The Sonar Space of the Practices of Commemoration of Contemporary Museums

Abstract

The article is devoted to the particularities of the sound space of exhibitions in
contemporary museums commemorating World War II. It is registered that upon their projection
consideration may be made of various principles of organization which create a special atmosphere
making it possible to reconstruct the events of history and to experience its tragic moments anew.
The sound component is a significant component of the recreated atmosphere, since it is capable
of arousing certain particular sensations independently. During the process of research of the
sound space of memorial complexes devoted to World War II, the following are highlighted:
the Majdanek State Museum on Lublin (1944), the Yad Vashem Memorial Compound Holocaust
in Jerusalem (1953), and the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC (1993). The author
arrives at the conclusion that due to the gradual departure of eye-witnesses and the appearance
of new generations of people who have had no personal experience of communicating with
participants of the war, it has become necessary to give special attention towards research work.
It must be directed towards studying the process of recreating the spatial-temporal picture which
makes it possible to experience anew the events of the wartime history.

Keywords: practices of commemoration, sound space of museums, memorial culture