Museums in the wake of a pandemic
The year 2020 was particularly challenging for the institution. It was closed for 161 days to visitors, whose presence is particularly important in such a place: a space that is not only a museum but also a genuine testimony to one of the greatest atrocities in human history. Had it not been for the pandemic, the museum would probably have registered another visitor attendance record. The number has so far increased year on year. In 2019, it was over 2 million. In 2020, only 500,000 people visited the museum. The drop in attendance has obviously taken its toll on budgetary issues. And also because all communication and education activities had to be moved online.
Naturally, other institutions, such as the Warsaw Rising Museum, also faced similar problems. Contact with lost audiences was maintained through various initiatives: online tours of the memorial, Warsaw, or the promotion of books and guidebooks that may be purchased in the museum’s online shop.
- When the institutions were closed on a Thursday in March, on Friday, we already had the first streams with our guides,” says Jan Ołdakowski, director of the Warsaw Rising Museum. The museologist is also one of the authors of the concept and programme of the museum’s activities.
- We figured that since our guides and educators are good at face-to-face contact, we could try to transfer that to the Internet. We consciously created a sort of raw medium, which was the transmission of a visit to the museum, often recorded with hand-held devices. The guide would say: “come on, let’s now take a look at that place”. It was as if the participants were standing next to him. Some streams had 200,000 views each - adds Ołdakowski.
- Museums are no longer just exhibitions. They also speak out on issues that intrigue people. Modern museums relate to the present; they talk about current issues such as patriotism, freedom or tolerance. We have adopted the principle that we primarily refer to the insurgents themselves, our heroes, and to them, we give our voice. At the same time, we try to encourage civic attitudes. In our museum, we mainly show the past and try to build a relationship with it to the present. So that it also influences the present or future - says, Oldakowski.