Few places in our world are more educational than museums. After all, where else could we hope to see so many pieces of actual history that tell so many stories about our ancestors? From prehistoric spears to Egyptian mummies, from ancient Greek sculptures to medieval armor, and from the first radio to the first planes used in war during WWI, museums have it all. Unfortunately, there are millions of people with direct access to museums that have never even visited one.
There are many possible reasons for this–perhaps they think just looking at old things would be boring, or perhaps they are unaware just how different the world was in the past and see no reason to take an interest. Whatever the reason for not taking advantage of the incredible amount of tangible knowledge museums offer, and regardless of age, Museum Day is the time to invest in education in its most fascinating form.
Many people may ask why they would invest in something like Museum Day when modern technology can give them all the answers that they may need. Well, to answer that fairly, all you need to do is a little Google search.
Nowadays, if you need to find an answer to something, you can surely just jump online and get it right? Well, yes, but what you need to realize is that the answer you get is quite possibly wrong.
A study conducted in 2016 on how many of the historical facts you find online were true, had some shocking results. It seems as of November 2016, over 48% of all available historical facts available online are inaccurate or downright wrong. So, taking this into account, you may want to place your fair elsewhere.
The truth is, education is important, so days like Museum Day should be something to get yourself and your young ones excited for; after all, while there will be children filling their heads with nonsense, you have the ability to fill your children with knowledge goodness.
History of Museum Day
The International Council of Museums (ICOM) created International Museum Day in 1977. The organization chooses a different theme for the day and coordinates every year. Some of the themes include globalization, indigenous peoples, bridging cultural gaps, and caring for the environment.
Every year since 1977, all of the museums in the world are invited to participate in this day to promote the role of museums around the world, by organizing enjoyable and free activities around the year’s theme.
International Museum Day has become steadily more popular since its creation, with International Museum Day 2009 being participated in by 20,000 museums in over 90 countries. In 2012, the number of participating museums had jumped to 30,000 in 129 countries.
As the years have gone by, we have been blessed to live in a society where while technology seems to want to take over, there have been certain things that are now considered cool that were once reserved for a very target demographic.
While the numbers of participants were slowly climbing almost a decade ago, over the last five years, the numbers are climbing at an even more rapid rate. When we look at this, we may ask ourselves why, and the truth is simple, history is now something that is classed as cool.
Yes, we may live in a technology-driven society, but it seems that the more technology has reigned over the world, people have started to gravitate towards the things that connect them to a world they are scared of losing.
Today, there are more visitors to museums all over the world than ever before, and more than this, there are now more people studying history at degree level than at any point in history.
Now, it may be possible that this is just a point where geek chic is in, and students want to seem more cultural and in touch with the world, but if we stop for a brief moment, could it not be possible that Museum Day has played a small role in helping entire new generations fall in love with history once again?
The truth may, in fact, be both, but one thing we must remember is that While it may not be as popular as some days, Museum Day is something that should be held in high importance.
The further we move forward, the more we leave behind, and with all of the things that are now long behind us, we need something to help us remember where we have been, that way, we can take the journey ahead of us with more confidence.
