Great museum websites

[bunn]

Does anyone have any opinions on great museum websites that you have run across recently?  If so, what struck you as good about 'em?  I'm on the hunt for ideas.

I do like the Ashmolean one - even if I'm not 100% convinced by the slideshow, the way they get a lot of good points for the museum onto the homepage without it looking cluttered is very nice.

Comments

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Oh, the mystery meat navigation. It's been a joke for so many years, I'm amazed people still create it thinking that they are being innovative.

I agree, opening times and Where Are We are vital - that's one of the things I liked about the Ashmolean site, that bar right across the middle that manages to communicate all those things in about 30 pixels of vertical space.

It's a local museum, but personally I tend to the opinion that the split between 'local tourist attraction' and 'Important Museum' is a false one.

Important Museums have more stuff, but a local museum will very likely still have collections of importance to a specific visitor: I think Importance tends to be in the eye of the beholder (OK, maybe not sodding Victorian flat-irons...)

I get very annoyed when I'm trying to find more about a Thing, and all I can find is 'Thing is on display in our Oddleston Gallery from 10am to 3pm' and a postage-stamp-size photo, when the Oddleston gallery is a 7-hour drive away, or even worse, a 10 hour flight. Grrrrr.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I guess so. I guess the distinction is whether your item is unique or remarkable in some other way, or if it's just another example of a mass-produced Victorian flat-iron, identical to hundreds of others in museums around the world. Some local museums, such as those associated with an archaelogical site, might have a lot of the former. (If they've been allowed to keep them. I get grumpy when I go to Oddlestone Gallery, only to find that the famous Oddlestone Grail isn't actually there, but lives in London.) Others, such as those focused on early 20th century daily life, would have more of the latter.

"Is there a tea shop?" Another question that needs to be answered in a very prominent position. :-)

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Definitely. Way too many Important Objects seem to get moved to London by default. It's strange, because if they stayed in Oddleston, they'd be The. Important. Thing of Oddleston! whereas in London they often seem to end up tucked away in a box at least part time, because London is so packed with important objects.

Archaeological stuff is so much more meaningful if it stays local anyway. I was looking for records of pre-Norman silver jewellery recently, and surely, in an area where the rocks are partly MADE of silver, with a 2000+ year history of silver mining there must be some stuff made from the results? But finding it is hard. There are some gold things, because people think gold is more important.