Academic Session 37: Warwick 2011
AAH Annual Conference 2011
31 March – 2 April, University of Warwick
“An inspriring day out”, “a lifestyle message”? – historic houses in the 21st century
Session Convenor:
Ulrike Weiss (University of St. Andrews), uew@st-andrews.ac.uk
"I love museums in their place, but museumitis and its politically correct henchman 'education' are now a raging disease in English country houses. Filling old rooms with signs, captions, notices and waxworks does not amount to a 'lifestyle message'.”
(Sir Simon Jenkins, quoted in The Independent, Saturday 5th July 2008)
How to define “the Historic House” in the 21st century? And how to make it viable, when it has to earn its keep to survive? Historic Houses are important examples of architecture - but in the rich tapestry of building and rebuilding, which layer to present? And how to preserve the fabric of the building when it is to attract large numbers of visitors?
Ideally, historic houses present art in its setting and context. But where does ‘history’ end and conservation begin? Are later additions not part of the ‘story’? And how to furnish a room that is empty? When the ‘visitor experience’ is about authenticity, how to make sure not to present them with a film set?
Can historic houses be places of learning, and if so, how can interpretation be introduced without destroying the character of the rooms? How, indeed, can large numbers of visitors be introduced without destroying the character of the rooms – and therefore their experience? If the historic house is a complex “Gesamtkunstwerk”, a walk-in work of art, how to balance conservation with accessibility? How to make it sustainable without destroying it?
The session aims to address these questions through case studies as well as general investigations into trends in the interpretation of history.