Una nuova idea di museo tra passato e futuro

The Madrid Conference of 1934 sanctioned the affirmation of a new idea of the museum with an enhanced educational and social scope, which was shared internationally. The main objective of the reform, already underway in the first decades of the 20th century, was to enable the general public entering museums to understand the value of history, of the arts and of sciences in the ‘construction’ of the present. This process of profound transformations involves various design and theoretical concerns, which are explored in this issue of the Journal in three sections and in a photo album. The first section highlights the role of some of the decisive figures in the development of contemporary museography and then moves on to the theoretical debate and the relationship between exhibitions and museums. The second section focuses on education and communication, both within the museum and in the development of methodologies for designing its spaces. Finally, the third part investigates the museum from a formal and functional point of view.