FREE SPACE AS AN ELEMENT OF OPEN-AIR MUSEUMS’ EXHIBITION

Abstract

In the area of architectural heritage preservation, the leveling of monument objects’ environment is an important problem. The essence of the monuments is laid not only in their material structure but also in a historically formed environment and spatial configuration that exhibits their historical and cultural content, enriches artistic properties.
 Open-air museums are specific institutions that are characterized by the use of not only monumental volumes and structures but also the free space between them. Cultural landscapes - lands of estates and residences, parks in palace ensembles, territories of monastic complexes, industrial landscapes, memorial places, and archaeological complexes become elements of the exhibition. Features of exhibition space organization in open-air museums are not sufficiently highlighted in scientific literature.
 Depending on the selected exhibition concept, a set of activities of the museum is determined and the museum zoning occurs. The use of free spaces is divided into two levels depending on the scale – urban planning and architectural. The urban planning level is responsible for the environmental design of the overall space of the ensemble or the complex of monuments. The architectural level of open-air museum formation envisages the organization of existing buildings, structures, and areas between them.
 On the urban-planning level, it is important to ensure the convenience of the visual perception of the complex: to reveal the most interesting fragments of the environment and visual connections, to emphasize the basic aesthetic, associative, symbolic, and practical properties of cultural landscapes within the open-air museum. On the architectural level of organization, free spaces become the basis for many activities - various educational, cultural, and entertainment events.
 Free space in museums serves as an exhibit, an element of activity processes and various events, and also serves as a basic tool for detecting and emphasizing the characteristic features of exhibited complexes and ensembles.