Take a stand

Showing your position

The neutrality of museums has been increasingly questioned for years. Whereas in the past decades the museum had to be established as a neutral place for everyone, now a clear positioning is required: What values does the museum stand for? What position does it take in regards to the major socio-political debates?

But a museum must not lose its scientific integrity in the process, it must not become a political activist in the figurative sense, it has been shown by studies from the USA: museums enjoy a great deal of trust among the population. People assume that what is presented reflects the relevant realities.

It will be our challenge in the coming years to take a position without dropping our claim to be a “museum for all”.

streng schauender Kopf einer steinernen Statue

Decolonising requires dialogue, expertise and support

6th of May 2019 - Statement approved on the occasion of the 2019 Annual Conference of the Directors of Ethnographic Museums in German Speaking Countries, in Heidelberg.

To the Heidelberg Statement

Open Letter in Support of the Reconstruction of the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro

On September 2, 2018, the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was destroyed by a devastating fire and lost more than three-quarters of its historical collections.

To the open letter