{"schema":"https://ver.cy/schemas/card/1.0.0","id":"vr.tr.living-museum","code":"thing-q6659501","url":"https://ver.cy/models/thing/q6659501/","name":"living museum","alternateNames":[],"kind":"thing","status":"published","version":"0.1.0-research.1","language":"en","classifiers":{"family":"Thing Registry","category":"Physical world and living systems","entryKind":"thing","plane":"PHY","domain":["PHY.PLC"],"industry":[],"navPath":"","tags":[],"facets":{}},"whatItIs":"A living museum is a museum or heritage site that interprets cultural heritage through active demonstrations, maintained practices or historically informed activities, often within a preserved or reconstructed setting.","purpose":"Enable an agent to recognise a living museum, assess the relationship between its heritage setting and active demonstrations, and determine which visits, performances and interventions are appropriate.","scope":{"in":["The museum site's boundaries, represented setting and relationship to original or reconstructed heritage","The practices, demonstrations and everyday activities through which heritage is interpreted","The relationship between historic objects, working replicas and visitor interaction","The involvement and authority of interpreters, practitioners and associated communities","Readiness and constraints for operating the setting as a living museum"],"out":["The museum operator's corporate identity, finances and employment arrangements","Full collection records and conservation treatments for individual artefacts","Complete biographies and occupational models of interpreters or practitioners","Standalone historical events or reenactment productions","Species and habitat models for living collections","Detailed engineering models of buildings, machinery and infrastructure"],"boundaries":[]},"distinguishingFeatures":["Heritage is communicated through enacted or continuing practices that are integral to the visitor experience; outdoor display alone does not establish this model's intended sense of living museum.","Activities have an identifiable connection to a represented place, period or community rather than functioning only as themed entertainment.","The setting can distinguish original fabric, reconstructions, working replicas and modern adaptations instead of treating them as equally historical.","The museum can identify whether activities are staged interpretation, continuing community practices, or a mixture; visitors should not have to infer this from appearances.","An isolated reenactment does not establish that the host site operates as a living museum; the relationship must persist beyond the individual event."],"structure":{"bundles":[{"id":"heritage-setting-and-boundaries","name":"Heritage setting and boundaries","description":"Establishes which physical setting and sense of living museum this entry represents.","layers":[{"id":"museum-sense","name":"Museum sense","description":"Resolves what living means in this museum's own context.","findings":[{"id":"basis-of-living-status","name":"Basis of living status","description":"Record whether the designation refers to enacted history, continuing practices, living collections or another explicitly documented use.","questions":[{"text":"What does living museum mean for this site, and which activities or collections establish that meaning?","id":"basis-of-living-status-q01","kind":"definition"},{"text":"Does the designation describe a persistent site function or only a temporary programme?","id":"basis-of-living-status-q02","kind":"boundary"}]}]},{"id":"represented-place","name":"Represented place","description":"Connects the visitor setting to the heritage it represents.","findings":[{"id":"fabric-and-representation","name":"Fabric and representation","description":"Record the represented place and period alongside the provenance of original, relocated and reconstructed site elements.","questions":[{"text":"Which spaces belong to the interpreted heritage setting, and which are contemporary support spaces?","id":"fabric-and-representation-q01","kind":"boundary"},{"text":"What evidence establishes the origin and historical relationship of each major building or landscape element?","id":"fabric-and-representation-q02","kind":"provenance"}]}]}]},{"id":"enacted-and-continuing-practices","name":"Enacted and continuing practices","description":"Describes the activities that make heritage present through practice.","layers":[{"id":"practice-lineage","name":"Practice lineage","description":"Identifies how demonstrated practices were transmitted or reconstructed.","findings":[{"id":"continuity-and-reconstruction","name":"Continuity and reconstruction","description":"Record each practice's relationship to ongoing tradition, revival, documentary reconstruction or interpretive invention.","questions":[{"text":"Is this practice continuously transmitted, revived or reconstructed, and whose account supports that classification?","id":"continuity-and-reconstruction-q01","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which parts of the demonstration are evidenced, inferred or introduced for interpretation?","id":"continuity-and-reconstruction-q02","kind":"boundary"}]}]},{"id":"portrayal-and-explanation","name":"Portrayal and explanation","description":"Makes the relationship between performance and historical explanation explicit.","findings":[{"id":"interpretive-contract","name":"Interpretive contract","description":"Record how visitors recognise portrayal, ask questions and learn about uncertainty or present-day adaptations.","questions":[{"text":"Do interpreters speak as historical characters, contemporary explainers or practising community members?","id":"interpretive-contract-q01","kind":"definition"},{"text":"How can an interpreter explain an uncertain claim or modern adaptation without leaving visitors with a false historical impression?","id":"interpretive-contract-q02","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"working-heritage-and-conservation","name":"Working heritage and conservation","description":"Connects the use of historic settings and equipment to their preservation.","layers":[{"id":"demonstration-assets","name":"Demonstration assets","description":"Distinguishes collection objects from equipment intended for working use.","findings":[{"id":"originals-and-working-substitutes","name":"Originals and working substitutes","description":"Record which objects may operate or be handled and