Saturday, March 22, 2014

Focus and Technical (This week's Photo Hunt themes)


When many people think of museums, they tend to think of those with an artistic or social historical focus.  But museological institutions actually cover a range of subject matter, including those which fall into the technical and scientific realm.

As a kid, my favorite museum in the whole wide world was the Science Museum in London  -- not least because it had an interactive gallery that looked to have been designed for children to find out that science can be fun!  And while the Natural History Museum located nearby became another favorite a few more years into my youth, I'd have to honestly say that I wasn't able to appreciate the Victoria and Albert Museum -- that's also located in that museum corner of South Kensington -- until I reached my late teens.

Seeing how I was one of those children who actually asked to be taken to museums, it stands to reason that I'd grow up wanting to work in them.  Although curating is not my primary career these days, I'm happy to have been able to be involved with a number of museums and related establishments in various parts of the world over the years (including, most recently, a social history gallery at the Eastern & Oriental Hotel in Penang (go to page 36-37 of this linked publication).   

While the museological establishments I've worked in have tended to be cultural in nature, I enjoy visiting museums with pretty much any focus.  And after a morning spent being taken by my German friend to a number of religious institutions in Speyer during my 2010 Germany trip, I took her in turn to a really fun museum that she hitherto had not realized existed in that German town!

The Teknik Museum Speyer (which I reckon can be translated into English as the Technical Museum of Speyer) is home to a whole range of interesting machinery displayed in outdoor as well as indoor settings.  Like Britain's Science Museum, there are a number of exhibits that are designed to be interactive or, at the very least, will respond to pushes of a button (or, in the case of the Speyer museum, the insertion of appropriate coinage into slots!).  And in the case of the larger items on exhibit (including a German U-boat submarine and several military along with civilian planes), visitors are allowed to go inside and check out their interiors.

Suffice to say that I enjoyed the hours I spent at this technical museum -- and to her surprise, so too did my German friend.  Unlike my less snap happy friend though, I also took lots of photos of various exhibits at the museum.  As it turned out, I didn't put up that many of them to document my visit to Speyer (though I did put up a couple in a general blog entry on museums I visited on my German trip), so I'm glad that Sandi's and Gattina's Photo Hunts has given an additional opportunity to do this week! :)

15 comments:

Bing said...

i love museums, too. sadly, i didn't get as much photos of those i had visited.

peppylady (Dora) said...

I heard Prince Albert and King George III was quite into science.
San Francisco has science museum.
Quite enjoyable.

Coffee is on

YTSL said...

Hi Bing --

There are lots of museums which still don't allow photography. Fortunately, I've also been to a number where photography's allowed!

Hi peppylady --

Prince Albert I knew about -- King George III I'm not sure about. From what I've read, he was more into farming!

I've been to San Francisco's science museum too -- it's pretty cool. :)

magiceye said...

Lovely takes!
Museums are a different world altogether!!

Photo Cache said...

I don't remember going to a technical and techological museums yet, such a pity.

YTSL said...

Hi magiceye --

I have to say that I'm glad that this entry got a longer response from you than normal! :D

Hi Photo Cache --

Have you been to science or space museums? Those would seem pretty technical to me too... ;)

Susan Demeter said...

What a great idea for a museum and for this weeks themes :)

Trekcapri said...

Hi YTSL, that is a very cool museum and I think I would've been snap happy there too. Great photo collection and take on thie two themes.

Carver said...

Great post. I love all kinds of museums. When I was a child I enjoyed going to our science museum at least as much as the art museum. My all time favorite was when my family went to Washington, DC, which we did to visit family fairly regularly, and we visited the Smithsonian Institution. The museum complex had everything for all ages. I still remember those visits as a child and wandering around being mesmerized by the exhibits.

Gattina said...

That's really technical !

YTSL said...

Hi Sue --

Sounds like you approve, and want to head to Speyer for a visit! ;b

Hi Trekcapri --

One thing I didn't mention previously: at times during my visit to the museum, it looked like it was going to rain - so overcast were the clouds. Luckily it didn't but unfortunately, some of the photos ended up looking darker than ominous than they should have!

Hi Carver --

The Smithsonian Institution is amazing - love the space museum the best! Having said that, my favorite museums in the US are actually in the US -- in particular, I love the Metropolitan Museum of Art. :)

Hi Gattina --

So very fitting for your chosen theme then! ;b

MaR said...

Which reminds me, I need to visit a museum soon!! enjoyed your post,interesting take on the themes, happy weekend!

YTSL said...

Hi Marcy --

Hope you enjoy your museum visit(s) -- and thanks for your appreciation of what I wrote in this blog post. :)

Anonymous said...

That last photo in particular is amazing! Great shots for this week's theme.

Hope that you had a great weekend.

YTSL said...

Hi JDeQ --

It'd be more amazing if the plane were off the ground but, alas, that was not the case! ;b