Russia - huge country! There are many large and small cities, towns and villages. Almost every city has its own museum - a museum of local history, art, a museum of folk crafts or some other. When there is a tour at the museum, a guide leads it through the halls.

Thus, in the local history museum, the guide introduces tourists to the history of the region, the most striking events of the locality, and talks about wonderful people who made this place famous.

The guide talks about how people lived in these places before, many years and even many centuries ago.

In the local history section of the museum, visitors get acquainted with the landscape, climate, flora and fauna of these places. The guide talks about birds, animals, fish.

In short, people who come to the museum receive large number new information, learn about events with which they were not previously familiar. But a person needs information, it is his spiritual food! It enriches the soul, develops thinking, expands the idea of ​​the Motherland and the world in general.

Tour guide profession- very interesting! The guide must know a lot, read modern and ancient books, be aware of all events related to the history of the city and the entire region. In addition to deep knowledge, he needs passion, the ability to communicate with people, answer their many questions, and always be friendly and polite.

If the guide is a passionate person, his story leaves a deep impression on the excursionists, and many of the exhibits will be remembered by them for the rest of their lives!

Other specialists also work in museums: scientists, restorers. Scientists are preparing exhibitions of rare things. Restorers work intently in their workshops, putting museum curiosities and rarities in order*.

Listen to the poem.

Historical Museum

We visited today

In the historical museum.

The past is gray

We saw more clearly.

We learned about princes

About kings, heroes.

We learned about the battles

About popular unrest.

We learned about victories

What our grandfathers accomplished.

The guide told

About our great people!

Answer the questions

♦ Is there a museum in your city?

♦ What is it called?

♦ Have you visited it?

♦ What did you especially like there or remember?

♦ Who works in the museum?

♦ What is the job of a tour guide? Scientists? Restorers?

Preservation of cultural and historical heritage is one of the main responsibilities of the state. And the best form of their preservation, especially during periods of global political crises, economic instability and other large-scale changes in the state, is undoubtedly museums.

They had to perform this function throughout the entire period of the formation of Russia, as modern state– during revolutions, wars and changes in political regimes,museum workers were the only ones who understood the true value of historical heritage. IN different times they had to face many problems, not only financial, but also ideological. And what’s most unfortunate is that many of them have survived to this day.

Despite the fact that the time of greatest government upheaval has already passed, the museum community constantly has to deal with new challenges, such as lack of government funding, missing exhibits, the need to repair storage facilities, low salaries - we constantly hear about all this from the media.

What really is the state of the museum fund today? What problems do museum workers face, and what professions are relevant in this area today? On the threshold International Day museums, celebrated on May 18, Careerist.ru will give answers to these questions.

Museum studies in Russia

Museums have existed in Russia for more than 300 years - their appearance was preceded by a centuries-old period, during which the accumulation of historical relics, military items, sacred trophies, ancient books and manuscripts, and the preservation of churches and residences of noble persons took place. Gradually, in the process of collecting them, elements of purposeful collecting appeared.

The Petrovskaya Kunstkamera, created in 1714, is rightfully considered the first museum in Russia. , after which there was a significant leap in museums, and antiquities began to be systematically searched for. For a long time, the Kunstkamera remained the only museum in Russia, and this continued until the middle and even the second half of the 18th century, when scientific communities developed their vigorous activity. IN further museums began to develop more rapidly - a mass of cultural, scientific and artistic institutions appeared, including the well-known Hermitage.

Further awareness and development of the educational capabilities of museums led to the fact that in the 19th century they no longer became separate collections, but groups of natural sciences and historical museums at universities and scientific communities - a qualitatively new revolution has occurred. During the same period, public museums were formed, andmost of the private collections collected were recognized national heritage . This determined the main trends within which museums developed until the end of the 19th century.

The subsequent period is characterized by a total, but nevertheless spontaneous opening of museums. Local, provincial museums were also gaining momentum - together with them, in the pre-revolutionary period, there were more than 200 institutions of this kind throughout Russia.

With the arrival Soviet power, the museum industry has been transformed. There has been another and qualitatively new round of collection and preservation. cultural heritage However, during the revolution many exhibits were lost and stolen. At the same time, the Soviet government was able to systematize museums as a phenomenon, popularizing their role in the development of society and using them as an educational tool.

It was under the Soviet regime that a paid entrance fee was first introduced, a wide network of local history museums was developed, a lot of restoration and restoration work was carried out, and the establishment of the museum business as the most important cultural and educational institution of society took place.

Today in Russia there are more than 2.7 thousand museumsof all departments - these are local, architectural, and factory museums, museums of universities and many others. The general fund of museums includes more than 83 million exhibits.More than 102 million people visit Russian museums annually, and more than 2/3 of them are our fellow citizens. This clearly shows that interest in the national cultural heritage is still high. At the same time, 80% of the buildings that house domestic museums are not suitable for storing exhibits, and this is not all of their problems.

Problems of the museum community

Today, more than 40% Russian museums located in ancient buildings, which even theoretically cannot be equipped for proper storage of exhibits . At the same time, they increasingly began to come into the focus of domestic media not as heroes of cultural columns, but as victims of incidents - we constantly hear about fires, emergency conditions of storage facilities, theft of valuables, etc.

Regarding the latter, a recent all-Russian audit showed thatDuring the post-Soviet period, the museum fund lost about 50 thousand exhibits. And according to many museum workers, the lack of proper attention from the state is to blame.

Despite the existence of the Union of Museums of Russia, only eminent galleries and museum-reserves that are able to attract visitors with their historical value receive a real solution to pressing problems.

