De intrede van het publiek. Museumbezoek in België 1830-1914

At the end of the eighteenth century the first museums were established on Belgian territory. At the beginning of the nineteenth century they op ened their doors to the public. Initially their accessibility was very l imited. After Belgium became independent the number of museums increased very quickly and access to these institutions became easier. That way v isiting museums could develop as a cultural activity. In my dissertation I studied this process. I describe the genesis and development of the p ractice of museum visiting in Belgium in the years between independence in 1830 and the beginning of the First World War in 1914. Diverse aspect s of this process are discussed. In the first place I analyse the ideas on museum visiting. Museum founders, museum directors, artists, art crit ics, civil servants, politicians, scientists, writers and journalists of ten had pronounced ideas about museum visiting. They reflected on the be nefits of museum visiting, described which instruments should be develop ed for the public, laid down how people should behave in museums, discus sed whether everybody should be allowed to visit museums or some people should be excluded. Sometimes they could influence the practices of muse um visiting. These practices are studied as well. The accessibility of m useums, the registration of museum visitors, the size and composition of the museum public, the public facilities and the museum visitors' behav iour are a few aspects that receive extensive attention. In the third pl ace the experiences of museum visitors are discussed. Travel journals, d iaries, autobiographies, correspondences and other egodocuments reveal w hat attracted the public to the museums and how that public experienced museum visiting. They show which museums were popular and which were not , and the reasons why. From the beginning expectations about museums were high. Among others th ings museums were supposed to enhance the training of artists, to bring about scientific progress, to increase national and local pride. Initial ly, most museums were open for the general public just a few hours a wee k. Only artists, connoisseurs and foreign tourists could visit museums m ore frequently. In many museums an entrance fee had to be paid. Museum r egulations were meant to keep order, silence and discipline in the museu m rooms. The museum staff concentrated on the acquisition and study of o bjects and did not show much interest in the visiting public. Public fac ilit