In 2017, a colloquium took place to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Musée d’Archéologie Nationale in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France, and its proceedings are collected in this volume. It comprises a large collection of 27 chapters authored by European (French, Italian, British, Swiss, Belgian, Polish, Dutch, Portuguese and German) specialists who delved into the political and scientific considerations that underpinned the establishment of what would subsequently be designated as ‘archaeology museums’ in Europe between 1848 and 1914. The objective of this study is to demonstrate the manner in which political thought and historical conceptions influenced, and continue to impact, museums.
The chapters address various aspects of the history of the constitution of certain archaeological museums. Three contributions provide insights into specific periods of the history of the collections kept at the Musée d’Archéologie Nationale. Laurent Olivier’s work provides a comprehensive overview of the historical development of the concept of ‘nation’ in France, exploring its origins and the ways in which it has been understood in comparison to other nations (pp.365–79). The same subject is also addressed by Christine Lorre (pp.381–400), who provides a detailed analysis of its historical and cultural context. Pauline Cuzel and Corinne Jouys Barbelin’s contribution (pp.401–18) focuses on the role of archives in understanding the museum’s epigraphic collections.
In the case of European museums, Luc Amkreutz examines the history of the development of one of the collections of the Rijksmuseum in Leiden, the Netherlands, devoted to ancient Europe (from prehistoric to medieval times) in relation to the European scholarly network of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (pp.161–80). Monika Stobiecka reviews and traces the evolution of the links between scientific knowledge about archaeological objects and museums from the nineteenth century to modern-day Poland (pp.147–60), outlining a departure from the practice of cabinets of curiosities that romanticised ancient objects. The study is based on three museums representing the two major current trends in museums—typological and immersive experiences. Elisabete Santos Pereira discusses the formation of Lisbon’s Museu Nacional de Arqueologia (pp.239–52), which was supplied by numerous private collectors. It investigates the impact of the 1932 legislation in Portugal regulating scholarly archaeology, which was also in favour of rationalisation of the discipline. Gonzalo Ruiz Zapatero (pp.253–74) provides a detailed account of the case concerning the Museo Arqueológico Nacional in Madrid, Spain. Finally, in Germany, Regine Maraszek examines the history of the Landesmuseum in Halle (Saxony-Anhalt; pp.133–46), which was initially dedicated to local prehistory, but rapidly adopted a nationalist perspective, emphasising the pre-eminence of Germanic history, before reverting to its original function as a centre for the study of prehistory in central Germany.
The field of prehistory also receives particular attention, with various contributions focusing on this period. Nathan Schlanger explores the significance of the French prehistoric collection within the broader discourse of the 1867 Universal Exhibition in Paris (pp.49–64). In that city, the sheer quantity of prehistoric collections formed in the nineteenth century resulted in the division of these collections between various archaeological, anthropological and ethnographic museums. This dispersion of the collections was detrimental to the scientific message, as demonstrated by Arnaud Hurel (pp.79–94). Elsewhere in France, Noël Coye examines the case of the Vézère valley, Dordogne, to show the various marks that Prehistory (as an object of scientific study, as site excavations, and as touristic attraction) has left on the rural territory of the Vézière valley and in the scientific production of the time (pp.65–78). Finally, Marion Bertram traces the origins and development of the present-day Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte in Berlin, which was originally oriented towards a comparative approach (pp.119–32).
The book also highlights some of the most significant people in the field of European museums that house archaeology collections. Two chapters are dedicated to the Italian prehistorian Luigi Pigorini. The first, a study of his correspondence with his French counterpart Gabriel de Mortillet, is written by Michele Cupito and Valentina Donadel (pp.319–34); the second, an analysis of his contribution to the establishment of the Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnografico in Rome, is the work of Alessandro Guidi and Francesco Rubat Borel (pp.291–318). Arnaud Bertinet investigates the role of Emperor Napoleon III in the establishment of the French museums of Compiègne and Saint-Germain-en-Laye (pp.335–50). Annette Frey outlines the history of the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum in Mainz, Germany, focusing on the scientific collaboration between the French emperor’s archaeological museum project and the original director of the museum, Ludwig Lindenschmidt (pp.351–64). In Switzerland, Lionel Pernet (pp.199–216) appraises the work of Frédéric Troyon, archaeologist and inaugural director of the Musée cantonal d’archéologie et d’histoire in Lausanne and his methodological and legislative contributions to ensuring the museum’s continued existence. In Belgium, the contribution of Eugène Warmembol (pp.217–38) highlights Count Louis Cavens, whose donation of his substantial ancient Belgium collections marked a pivotal moment in the development of the present-day Brussels Musée Art et Histoire. The Alsatian protohistorian Xavier Joseph Nessel from Haguenau (Bas-Rhin, France), who excavated the burial mounds of Haguenau and built up the first collections of the municipal museum, is the subject of a study by Emilie Demongin and Rémy Wassong (pp.461–76). Finally, a contribution by Lionel Pernet, Vincent Guichard and Marc-Antoine Kaeser (pp.11–28) pays tribute to the contribution of the Swiss researcher Gilbert Kaenel, former director of the Musée cantonal d’archéologie et d’histoire de Lausanne and an advocate of the future of museum institutions.
While these contributions invariably address the political context within their research, some evoke more clearly how political ideologies contributed to the emergence of museums during the time and in context with the formation of ‘Nations’ in Europe. Ralf Grüßinger inspects the discordant discourses surrounding the Roman presence in Germania, drawing upon the collections of specific museums in Rhineland-Palatinate. This analysis reflects a search for identity within the German Empire (pp.95–118). Alison Sheridan reflects on the historical development of Scottish museums, highlighting the influence of national identity on their establishment and the content of their exhibitions. This analysis is conducted within the broader context of cultural and historical research, with particular attention given to the interplay between national identity and museum practice (pp.181–98). Massimo Cultraro and Maria Musumeci shed light on the role that the prehistoric collections housed in the Sicilian museums of Syracuse and Palermo played in the formation of Italian identity (pp.275–90). Finally, Jean-Paul Demoule reviews the place of French national archaeology during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the context of a ‘national narrative’ under construction (pp.419–36).
Some further contributions offer novel perspectives on ways of rethinking collections accumulated during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in a present-day light. Géraldine Delley and Marc-Antoine Kaeser explore the perspectives offered now by the views of different specialists on the archaeological objects held in museums. They use the example of an Egyptology exhibition held at the Laténium, Switzerland, in 2013. At the time, museums were tending to lose their scientific and research role, which had prevailed through the nineteenth century, in favour of an almost purely educational role (pp.29–48). Through the history of three French museums known as ‘civilisation’ or ‘society’ museums (the Musée de l’Homme, the Musée des Civilisations et de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée and the Musée du Quai Branly), André Delpuech explores the enduring significance of the chronological and geographical definitions established in the nineteenth century for ethnographic collections from across the globe (pp.437–60). Catherine Louboutin’s concluding contribution (pp.477–501) offers an overview of the various French archaeological museums, their challenges and difficulties in studying and disseminating the narrative of the long history of a territory (national or local).
The book constitutes a highly welcome compilation of the history of archaeological museums in Europe and it delivers a wide range of perspectives on the future of these ancient collections, which are both objects of science and vehicles for the transmission of a national heritage. However, far more than merely a series of case studies, the contributions tend to show how the development of archaeological museums must be understood in the zeitgeist of the time, where nations were created. To that extent, archaeological museums were seen as part of the plan to establish a national history, to connect people through a connected past. In a current political world that drifts towards a more national centred view again, this volume reminds us of the responsibility of the museums to envision the past as a means to connect people instead.