whether substitutes preserve the intended interpretive function.","questions":[{"text":"Which demonstration objects are historic originals, working replicas or modern substitutes?","id":"originals-and-working-substitutes-q01","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"What use is permitted for each object, and who can authorise a change from display to operation?","id":"originals-and-working-substitutes-q02","kind":"action"}]}]},{"id":"use-related-change","name":"Use-related change","description":"Tracks the effects of repeated practice on the heritage setting.","findings":[{"id":"wear-and-renewal-limits","name":"Wear and renewal limits","description":"Record the acceptable effects of demonstration, maintenance and replacement on heritage material and interpretive credibility.","questions":[{"text":"Which indicators and units are used to monitor wear caused by operation or visitor handling?","id":"wear-and-renewal-limits-q01","kind":"measurement"},{"text":"When must a demonstration stop, move to a replica or change method to protect heritage fabric?","id":"wear-and-renewal-limits-q02","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"community-authority-and-participation","name":"Community authority and participation","description":"Records whose heritage is portrayed and who may perform, adapt or share it.","layers":[{"id":"representation-authority","name":"Representation authority","description":"Identifies the people and groups entitled to contribute to or challenge interpretation.","findings":[{"id":"voices-and-permissions","name":"Voices and permissions","description":"Record the roles of associated communities, practitioners and curators in approving and revising portrayals.","questions":[{"text":"Which communities or practitioners are associated with this portrayal, and how is their involvement documented?","id":"voices-and-permissions-q01","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Who can request correction, restrict a portrayal or authorise changes to the demonstrated practice?","id":"voices-and-permissions-q02","kind":"action"}]}]},{"id":"visitor-practice-boundaries","name":"Visitor practice boundaries","description":"Distinguishes observation from authorised participation in heritage activities.","findings":[{"id":"participation-and-recording","name":"Participation and recording","description":"Record activity-specific permissions for joining, handling, photographing and recording.","questions":[{"text":"Which parts of the practice may visitors observe, perform or record, and what conditions apply?","id":"participation-and-recording-q01","kind":"boundary"},{"text":"What briefing or supervision is required before a visitor handles tools, wears interpretive clothing or joins a demonstration?","id":"participation-and-recording-q02","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"live-programme-readiness","name":"Live programme readiness","description":"Determines whether the museum can deliver its active heritage experience at a particular time.","layers":[{"id":"practice-availability","name":"Practice availability","description":"Connects the programme to the resources and seasonal conditions it requires.","findings":[{"id":"demonstration-dependencies","name":"Demonstration dependencies","description":"Record the practitioners, materials, operating equipment and environmental conditions needed for each advertised activity.","questions":[{"text":"When is each practice available, and which dependencies can prevent it from taking place?","id":"demonstration-dependencies-q01","kind":"measurement"},{"text":"What alternative interpretation is available when a defining demonstration cannot run?","id":"demonstration-dependencies-q02","kind":"action"}]}]},{"id":"safe-and-accessible-enactment","name":"Safe and accessible enactment","description":"Records how a heritage portrayal accommodates present-day participation needs.","findings":[{"id":"operating-adaptations","name":"Operating adaptations","description":"Record activity-specific safeguards and access adaptations, including their effect on what visitors see or do.","questions":[{"text":"Which demonstrated practices involve hazards or access barriers, and what conditions govern participation?","id":"operating-adaptations-q01","kind":"boundary"},{"text":"How can the activity be adapted for safe and accessible participation while explaining departures from the represented practice?","id":"operating-adaptations-q02","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"evidence-and-external-alignment","name":"Evidence and external alignment","description":"What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.","layers":[{"id":"reported-evidence","name":"Reported evidence","description":"Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.","findings":[{"id":"evidence-confidence-notes","name":"Check these first","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these check these first hold for the sense of living museum this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-confidence-notes-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-kinds","name":"Kinds and varieties","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of living museum this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-kinds-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-standards-and-regulation","name":"Standards and regulation","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of living museum this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-standards-and-regulation-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-real-world-use","name":"Real-world use","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of living museum this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-real-world-use-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards","name":"Failure modes and hazards","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of living museum this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-regional-variation","name":"Regional variation","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of living museum this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-regional-variation-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-neighbours","name":"Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of living museum this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-neighbours-q01","kind":"provenance"}]}]}]}]},"agentConduct":{"may":["Describe a living museum, its programmes and visiting information from its own sources.","Help visitors plan accessible visits and follow safety rules around demonstrations."],"mustNot":["Photograph or publish interpreters and craftspeople at work beyond the museum's rules or their consent.","Present costumed reconstructions as authentic history without noting what is interpretation.","Encourage visitors to handle animals, tools or fires at demonstrations without staff supervision.","Portray communities, especially Indigenous ones, as relics of the past rather than living peoples."],"requiresHuman":["Changing how a community's culture is portrayed in exhibits."]