National identity and the situation of national museums. The Challenges of museum policy

Straipsnio objektas - XX-XXI a. Lietuvoje brėžta lietuvių tautinio/tautos —>Lietuvos nacionalinio muziejaus sampratų, organizavimo trajektorija. Tikslas -įvertinti, remiantis analitinės ir palyginamosios analizės metodais, jos savitumus ir panašumus į bendrąsias nacionalinių muziejų raidos pasaulyje tendencijas: nuo savasties apoteozės iki pozityvistinio nacionalinio identiteto reprezentavimo. Sureikšminamos šiuolaikinės Lietuvos muziejų politikos problemos: nacionalinių muziejų pobūdis, kiekis. The development of National museums in Lithuania proves the rule that national museums are institutions which represent a free nation and an independent state's national identity. The Lithuanian nation in the 19th с —>the State of Lithuania in 1918-1940 and from 1990 —>the national museums ->1936, 1997, 2002, 2009. Vytautas the Great Museum (1936) in Kaunas was the first and only national museum until the soviet occupation of Lithuania (1940). After Lithuania regained its independence, three state museums in 1997 obtained the status of National museum: M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum in Kaunas and in Vilnius - the National Museum of Lithuania and the Lithuanian Museum of Art. The National Art Gallery as a department of The Lithuanian Museum of Art was established in Vilnius in 2002. In 2009 National Museum of the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania was established. Only history and art museums are national museums in Lithuania: in Vilnius - the capital city, and Kaunas -the former capital (1918-1938) ofthe Republic of Lithuania. The political, ideological, social changes in Lithuania and influence of global integration, globalization determined discourse of these concepts in the 20th-21st c: Lithuanian national / National —>National museum of Lithuania. The tendencies of conception of the national museum essence and mission in Lithuania are similar to what is common in the world: from the historical road, self-identity, the apotheosis of achievements to the positivistic representation ofthe national identity and tolerance of other identities and treasures of global significance. A monolithic Lithuanian national / Nation's museum was formed in the Republic of Lithuania in 1918-1940. The conception of national museum balancing between Lithuanian identities and tolerating other identities and global values significant to Lithuania, appear after Lithuania regained independence in 1990.The reach of contemporary national museums in Lithuania is to develop the discourses ofthe national identities' representation: selfidentity to the world, national and global importance. The situation of contemporary national museums in Lithuania has some basic challenges requiring solutions: a lack of need of national museums in the public interest; the conceptions of national identity, national importance and the status of national museum is relative; there is a correlation between the conception of national museum and national identity. This challenge indicates that the strategy of Lithuania museums' policy (to represent Lithuania's national identity of state importance) is not administered efficiently enough. We expect that the formation of the strategy of Lithuania's heritage, provided in the Guidelines of Changes of Lithuanian Culture Policy (2010), will assist in actualizing and rationally solving the needs and problems of national museums