Here’s something I’ve been seeing a lot of in city museums: street signs in the lobby.
I took this photo at the Museum of London in February:
And here’s one from the Chicago History Museum:
And the Centre d’Histoire de Montréal; not quite the lobby but just off it, at the start of the permanent exhibition:
I’m not saying it’s necessarily a bad idea, mind you. Street signs can be very evocative, particularly when they are from streets we have walked a thousand times. But have city museums become formulaic? And would it be more effective to bring the museum to the streets, instead of the other way around?
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Streets make the city. Having street signs in the city museum is thus a good idea even if not that original. It is particularly interesting if there has been some change in how they look like.
Taking museum to the street could be more effective but it is for sure much easier to take the street signs in the museum.
By the way, how do you find the ‘street museum’ at Sofiankatu, in front of Helsinki City Museum main building? Does that have anything you are looking for?
http://www.hel2.fi/kaumuseo/katumuseo/english/esittely.html
In my opinion, three different time periods is too much for such a short street.
I think the Street Museum is a bit too subtle, Niko. It’s easy to miss the interpretive panels and the change in cobblestones/lighting unless you are very observant or know to look. This is likely related to your issue of too many time periods for such a short street–if each time period lasted longer then the effect might be more striking. I’m not sure my assessment is fair, however, since I arrived in Helsinki after the start of the construction project at the head of Sofianinkatu. The machinery and the temporary wall is so distracting for pedestrians that it’s difficult to fully register what is going on with the rest of the street.
On the whole, I do like the idea of manipulating the street furniture to create a more distinctive sense of place, and I think it’s great when urban museums experiment with the space just outside their front doors. Even if the Street Museum isn’t perfect, I like it better than modern paving that would look like every other street in Helsinki. Perhaps when the Helsinki City Museum moves over a block, next to Sederholm House, there will be an opportunity to build upon the existing Street Museum in some way.