Ignė Rasickaitė ( EUROPAST / Vilnius University)
EUROPAST is a research project focused on the public history of and in the Vilnius region today. One of the most important sites where public history occurs is museums. The main goal of the EUROPAST research project is to identify public museums, the main practicioners of public history, and to create a typology of actors and institutions in the Vilnius region.
To achieve these objectives, semi-structured interviews with museum staff are conducted. 13 local history and memorial museums and 11 school museums in the Vilnius Region are considered.
In this presentation the author aims to present the types of museums in Vilnius region and the relationship that museums in Vilnius region have with communities in the area. The main questions addressed in the presentation are: Wat types of museums exist in Vilnius region? What kind of narratives are the individual museums in the Vilnius region promoting? What are they withholding? Do the museums reflect the multiethnicity of Vilnius region, and if so, how? Are museums in this region just a place for exhibits, or a place for broader discussions on issues of history, community, identity, and contested topics? What audiences do the museums engage with, and how? Is the public involved in the museums and how?