Hedvig Győry: Mélanges offerts a Edith Varga „Le lotus qui sort de terre” (Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts Supplément 1. Budapest, 2001)
SAPHIN AZ-AMAL NAGUIB: Cultural Heritage and its Display
accessible consumption good, and entertainment. 2 One of the consequences of disneyfication is that the distinctions between what traditionally has been known as high culture and low culture are being blurred. There is a seemingly increased tendency to draw academic culture and popular culture closer to each other, and to level the walls separating in depth scholarship and general knowledge. There is a growing awareness of these phenomena in the world of museums, and it is not without reason that curators are often uneasy about introducing methods from the show business. Doing it does not necessary mean to yield to superficiality. Ancient Egyptian artefacts and monuments are rescued by the works of scholars, and dissemination and popularisation should be based on the results of scientific research. The interpretation and representation of this ancient civilization (or for that matter any other ancient civilization) in museums, entails among others, respecting the authenticity of the past as much as possible. We notice a constant effort to integrate Egyptian collections in the field of newer scientific explanation. Improved methods of conservation, of material analysis, of dating are elaborated; theories in DNA-research and archaeovirology are tested. New ideas find an incentive, different questions are asked. Thus, by incorporating new technologies in the museum not only are artefacts and relics exhibited in an unusual way, but in addition, one informs about the functioning and the purpose of the instruments in question. This requires the interactive participation of the visitor to learn about the civilization displayed and, at the same time, understand the mechanisms of the new equipments. This type of pluridisciplinary approach does not affect the authenticity of the objects displayed. But on the contrary, reactualizes them, enhances them and gives them a new aura. Let us, however, remember that visiting a museum virtually or thanks to IMAX conveys the same sense of immateriality as watching a good documentary film, and the feeling of being in a place full of excellent reproductions. The new mediatic devices remain tools of communication for furthering research, educating, spreading knowledge and informing. They do not and should not replace the original. Saphinaz-Amal Naguib University of Oslo Department of Culture Studies 1 S.-A. Naguib, Within and Without. Reflexions about University-Museums, Museum-Nytt 5 (1997), pp. 4-7.
