany in World War II.
The Tenement Museum in downtown Manhattan (the Lower East Side), re-creating the horrendous conditions to which immigrants to the U.S. were often subjected from 1863 to 1932.
Usually on our trips abroad, we visit monuments (museums) to the rich and famous. Visits to museums of conscience are a healthy counter-balance.
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: museums
Nov 1, 2007
Though they're starting with the lesser museums, the French have embarked on a experiment that eventually may eliminate charges for all their museums
Oh la la! It's one of the few occasions when the French have brazenly imitated the British. Starting January 1, many French museums and monuments will test a new admission policy: They'll be free.
But don't expect to waltz up to the Louvre with an empty wallet -- at least not initially; most of the eligible attractions are small (and yet it's a start). In Paris, the free museums will include Cluny's medieval goodies and Guimet's Asian art, where admission is usually $10 a pop. Those aren't normally on the first-time visitor's wish list, but they will please true fans of antiquities. And in a lesser concession, the esteemed Musée d'Orsay, stuffed with impressionist wonders, and the Centre Pompidou, famous for modern art, will now be open free of charge for one evening a week to visitors aged 18 to 25.
The ultimate goal, of course, is to spread culture to the general public. After six months, the French government will decide whether to continue or expand the plan.
London long ago made free admission a priority, and the gift continues to reward the public. It's estimated that some 30 million additional visits were made after the government eliminated admission fees starting in 2001 at major attractions like the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Tate Modern, National Portrait Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum, and a great many more.
Write and read comments about this post.
But don't expect to waltz up to the Louvre with an empty wallet -- at least not initially; most of the eligible attractions are small (and yet it's a start). In Paris, the free museums will include Cluny's medieval goodies and Guimet's Asian art, where admission is usually $10 a pop. Those aren't normally on the first-time visitor's wish list, but they will please true fans of antiquities. And in a lesser concession, the esteemed Musée d'Orsay, stuffed with impressionist wonders, and the Centre Pompidou, famous for modern art, will now be open free of charge for one evening a week to visitors aged 18 to 25.
The ultimate goal, of course, is to spread culture to the general public. After six months, the French government will decide whether to continue or expand the plan.
London long ago made free admission a priority, and the gift continues to reward the public. It's estimated that some 30 million additional visits were made after the government eliminated admission fees starting in 2001 at major attractions like the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Tate Modern, National Portrait Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum, and a great many more.
Write and read comments about this post.
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
