Two weeks ago, I went to a museum.
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The dark colonial history that built it. The artifacts in this museum have been collected over a period of several hundred years. But a bulk of the collection dates from a time when humanity spread across the world, killing, destroying, pillaging.
Colonising.
I'm a white girl from Britain. I have absolutely no right to lecture any one on their nations' colonial past. That's not what I'm trying to do here.
But it's impossible to escape that this museum largely exists because of it.
19/n@quixoticgeek I think the more I understand about colonisation the more I think the term should be invasion.
Colonising sounds quite peaceful, but in most cases the local inhabitants were defeated and subdued in battle. In many they were almost completely eliminated through ethnic cleansing. -
Postscript:
I'm not sure where I'm trying to go with this thread. This museum was both incredible in its beauty, but also in the destruction it catalogues. The record of a world we've lost. It's an awful lot to think about. Thank you if you've read this far. And if you haven't already, go read "last chance to see"
@quixoticgeek I think that is exactly the message you’re bringing across with this beautifully written thread. Thank you!
Museums are indeed a place to learn about the world, and get a feel for the endless possibilities it holds - and for the things we’ve lost and destroyed.
Now I need to go to Vienna again.
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Postscript:
I'm not sure where I'm trying to go with this thread. This museum was both incredible in its beauty, but also in the destruction it catalogues. The record of a world we've lost. It's an awful lot to think about. Thank you if you've read this far. And if you haven't already, go read "last chance to see"
@quixoticgeek Thanks. It was wonderful to accompany you on that tour!
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Postscript:
I'm not sure where I'm trying to go with this thread. This museum was both incredible in its beauty, but also in the destruction it catalogues. The record of a world we've lost. It's an awful lot to think about. Thank you if you've read this far. And if you haven't already, go read "last chance to see"
@quixoticgeek thank you for this thread!
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After a slice of Sacher Toort met sahne in the Museum Cafe, it was time to explore the second floor of the museum. Chronologically, what we had progressed to now could be considered modern. I walked past display cased full of beautiful irridescent butterflies. A room full of crabs. Fish. Reptiles. And amphibians. Each static. Imobilised in it's display case. The incredible. Old. Wooden display cases.
I should have understood.
But I didn't.
11/n@quixoticgeek
Oh god, I've been there. I remember those rooms vividly.
Horrifying in so many ways. -
Postscript:
I'm not sure where I'm trying to go with this thread. This museum was both incredible in its beauty, but also in the destruction it catalogues. The record of a world we've lost. It's an awful lot to think about. Thank you if you've read this far. And if you haven't already, go read "last chance to see"
@quixoticgeek You don't need to be going anywhere with it - it stands on it's own as something to think seriously about.
I think it's made more powerful by there not being a specific goal that you're heading for, but simply sharing your thoughts and feelings as you progressed through the museum.
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@hugh the whole thread? Or just parts of it? Which bits ?
@quixoticgeek The images with skeletons!
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@quixoticgeek The images with skeletons!
@hugh done.
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@hugh done.
@quixoticgeek thank you
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I sat there on a bench next to the taxidermy Thylacine and cried.
If you don't know what a thylacine is. You won't be alone. They went extinct in the wild in the early 20th century. The last one died in Hobart zoo on Tasmania in 1936. You may have heard of this species by it's other name. The Tasmanian tiger. Because of the stripes along it's back.
Before white settlers colonised Australia, there were ~5000 of these magnificent animals. But now all we have to remember them by is...
14/n@quixoticgeek I knew I saw a video of this animal and am sure you would appreciate it as much as I do. And yes what a tragedy they are extinct. One is the original B&W and then a colorized one.
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I sat there on a bench next to the taxidermy Thylacine and cried.
If you don't know what a thylacine is. You won't be alone. They went extinct in the wild in the early 20th century. The last one died in Hobart zoo on Tasmania in 1936. You may have heard of this species by it's other name. The Tasmanian tiger. Because of the stripes along it's back.
Before white settlers colonised Australia, there were ~5000 of these magnificent animals. But now all we have to remember them by is...
14/n@quixoticgeek There's also a movie with Willem Dafoe called the Hunter 2011; not sure if you're interested in it.
