Bereczki Ibolya - Cseri Miklós (szerk.): Ház és ember, A Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum évkönyve 22. (Szentendre, Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum, 2010)
Szabó Zsuzsanna: A népi kultúra színrevitele a szabadtéri múzeumokban – Hagyomány, örökség és Skanzen
Zsuzsanna Szabó STAGING FOLK CULTURE IN OPEN AIR MUSEUMS - TRADITION, HERITAGE AND SKANZEN The interpretation of the heritage was based on the Skanzen's aspiration to introduce the essence of peasant life. Density and homogeneity were examined in view of the interior and the festival. The interior aims to present the general tied to concrete individuals. The merging of the characteristic and the individual happen on the level of furnishing with no interpretation (in situ) and on the level of narration (exhibition information brochure) as well. While the general enhances the coherence of the tradition imprint, the individual boosts the legitimacy of the exhibition. The realm of the interior places disproportionally big emphasis on the indoors, while peasant life happened mostly outdoors. The showing limited on privacy is in contrast with the dependency on the outside world (wars, famines, epidemics, taxes). The orderly interior sterilizes and creates an impression that directs the visitor to nostalgia instead of interpretation. The empty rooms make the observer feel like a peeper, who on the other hand, being left alone in the interpretation is misled by his or her associations that stem from the present in regards to intimacy. The phenomenon whereby present value is attached to canonized traditions point to the interpretation challenges and research needs of open air museums (20 t h century: mass production, village-development directed from above, etc.). In the museums the displayed buildings and interiors become monuments of positive content and peasants turn into anonymous heroes. Since there is no local spirit in an exhibition that was brought to life by relocation, memories are suppressed by wonder and awe. The festival is a good example for the attempt to evoke life among unanimated objects. Such summoning gives space primarily to folklore. Festivals can have multiple focuses in space and time, allow for simultaneous reception and give more stimuli to senses than exhibitions. Through the example of Easter I outlined the problem of holy and profane, that between the real holiday and the museum display and their aims (experience-based knowledge transfer and religious piety) there are inextricable tensions at times. In the course of festivals time and space is aligned to the major events of the traditional village Easter, where in order to create a laboratory infused, coherent Easter holiday, the regular time and space structures of the exhibition have to be temporarily suspended. These performances are the preconceived, synthetic adaptations of the holiday customs to the museum locale. Visitors hope to partake of an authentic Easter experience in the Skanzen. By folklorizing the Easter, the museum meets the social need to experience the foundations of one's cultural identity. 165
