What Are Museums For? Episode 1: Nation

Museums have traditionally played an important role in the forging of national identity. In this episode of ‘What Are Museums For’ Fitzwilliam Museum Director Luke Syson and Athena Art Foundation Director Nicola Jennings are joined by Sussan Babaie (Professor in the Arts of Iran and Islam, Courtauld Institute of Art) and Dr Gabriele Finaldi (Director, National Gallery, London) to discuss the relationship between museums and nationhood. How do ideas about national identity impact collections and their presentation? How might we develop less Eurocentric and more inclusive approaches? What roles could or should museums play in imagining the future?

Mummy portrait of a bearded man from Hawara, 150-150 CE, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. photo © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.