Museum Vol XXXI, n 4, 1979 Four museums: thoughts on theory and practice, Nepal, Vatican City, Spain, Australia Vol. -XXXI, NO 4,1979 Museum,successor to Mouseion,is by. theUnited NationsEduatioq.bshed Suentific andCultural Organization in Paris. Museumservesas aquarterly sur veyof activities and meansof research in the field ofmuseography. Opinions expressed by individual contributors are not necessarily those of Unesco. -. EDITOR-IN-CHIEP AnneErds EDITOR,ENGLISHEDITION Iris Batembourg Om Prakash Agrawal,India Fernanda Camargo de Almeida,Brazil Chira Chongkol,Thailand J oseph-Marie Essomba, President of Raymonde Frin, France Saleheddin Hasan Sury, Libyan Arab J an Jelinek,Czechoslovakia Grace L. McCann Morley, Adviser, I COM Regional Agency in Asia Luis Monreal, Secretary-Generalof I COM, ex-oBcio Paul Perrot,United States ofAmerica Georges HenriRivire, Permanent Adviser ofICOM Vit&Souslov, UnionofSoviet Sodalist Republics EDITORIAL.ADVISORYBOARD OMMSA J amahiriya Each issue:24 F.Subscription rates (4 issues orcorresponding double issues per year):72 F (1 year);120F ( 2years). Editorial and publishing offices: UnitedNationsEducational, Saentific and Cultural Organization, 7Place de Fontenoy,75700 Paris, France 0 Unesco1979 PrintedinFrance Imp.MauryS.A.,45330 Malesherbes 1 . . .- ... ....-,... ..- .. ., . ..! ERRATUM MUSEUM.VO~.XXXI, NO, 1,1979. Page 67, photo credit 2, should read: Institut dArchologie de luniversit des Sciences Humaines de Strasbourg, and not Collection Gallimard Four museums: thoughts on theory an d p rac ti ce (Nepal, Va tican City, Spain,Australia) ~Editorial2 18 TheNaturalHi.rtoryMuseumof Nepdl,Katmandu TheVatican Museunzs,VaticanCity:achoiceof controlledciscuils TheJoanMirFoundation:Centre f ortheStudyof Contenzjoraiy A1.t inBarcelona244 Thenzzt.wumasaconznzunicator:asemioticanalysisoftheWe,\terifAu.\tralia?l Shailesh C. Singh WalterPersegati J osLuisSert RobertHodge and 2 19 229 WilfredDSomaMuseumAboriginalGallery,Perth2 j 1 o The three previous issues of Mirswcriiiwere devoted to special themes : restitution and return of cultural property, museum programming, and museums and children respectively. The next number, Vol. XXXII, No. 1/2, will be a double issue that willcoveriiiterdiscipliiiarity inthemuseumcontext. So thetimehascomefor apause. The journal'sbalancedepends on the alternation of thematic issues and more diversified coverage.Alongside theinternationaltreatmentoftopicalproblem areas in museology, Mzrsecriiineedsalso simply to informitsreadersabout new_ "_ _museumsandparticularmuseuminitiatives. it would be paradoxicalto find thematic unity where none is intended, this issue doesappear to reflectthe lively, changing and often controversial nature of the museum field itself. Its contributors raise a cross-section of some of the basic ques- tions that occur to any museologist deeply concerned with the role of his institu- tionincontemporary society. The museum'spartnershipwithotherinstitutionsanddisciplines, forbetter educational and cultural development, is implicit in the description of the growth ofanatural history museumat Katmandu, Nepal.Increasing public interest in some museums creates difficult problemsof scale: how best to communicate with a mass of visitors, facilitate their easy flow through the buildingand ensure their comfort and security as well as that of the collections? The description of certain innovative approachesin the Vatican'sMuseums adds usefully to the discussion ofthese problems.A three-cornered partnership betweenarchitect, painterand museologistmarked the planning and creation of the J oan Mir Foundation in Barcelona. Anaccountof that processcontinuesthe discussion on architectural programming in Vol. X The museum can also be an agent of social change, especially when it is caught up in a web of social communication. An analysis by two communications resear- chers of an ethnographic museum presentation in Perth could be a revelation-or aprovocation-tothemuseologist.Communicationissodependentoninbuilt ways of thinking, feeling and seeing, say the two social scientists, that communi- cation breakdown ' will be the rule not theexception', particularly when presen- tationofaminoritycultureisinvolved. The questions thus raisedwill nodoubt arousediverging comments andopi- nions. Thus the present issue contains variousdescriptions and viewpoints. Although - The Natura/ History Museum of Nepal, Katmandu 'ShaileshC. Singh The Himalayan Kingdom ofNepal, situated on the northern frontierofIndia, liesbetween80'15'and88'10'E.longitudeandbetween26'20'and 30'10'N. latitude.Ranging from the subtropical forests of the southern plains tothegreatpeaksoftheHimalayas in the north,Nepal, witha landarea of 140,367 km2 anda populationof1l .jmillion, hasrichand diversifiedflora, faunaand geology. Attracted by this unique naturalenvironment, foreign scien- tists have been collecting and studying specimens of Nepal'snatural history from everynookandcornerofthe kingdomforoveracentury. I n the absence of a natural history museum in Nepal, and of any suitable repo- sitory where material couldbe preserved andusedfor researchandexhibition, specimens collected by foreign scientific missions