Here We Go Again: History
Redux
Those who find traditional history museums a stuffy procession of rusty spoons
and dusty dioramas may want to explore an open-air alternative: "living history
museums" where one can time travel on the cheap. Consider the Spanish
Village in Barcelona, where travelers and scavenging scholars can efficiently
inspect 49,000 square meters of historical buildings and tilt at old slides with
Don Quixote. At Heritage Park in Calgary, Banff-bound hikers can stop to pose
for photos (and eat 19 century ice cream) with locals dressed up as Canadians
from the days of fur trading and the occasional American invasion. For those
who can get visas to China, and local families on their first post-Covid-zero
outing, the Millennium City Park in Kaifeng offers a hundred acres of life in the
Northern Song Dynasty (a Northern Song Dynasty in which food vendors take
WeChatPay). Discuss with your team: do such living history museums offer
valuable lessons in culture and history, or should we treat them mainly as
entertainment—more Frontierland than the Smithsonian? Should schools take
field trips to them?
“I build time machines,” says artist Aaron Delehanty. He has transported
museumgoers back to places such as southern China in 5500 BC and east Africa
in 1896. “The intention of a diorama is to build a replica of a specific ecosystem
and to do it with such precision that they become time capsules for that
environment.” Until the late 19th century, most museums displayed
taxidermized animals and other natural specimens in aseptic rows of glass
cabinets. Until the late 19th century, most museums displayed taxidermized
animals and other natural specimens in aseptic rows of glass cabinets. This
changed in 1890 when Carl Akeley, a taxidermist at the Milwaukee Field
Museum, reimagined their presentation. What became known as the “Akeley
method” involved creating a custom artificial environment. Akeley went on to
work at the Field Museum in Chicago and the American Museum of Natural
History in New York City. Early dioramas depended on the use of hunted
animals. Many of the major contributors — most notably Akeley and friend
President Theodore Roosevelt — were hunters and ardent conservationists.
Museums became staffed with teams of scientists, sculptors, taxidermists,
carpenters, muralists and painters who made dioramas.
The Poble Espanyol was built for the 1929 World Fair in Barcelona. The
blueprints for the village were designed by Puig i Cadafalch - eminent architect
and important representative of the Modernisme. The plans were implemented
by his students Francesc Folguera and Ramón Reventós. They were assisted by
the art critic Miquel Utrillo and the painter Xavier Nogués, who traveled
through some 1,600 (!) Villages throughout Spain to make notes and drawings
to capture the true essence of Spanish architecture. After the exhibition, the
Poble Espanyol should actually be demolished again - but the residents of the
open-air museum have become so popular that they successfully prevented the
demolition. (omg i was there)
Heritage Park is the largest living museum in Canada and we are super lucky to
have it here in Calgary. All employees and volunteers of Heritage Park are
dressed in character and always have a smile on their faces eager to talk and
educate.
MILLENNIUM CITY PARK, which is located in western shore of beautiful
Longting Lake in Kaifeng, is a large-scale historical cultural theme park with
600Mu total floor space in Chinese famous ancient city Kaifeng. It was founded
in July 1992 in accordance with The MILLENNIUM CITY PARK done by
Zhang Zeduan, a famous artist in Northern Song Dynasty and opened to the
public in October 28th 1998. The PARK is a valuable life drawing for social
custom, which represents social life, social custom and building structure of
Kaifeng as ancient city in Northern Song Dynasty. Although it only shows part
Kaifeng, it is very easy to know other streets’ situation by supposing.
MILLENNIUM CITY PARK represents lively flourishing scenes of Kaifeng in
Northern Song Dynasty: walking in the streets along Bianhe River.
The breathtaking sight of the gleaming Mark Twain Riverboat and the imposing
gallantry of the Columbia Sailing Ship approaching the dock beckon guests into
Frontierland, a robust panorama of America’s pioneer past. As you past through
the stockade entrance you are surrounded by an amalgam of sights and sounds
that authentically conjures up images of America’s western expansion, from the
bustling river fronts of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers of the late 1700s to
the raucous and dusty desert southwest of the 1880s. The colorful drama of
Frontier America in the exciting days of the covered wagon and the
stagecoach…the advent of the railroad…and the romantic riverboat.
Frontierland is a tribute to the faith, courage, and ingenuity of the pioneers who
blazed the trails across America. (read about the rides and its correlation to the
history of America)