Essay On The National Museum

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A country, a region, a belief, people will proud of the truth will always stand the test of time. Although colonialism is able to force people to behave in its ways, it cannot completely change people’s minds. Until September 21, 2004, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) opened to the public. The foundation which was established in 1916, in New York City, The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian located on a symbolically significant site on the National Mall, next to the U.S. Capitol, and it is in a very grand building. I went to this museum twice, and I think this museum is a very special museum, I think it is not a typical history or anthropology museum, but it is a developing mature museum close to the audience. I amazed by the flawless symbolic architecture and every exhibition in this museum. After visiting I have a desire and curiosity to know about the museums history，management concept, and their changing path. This museum is the first national museum in the country dedicated exclusively to the Native Americans/indigenous people. This museum is about hope, the present and somewhat future, it proudly shows that nations/tribes are still around. Before the design of the museum architecture, the museum committees and the museum’s architectural consultants seek opinions from both North and South Americans.The architecture is keeping “balance and harmony”, almost every Indian culture believed that every mountain had a soul, every tree,every rock, every living creature and the Great Spirit flowed through all, keeping nature and mankind in perfect balance. And I have to say the building itself already is a “Native place” for me. A “Museum Different,”... ... middle of paper ... ...f food. They also made traditional Indian cornbread, because cornbread was created and harvested by the early Indians before the settlement of Europeans in North American. American Indians used corn ground for their meals and flour for centuries. I think after visiting the exhibitions take a rest and having meal in this cafeteria to keep learning the food culture is a still relax and knowledgeable part for visiting a museum. A native viewers describe this museum as a “Vehicle”, to bring educational messages to the American public that tribes by themselves cannot do. Overall, the museum as civic and social space is, to be sure, a new and vital direction for the NMAI. It is a thought-provoking museum that raises the question of Native American identity past, present and future.They treated the land with respect. Wonderful art by talented indigenous folk.

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