Open-air museums

An open-air museum (or open air museum) is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts out-of-doors. They are also frequently known as museums of buildings or folk museums.

The concept of an open-air museum originated in Scandinavia in the late 19th century and spread widely. A comprehensive history of the open-air museum as idea and institution can be found in Swedish museologist Sten Rentzhog's 2007 book Open Air Museums: The History and Future of a Visionary Idea.

Living history museums, including living farm museums and living museums, open-air museums where costumed interpreters portray period life in an earlier era. The interpreters act as if they are living in a different time and place and perform everyday household tasks, crafts, and occupations. The goal is to demonstrate older lifestyles and pursuits to modern audiences. Household tasks might include cooking on an open hearth, churning butter, spinning wool and weaving, and farming without modern equipment. Many living museums feature traditional craftsmen at work, such as a blacksmith, pewtersmith, silversmith, weaver, tanner, armorer, cooper, potter, miller, sawyer, cabinet-maker, woodcarver, printer, doctor and general store keeper.

Open air is “The unconfined atmosphere…outside buildings…” In the loosest sense, an open-air museum is any institution that includes one or more buildings in its collections, including farm museums, historic house museums, and archaeological open-air museums. Mostly open-air museum is applied to museums that specialize in the collection and re-erection of multiple old buildings at large outdoor sites, usually in settings of re-created landscapes of the past and often include living history. They may therefore be described as building museums. European open-air museums tended to be originally in regions where wooden architecture prevailed, as wooden structures may be trans-located without substantial loss of authenticity.

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