living history

The paper summarizes preliminary findings of a research project on the use of museum theatre in Greek open-air sites, as a part of a PhD thesis. The research focuses on the exploration of the development, use and function of museum theatre in Greek open-air sites based on available secondary resources and primary research, which...

As long as people have walked the earth, stories have been told; from stories around the campfire told by older people to entertain and educate the young, to 15th century knights dressing up as Romans during themed tournaments. Telling a story is putting on a little show; a show is a great way to tell a story... Including Spartacus in Archeon by Erik Collinson

The Viking Village Storholmen is an archaeological open-air museum, beautifully situated near Lake Erken, ten kilometres north of the coastal town of Norrtälje, Roslagen, Sweden. The Viking Village is situated in an exciting and historically important region that shows traces of substantial connections throughout the Baltic Sea and further east...

This useful text brings together recent thinking about museum theatre and the performance of heritage, offering a range of international case studies to its readers as evidence of the discipline’s usefulness in interpreting the past for visitors...

“The Koryvantes Association was founded in 2009 by people with a background in the study of ancient Greek warfare who were not satisfied by the level of reconstructions undertaken so far in Greece and internationally and who wished to ultimately adopt a framework based on experimental archaeological methodology...

Dr Gábor Szőllősy is an agricultural engineer and councillor museologist at the Museum of Hungarian Agriculture, Budapest. His specialist fields at the Museum are: livestock-farming, livestock registry, carriage vehicles, harnesses, fine arts and the numismatics collection. His PhD thesis was published in 1995...

I liaise with a number of living history groups globally, which all share the same aims and objectives of researching and actively pursuing experimental archaeology related to Ancient Greece and Rome. By networking, we create a foundation of knowledge that meets our framework for understanding the past, whether it be military martial arts, polytheism...

2013 EXARC meeting at Csiki Pihenökert (HU)
***Throughout the history of re-enactment and in general efforts to revive or recreate the milieu of bygone ages, the military aspect of lifestyle has always enjoyed a special status-one might even say that the military stand point is a predominant part of many re-enactments...

2013 EXARC meeting at Csiki Pihenökert (HU)
***Since the 1990s, experience-oriented historical communication has been steadily increasing. Yet in-depth research of forms of historical representation and acquisition such as museum theatre, themed walks, or time travel within docu-soaps has remained minimal...

2012 OpenArch meeting at Foteviken (SE)
***In his 2007 book, Living History Museums: Undoing History through Performance, Scott Magelssen describes the various reactions to his main line of enquiry: is historical interpretation theatre? The majority of the people he interviewed were museum curators and historical interpreters...