@Solmaz and @Yannick, I really enjoyed both of your presentations, and especially how you both contextualised the oriental courts and Assyrian artefacts against changing tastes and art historical thinking in UK and France respectively. One of the joys of engaging with museum design histories has been the range of visual material and sources that are present, and I've learnt a great deal (as a historian who only with the PhD really engaged with material and visual histories) from the various ways in which you've analysed them in their specific historical contexts.
Hi Samuel, it's really kind of you to send such a comment, I feel that topics of our three presentations are very close, as we can't deny that museums have to face imperialist issue for decades. As you brightly quoted, contents and museum design are definitely connected and it's amazing to see that Owen Jones as architects of the new Museum of London did have to find the best option concerning the image of Empire that museum wanted to display. I guess the problem was precisely the same when first Assyrian collections have to be exhibited in Europe - and I feel, as I'm in charge of research in a museum dedicated to the late 19th century, that current museums have still to deal with a very similar challenge. By the way, I visited the Museum of London a couple of years ago, may I ask you what is your opinion concerning the most recent settings?
