More Than Museums

By Steven Conejo Gutierrez

“Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it.” (George Santayana). People tend to forget what is not affecting them, and in some way, this is an understandable survival mechanism. Why waste energy on something that has already vanished? This makes a considerable amount of people not interested in what history covers. This leads them to follow their primitive impulses and not heed history’s lessons. Nevertheless, what makes us humans is the capability to see through these basic instincts. Besides, remembering is a justifiable investment of energy because history is much more than names and dates. History is a way to in its context. Context, is much more important than the piece itself. Because the piece is just an attempt to make the frameworks within it endure throughout time. Yet and interestingly, the stories these pieces hold lose any trace of value without being interpreted.

Everyone should be able to go to a museum. Age, socioeconomic status, or any demographic should not be a reason for someone to not be able to go to them. The universality of these institutions is something well addressed in London, where most of them were free, inclusive, and even interactive for kids. Also, the simple fact understand how the actions and situations that happened in the past affect us in our identity and paradigm. The necessity to exhibit the past, which humankind shall not forget, is one of the important reasons why museums exist. They present our history, but more importantly of being surrounded by a variety of people of different cultures and ages made the museums much more enjoyable. The effort to maintain these exhibition halls as approachable for everyone is something that I really appreciated, but some of them incur oversimplification to make them more quote-on-quote “manageable”.

The Natural History Museum (NHM), one of the places I wanted to go to the most, was, from my perspective, almost a playground. It shows the beautiful architecture and had some big exhibitions that I loved. But I think they, willing to make the museum easier to navigate for a kid with no knowledge other than the simple fact of the existence of dinosaurs, ended up oversimplifying it. Most of the exhibitions shown were adapted with games and puzzles for people, especially kids, to solve. These puzzles and games are usually freshening for whoever sees them in a museum because they make the environment less serious and more interactive. However, in the NHM these puzzles overthrew the mere experience of a simple piece without anything and took a lot of space reducing the number of exhibitions. For me, this was disappointing in some way because Oxford’s Natural History Museum was one of the best menageries I encountered, and my expectations went from the presumption of a better Natural History Museum than Oxford’s to a kid’s funny, interactive, and academic playground. Overall, my experience in London’s museums was amazing, and I continue to cherish the opportunity I had to visit world-

Two Truths And A Lie

1. I visited Stonehenge

2. The London bridge was mid

3. I went to 7 different museums class institutions. The V&A, British Museum, the remarkable Oxford Natural History Museum, Pitt Rivers Museum, and even the Natural History Museum were by far the best experiences I had in London. Visiting London’s museums is an experience I would recommend to whoever to have regardless of their background.

Favorite restaurant? Darjeeling Express

What was the most disappointing part of the trip? Buckingham Palace

Favorite tube line? Piccadilly

Most steps in one day? 27,000 on Monday

How many books did you buy?

Seven

Favorite museum? Oxford’s Natural History Museum

Sydney is a first generation student at KU majoring in English with a creative writing track and minoring in business. She is finishing her third (junior) year with plans to graduate in May 2024 and then plans to pursue a masters degree. In her free time she likes to read, write, spend time with friends and family, and Salem her cat. Her favorite experience while in London was people watching and exploring bookstores. NEXT

BEST RESTAURANT: LIGHT OF INDIA

THE KIDS HAVE ACCENTS TOO?!

Purchased BooksEleven

WHAT IT’S LIKE TO GO MUSEUMING, WHEN YOU DON’T LIKE MUSEUMING, IN A PLACE THAT HAS 192 MUSEUMS