Museums of death as a modern trend

Abstract

The paper analyzes Museums of death, which in recent decades have appeared in many countries of the world, including Russia. The popularity of museums that bring death out of the private and into the public sphere, removing the social taboos associated with it, testifies to a shift in public consciousness that is taking place before our eyes, which will require anthropologists to pay closer attention. Turning to their experience, on the one hand, is interesting as another attempt to answer the question why does the topic of death look both frightening and attractive at the same time? On the other hand, it will allow us to analyze the possibilities of museification of the idea of death, taking into account its social taboo. In this paper methods of digital ethnography were used, the sources were materials from the Internet official websites of institutions, their pages on social networks, reviews of visitors on various platforms. Materials of the authors observations and field studies in Russian museums, primarily in the Novosibirsk Museum of World Funeral Culture, were also partially involved. This paper also considers stages of international museum community formation associated with the presentation of the theme of death in public space, museum practices and development strategies, as well as the problems of exploiting the theme of death in the entertainment industry.