ISS 25 (1995).pdf - The International Council of Museums

courses tormerly organized by the museums association - and locateCl W
'iolkhojskoler ' .
in Finland there is presently a variety of museum study courses at the
universities of Helsinki. Turku and Oulu. The most developed courses are
however arranged by a special museological division of the Dept of Art
History at JyvaskyHi university.
Norway I leave to John Aage to talk about.
As you can see museology is no longer a dirty word in this part of the world
it is gradually gaining ground and force. However when in 1993 three
optimists concurred to launch the project of a journal, 'Nordic Museology'
the idea was very much to promote the concept and speed up its adoption
both in universities and in museums.
But we were also convinced that in the concept there was a consensus about
the museum mission, the role of the museum as a cultural institution in
society and its importance in public life. This consensus was rooted in a
shared hiStory, a similar development of the museum structure in our
countries and in a common commitment to the museum idea in our
communities as well as an active participation in our citizens. Those factors,
we thought. should make the interchange of ideas, the communication of
experiences singularly fruitful and meaningful to the museum profession as
well as to those standing beside in the universities trying to understand and
evaluate the achievement of museums.
Now we are five editors of the journal, representing all Nordic countries. We
have published 828 pages of reading. We have also tried to make our
countries known to museologists abroad, offering English summaries of all
texts in Scandinavian languages and we hope that many of you will fmd it
worth while to pay attention to our efforts in the years to come.
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