Mind Museums offer a fresh perspective on the heritage of mental health, bringing museums into sharp focus by examining former psychiatric asylums that have been converted into museums and exploring their potential in dismantling the stigma surrounding mental health.
Mind Museums offer a fresh perspective on the heritage of mental health,
bringing museums into sharp focus. Drawing on interdisciplinary approaches
from architecture, museum and exhibition design, and heritage and museum
studies, it examines former psychiatric asylums that have been converted into
museums.
The book presents a comprehensive investigation of mind museums, the
first of its kind in Europe, and explores their potential in raising awareness
and dismantling the stigma surrounding mental health. Through an indepth
examination of selected European examples, Lanz describes what
mind museums are and how they came to be. The innovative visitor studies
carried out at the Museo di Storia della Psichiatria in Reggio Emilia, which
are presented here, explore people’s encounters with mind museums and
reveal the profound impact of such experiences. By uncovering the power of
these heritage sites in facilitating discussions on mental health, civility, and
care, Lanz provides new insights into the emotive capacity of the museum
and visitors’ reflexivity at place-based memory sites.
Mind Museums will be of great interest to scholars and postgraduatelevel
students engaged in the study of museums, heritage, exhibition
design, architecture, and mental health. It should also be of interest to
heritage professionals, particularly those working in mind museums and
other similar sites, such as prison museums and sites of conscience.