},"ethics":{"considerations":["Living museums can honour or stereotype the people whose lives they recreate.","Animals kept for demonstrations need proper welfare."],"affectedParties":["Communities depicted","Interpreters and craftspeople","Visitors and animals"]},"owners":{"steward":"The museum's governing body or operator; heritage authorities oversee protected buildings.","roles":[],"masterSystems":["Museum accreditation registers","Heritage building registers"]},"relations":[{"target":"Q16735822","type":"parent","note":"registry parent class"}],"interaction":{"identity":{"applicability":"required","items":["Vercy registry: vr.tr.living-museum","Wikidata: Q6659501 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6659501)"]},"properties":{"applicability":"required","items":["Intended meaning of living museum: living-history interpretation | continuing heritage practice | living collections | mixed | unresolved","Represented heritage: Links to represented periods, places, communities and practices, with stated boundaries","Physical setting composition: Original in situ fabric | relocated historic fabric | reconstruction | contemporary support space; multiple values allowed","Practice continuity: Continuously practised | revived | reconstructed from evidence | interpretive invention | unresolved; recorded per practice","Interpretation mode: First-person portrayal | third-person explanation | practitioner-led activity | self-guided interpretation | mixed","Participation permission: Observe only | supervised handling | supervised practice | independent participation | temporarily suspended; recorded per activity","Demonstration availability: Scheduled | operating | paused | seasonal | unavailable; with applicable time window","Practice and representation authority: Links to practitioners, associated communities, evidence reviewers and permission holders, with their respective roles","Working heritage readiness: Ready for demonstration | restricted operation | display only | awaiting assessment; recorded per working installation"]},"recognition":{"applicability":"required","items":["Staff in period dress carrying out crafts, farming or trades in historic buildings.","Working kitchens, forges, mills or farm animals among preserved or reconstructed buildings."]},"capabilities":{"applicability":"required","items":["Determine whether the site's use of living museum fits this model and record unresolved meanings.","Plan a visit around available demonstrations, interpretation modes and participation limits.","Compare a portrayal with its documented evidence and identify adaptations requiring explanation.","Select a working replica or demonstration method compatible with conservation and visitor constraints.","Route proposed changes in portrayal or participation to the relevant practitioners and permission holders.","Suspend or adapt an activity when its operating conditions, permissions or heritage safeguards are unmet."]},"hazards":{"applicability":"required","items":["Injuries from open fires, tools and animals at demonstrations.","Fire risk in old timber buildings."]},"interfaces":{"applicability":"required","items":["The ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums, issued by the International Council of Museums, provides professional standards relevant to living museums operating as museum institutions."]},"context":{"applicability":"required","items":["Living museums present historical ways of life through demonstrations, performances and maintained cultural practices in interpreted heritage settings.","They support public education, heritage interpretation and practical learning about activities such as farming, crafts and domestic work."]}},"sources":[{"title":"Wikidata item Q6659501: living museum","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6659501","note":"identity and sense of the item"},{"title":"Wikipedia: Living museum","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_museum","note":"general description of the item"}],"openQuestions":["Does the registry intend living-history museums specifically, or also institutions described as living museums because they maintain living collections?","Should inhabited heritage settlements qualify when heritage practices continue but no museum interpretation function is established?","What evidence distinguishes a persistent living museum programme from an occasional reenactment hosted by an otherwise static museum?","Which neighbouring registered or published models already cover museum institutions, open-air museums and heritage sites, and where should this model defer to them?","How should conflicting accounts of practice continuity or representation authority be recorded when the associated communities do not agree?"],"resources":{"spec":"/models/things/publications/thing-q6659501/spec.json"},"provenance":{"origin":"thing registry research (pass 2)","builtFrom":["models/things/publications/thing-q6659501/spec.json"],"providers":["Codex"],"researchStatus":"unreviewed","generatedAt":"2026-09-12T11:00:12Z","builder":"tools/build_cards.py@1.0.0"},"completeness":{"sections":{"classifiers":"filled","whatItIs":"filled","purpose":"filled","distinguishingFeatures":"filled","structure":"filled","agentConduct":"filled","ethics":"filled","owners":"filled","relations":"filled","interaction.identity":"filled","interaction.properties":"filled","interaction.recognition":"filled","interaction.capabilities":"filled","interaction.hazards":"filled","interaction.interfaces":"filled","interaction.context":"filled","sources":"filled"},"notes":{"_gate":"Published through the thing publication gate 1.0 on 2026-10-07T10:10:32+00:00: completeness 1.00; sense: Wikidata description; 2 live sources; review by codex: pass"},"score":1.0}}