in the past have been exported by those missionsand preserved and studiedabroad.Local scientists were even unableto haveaccess to reportsorother publications basedon the specimens, and so the growth ofscientific knowledge andofpublic education was brought to a standstill-avery serious matter, as we have at last come to realize. Further, textbooksavailable to studentsofnaturalhistory inNepal weremostly based on thespeciesandenvironmental conditions ofother partsofthe world, with fewornoreferences to indigenous material, so thatthe knowledge gained by Nepalesestudents wasmainlytheoretical andalien to their own experience. In view of these facts and after the implementation of the plan for the new education systeminaccordance withthewishesofHisMajestytheKing,theNatural History Museum of Nepal, the only one of its kind in the country, was created on17 J uly1975, under the aegis of Tribhuvan University, for the preservation ofourcountry'snaturalheritage. History After the closing ofthe Anandakuti Science Colleg? in1974 by decision of the college managementcommittee, theTribhuvan UniversityInstituteofScience decided toestablish a museumofnatural history inthe hostel buildings of the college. Asa preparatory step, the Institute ofScience under itsdean, Dr S. P. Pradhan, brought together specimens preserved in two of the university colleges, and butterflyspecimenscollected byC. Smith, working undercontractin the central campus; it also purchased bird specimens collected by H. S. Nepali (Fig. I ) .The Institute of Science then organized an exhibition of birds and butterflies ontheoccasion ofHis Majesty'scoronation ch 8 February1975. On 17 July 2 2 0 Shailesh C. Singh B 97 5 ,the Natural History Museum came into being. Since that date the museum has launched museum programmes,enriched its collection, and educated the pub- lic by organizing exhibitions and mobile displays, and by publishingeducational materials. The Natural History Museum and government bodies concerned with the main- tenance and preservation of our natural heritage have an important contribution to make to our rapidly developingcountry. I n particular, our people should be informedabout nature,and the reasonsfor conserving and protecting wild life and preserving theenvironmentshould be explainedto them. They should be informedaboutthecountrysnaturalresourcesbywayofspecificexamples collectedforthepurpose. Ouraim,therefore,isto create amuseumthatwill serve asaresearch and educational centre and will thus spread knowledge among the people. The princi- pal objective is to collect and preserve specimens of our flora, fauna and geology. The maintenance ofa reference collection of Nepalese specimens in the country itself rather than in foreign countries, as has been the case so far, will help foster research and education in the field of natural history. To this end we have sought the co-operation of foreign visitors, tourists, trekkers and organized expeditions and groups, who previously dispersed many valuable specimens to places or coun- tries where no immediate benefit could be gained by the nation; whereas in Nepal such a collection would be absolutely essential as an aid to studies, including scien- tific projectsofnational importance. The second objective isto study and carry out researchon the specimens. A. majorcontributiontothiseffecthas,andwillcontinueto be,madebythe museumstaffandotherpeopleworking inscientific fields in Nepal.Research programmeswillalso be undertaken in co-operation with government research organizations orforeign museums,educational andresearchinstitutions. - Education.The knowledge gained through study and research should be dissemi- nated to students, and the people,whether educated or illiterate. Thus, the third bi timportantobjectiveistoeducatepeopleregardingourcountrys natural wealthin the hope that, byarousing theircuriosity, theywill be made aware ofthe needtoprotectit. Documentation.Since we aimat combining facilities for researchandeducation withdataandspecimensofa purelyinformativenature,we have to maintain acomprehensive record of published literature on our natural history. Therefore the last, but nevertheless important, objective is to collect documentation on the literature andon specimens ofNepalese natural history. Collectionandpreservation I n order to preserve and maintain a record of our flora, fauna and geology, speci- mensare acquiredby organizedfield surveys, exchanges,gifts from individuals or institutions, purchasesfrom privatecollections or museums, the co-operation of researchers and research institutions and government bodies, the co-operation of students, and the control, according to predetermined principles, of the export ofspecimens,especially rare ones, for commercialpurposesor by foreignstudy teams. The Natural History Museum of Nepal, Katmandu2 2I I MUSEUMOF KATMANDU. :NATURAL Show-caseHISTORY, :s of birds. Fieldsurvey The museum'sacquisition policy is based on the state of scientific knowledge and theneedsofthe public. Asapreliminaryplan,owingtothelackofevencommonspecimens,the museum adopted a policy of broad-spectrum field studies. As the collection is en- richedand the state ofscientific knowledge imp