Museums: Preserving Heritage, Comprehending Past, Forming Identity
Authors: Bondarets Oksana 
Published: June 2021

Perception of museums as space of co-operation between public and collections is rethought constantly, with primarily taking into account a sociocultural situation. It is reflected on the specifics of the direction of activity and determination of the mission of different museums. Nowadays, scientists interpret the museum space as social space and regard museums as institutes of social memory (historical memory or cultural memory). Communication, interactivity, and participation are considered to be the main components determining the development of the modern museum. The aim of this study is to analyse the strategy of determination of priority directions of the museum activity and the place and role of museums in the processes of memory. Museums accumulate and translate the experience of a certain culture and the way they present this experience; it is a part of the complicated process of formation of the nation identity. Museum professionals often say that an important task now is to choose one and only line among the events and to create a common collective experience that in turn influences the self-identity of an individual. First, every museum must choose the educational strategy and define the priority directions of their activity. The sharpest discussions in Ukraine concern the direction of the national museums. If a museum considers the priority direction of the activity organization of leisure, then the question is whether it can have the status of national. The function of leisure is important but cannot be basic; in fact, the essence of the museum is the function of cognition. A special attention should be paid to the fact that a tendency of “walls without the museum,” that is the museum without traditional collections, now undergoes substantial changes. Such museums afterwards begin to complete their own collection. It is presently impossible to ignore such an important theme as the maintenance of the cultural heritage and digital transformation. Museums actively use multimedia technologies for the maintenance and popularization of the heritage. But a specific feature of the museum as an institution of storage, study, andtranslation of subject forms of culture has not been lost. Museum objects themselves are the basis of adaptive and inculturation possibilities of the museum. In the epoch of globalization, a museum can create optimal terms for the cultural identification. Presently our task is not consideration of certain historic events and their influence on forming the historic memory of the Ukrainian people. It is important to mark that potential of museums as grounds of proceeding in the national memory and Ukrainian identity considerable enough, but not exposed, and not only by regional museums. The study and use of experience of the creation of complex narratives on difficult questions of history in the museums of the world are important enough for Ukrainian museum professionals. Modern museums, while developing projects related to traumatic remembrances, questions of firmness, dialogue, problems of reconciliation in conflict periods of history, run into numerous problems but must not forget that these projects will assist a reflection among the public.