Archaeological Open-Air Museum

Randa Ardesca - Archéosite d'Ardèche (FR)

Member of EXARC
Yes

Randa Ardesca - Archéosite d'Ardèche is an open-air museum which was founded in 2013 in the French department of Ardèche, and open to the public since 2014. It was founded by professionals of Living History, crafts, culture and communication, willing to have a permanent place to conduct experiments, and bring living history to the eye of the public to share their work and passion. Their project was to introduce to the public historical periods which are rarely, if ever presented in the other open-air musems of south-eastern France, namely the Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Early Middle Ages, all based on archaeological records from the surrounding area. The project is now carried by a group of 16 co-presidents surrounded by volunteers.

The site's constructions are built with historical materials and techniques, most of the time in front of the public. Regularly, the site offers to anyone who wishes to partake in the adventure the occasion to join the building team, may they be experienced in historical construction or complete neophytes. These are crucial times of the year for us, allowing us to share the experience acquired over the course of the years, and to learn from people with different skillsets. This also make Randa Ardesca a very evolutive site, having each year something new to show the public.

Pentref Oes Haearn Castell Henllys (UK)

Member of EXARC
Yes

Castell Henllys Iron Age Village is an established visitor centre and heritage site near Newport in North Pembrokeshire where the experience promises to take the visitor back in time and immerse the senses in Iron Age life. It is the only reconstructed Iron Age village in the UK where the roundhouses and granary have been built on the site of the original post holes. The hill-fort has also become one of the most prominent images of Welsh prehistory.

Castell Henllys is an established visitor centre and heritage site near Newport in North Pembrokeshire where the experience promises to take the visitor back in time and immerse the senses in Iron Age life. It is the only reconstructed Iron Age village in the UK where the roundhouses and granary have been built on the site of the original post holes...

How to Make a Medieval Town Come Alive – the Use of Volunteers in Living History

Author(s)
Pia Bach 1 ✉,
Thit Birk Petersen 1
Publication Date
EXARC Journal Issue 2019/2
2018 EXARC in Kernave
***For over 25 years The Medieval Centre/Middelaldercentret in Nykøbing F. Denmark has used volunteers to inhabit the reconstructed medieval town of Sundkøbing. To combine the use of volunteers and living history is not easy or something that happens spontaneously. It is hard work and requires patience, strength and firmness, but also...

Archäologisches Landesmuseum Brandenburg (DE)

Member of EXARC
Yes

The Brandenburg State Authorities for Heritage Management and State Museum of Archaeology (BLDAM) is a state authority established by and directly supervised by the Brandenburg State Ministry of Culture and Science.

The mission of the BLDAM is the fulfilment of the public service remit for preservation and dissemination of the archaeological and historical heritage of the federal state of Brandenburg.

Re-opened in 2008 the State Museum of Archaeology is an extracurricular place of learning and the most important cultural ambassador of the state Brandenburg.
It presents the 130 000 years old history of the state in an innovative, interactive and modern exhibition. 

Prickett's Fort State Park (US)

Member of EXARC
No

Prickett’s Fort State Park, located five miles north of Fairmont in Marion County, features a reconstruction of the original Prickett's Fort. This historical park commemorates late 18th-century life on the Virginia frontier. The fort was built to defend early European settlers of what today is West Virginia from raids. 

Perched on a small rise overlooking the confluence of Prickett’s Creek and the Monongahela River, this rustic log fort is a re-creation of the original Prickett’s Fort of 1774, which served as a refuge from Native American war parties on the western frontier of Colonial Virginia. Built in 1976 by the Prickett’s Fort Memorial Foundation, the “new” fort serves as a living history site where interpreters recreate late 18th century lifestyle through period attire and demonstrations of a variety of colonial crafts.

Heritage Hill State Historical Park (US)

Member of EXARC
No

Heritage Hill State Park is a living history state park devoted to the preservation of buildings and artifacts and the interpretation of the history of Northeastern Wisconsin and its people from 1672 to 1940.

One area in the park commemorates the fur trade. Its strategic location between the Mississippi and the Saint Lawrence Rivers made “LaBaye” a logical place for a trader to settle. By the 1720’s bands of voyageur canoes set out each spring from Quebec, the capital of New France, bound for the Northwest with a cargo of French trade goods. The French fur traders were reliant on the native groups for food, a trade route, hunting grounds, pelts, and companionship. Out of this companionship grew the Meétis culture, a mingling of French fur traders and the Indian culture.

Henricus Historical Park (US)

Member of EXARC
No

In May 1611, Sir Thomas Dale arrived in Virginia with instructions from the London Company to find a secure and healthy area to establish a new town and principal seat for the colony. He moved up the James River and established Henricus, the colony’s second settlement. By 1622 the location was abandoned. Eventually the exact location of the former town of Henricus was forgotten.

Though archaeological evidence of the actual settlement has not been found (due to the creation of Dutch Gap and other disturbances nearby), a reconstruction based on historical evidence of the settlement has been created nearby as a living history museum, Henricus Historical Park.

Exchange Place - Gaines Preston Farm (US)

Member of EXARC
No

Exchange Place was once the center of a more than 2,000 acre plantation. It served as the stop for 19th century travellers along the Old Stage Road where Virginia currency was exchanged for Tennessee currency and tired horses were exchanged for fresh ones. "Exchanges" still take place today at the Exchange Place. Instead of exchanging currency, crafts made by local artisans may be purchased.

Exchange Place -- the Gaines-Preston Farm recaptures life in the early 1800s. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, nine buildings built between 1816 and 1851 are restored on their original foundations, including the main house, the spring house, the school house and the smoke house. 

Historic Huguenot Street (US)

Member of EXARC
No

In 1677, a group of Huguenot families established a community in the Hudson Valley of New York in the hope of creating a home where they could worship as they chose.  In 1894, their descendants formed what is now Historic Huguenot Street to protect their legacy in the buildings, objects, and stories they left behind.

In 1677, a group of Huguenot families established a community in the Hudson Valley of New York in the hope of creating a home where they could worship as they chose.  In 1894, their descendants formed what is now Historic Huguenot Street to protect their legacy in the buildings, objects, and stories they left behind.

The Landing - Minnesota River Heritage Park (US)

Member of EXARC
No

The Landing – Minnesota River Heritage Park is a living history museum just outside downtown Shakopee on the Minnesota River featuring a number of restored buildings from the 1840s-1890s, laid out as a timeline from the pre-territorial era through the late 1800s. The mission of the park is to interpret how people have connected with the Minnesota River and its surrounding natural and cultural resources. 

Explore the grounds by yourself using interpretive media, tour highlighted buildings with a costumed guide or watch as interpreters in period clothing show visitors what life was like in the pioneering days of Minnesota, a time when settlers were establishing farmsteads and villages on the frontier. Kids love playing house in 1880s style at the Martinson House. Children can dress-up and play with period toys.