About the problems of the largest Russian museums, such as the Hermitage, Tretyakov Gallery, the Armory Chamber or the Grand Model, there is no need to say at all - due to the exhibits in them, they have long since become profitable commercial enterprises and do not need additional care at all. For local and local history museums, the fundamental problem is attracting visitors -the less popularity an institution has among the population, the less attention it receives from the state.

The conceptual problem has become no less important - today, more and more people are trying to actualize the secondary functions of museums, positioning them as an environment for cultural leisure and profitable tourism, bringing these functions to the fore.

However, museum workers focus the attention of the state on the fact that the primary task of museums is, first of all,function of preserving the cultural DNA of a nationand the possibility of its transmission to future generations. According to representatives of the museum community, museums cannot be classified as cultural, educational, and especially entertainment institutions. They were initially designed not for profitability, but for performing storage tasks, the retraining of which threatens museums with total disappearance.

One of the biggest problems is also considered to be the issue of material support. In this part, they remain especially relevantissues of construction of modern storage facilities and exhibition premises, investments in science,lack of government support for research and collecting activities, and, of course, funding for wages. Last question The workers of provincial museums are especially concerned - their average salary does not exceed 12-13 thousand rubles, which is too little even by average Russian standards.

Museum staff

And despite such a lot of problems, for last decade, the number of museum workers almost doubled - to 65 thousand people . More than 70% of them are women in pre-retirement years, middle age which is 59 years old. In this regard, the issue of generational change and training of young employees for the museum industry is becoming more relevant than ever.

Thus, over the past couple of decades, more than 30 museological departments have been opened in Russia at institutes in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Siberia, the Volga region and even Far East. At the same time, the understanding of the profession of a museum worker is fundamentally changing. WITHToday, a museum specialist is a professional who has a new worldview based on reliable information about the cultural and historical past of his homeland and understands the global need for comprehensive change and integration of diverse cultures.

In this regard, the number of vacancies has increased and the variety of in-demand museum professions has become impressive, including:

• Guardians– specialists working in collection departments, recording and describing exhibits, ensuring their scientific circulation and making up museum collections.

• Researchers– specialists conducting historical research, organizing conferences and other scientific events, organizing thematic exhibitions, preparing publications for the media and publishing houses.

• Guides– creative and at the same time responsible specialists who conduct excursions for museum visitors, answer questions of interest and knowledgeable about history presented exhibitions “from start to finish”.

• Caretakers– workers who ensure the safety of exhibits, monitor the cleanliness of the halls and adherence to the rules for visiting museums.

• Museum work methodologists– more experienced employees, whose functions include the universal combination of elements of work of researchers, tour guides, excursion organizers and others. Their activities are ideological and at the same time pedagogical in nature, therefore only experienced specialists are hired for such work.

• Exhibitors– specialists responsible for organizing certain exhibitions, responsible for their implementation and ensuring their most productive implementation.

Of course, it is quite obvious that Demand for specialists in the museum labor market is due to a rather modest level of wages, which in the conditions of modern Russian realities is quite difficult to compensate for with romanticism, a fundamentally new approach to the profession of a museum worker and the opening of many new departments.

Interest younger generation can be calledonly by popularizing the importance of historical heritage as a cultural component of society and at the same time providing sufficient social guarantees. However, the ignorance we observe today of the problems of the museum community does not allow us to talk about a bright future for this industry. Probably, even despite the enormous importance of the work of museum workers, they will continue to have to carry out their work in conditions left over from Soviet times, carrying out the functions of the custodian of cultural and historical heritage on sheer enthusiasm.

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My childhood is inextricably linked with the local history museum, where my mother has worked for many years. I remember well how in the new museum building an entire wall was “transformed” with the help of mosaics into an exclusive painting depicting our city. And how many impressions were there from the archeology hall, which was gradually filled with interesting rare exhibits. And although journalism has become my life’s work, I believe that I have little to do with museum professions.

Personnel decides everything

Work in state (central, regional, regional, municipal) and private museums and galleries is very responsible. It requires people who have chosen the profession of museum worker to general culture, erudition, commitment, attentiveness... These specialists need to know the culture different countries and eras, be able to distinguish the original from the copy. As a rule, museum workers enter the profession after graduating from history departments at state universities and pedagogical institutes, as well as art history departments from humanities universities. But this is not a necessary condition. Some positions are successfully filled by people with specialized secondary education.

The concept of “museum worker” combines several professions:

• guardians,
• scientific staff,
• methodologists,
• tour guides,
• exhibitors,
• caretakers.

In addition, museums always have work for artists, restorers, taxidermists...

What do museum staff do?

The main purpose of the museum is to collect and store the cultural heritage of the past. This important task is performed by custodians working in the stock departments. They are the ones who provide accounting, storage and scientific description exhibits; preparing them for introduction into scientific circulation, completing the museum collection. They are also involved in compiling an electronic database and providing advisory assistance. By the way, they don’t teach to be guardians at universities. Traditionally, people take this profession from other museum departments after they take a closer look and observe how responsible and decent a person is.

The professional interests of researchers include conducting various studies, organizing conferences and other events, publishing scientific collections, publishing articles in the media. Depending on which department they belong to, they organize thematic exhibitions and conduct excursions, keep records and control of museum attendance, and help local historians in studying the history of their native land.

Another in-demand museum profession is a tour guide. This is an interesting, creative and at the same time responsible job. In addition to the text of the excursion, you need to know a lot of different information, master the methodology for presenting it, and have the technique of public speaking. Experienced guides have good organizational skills, excellent memory and, don’t be surprised, artistry. After all, the excursion is written like a scientific report, and for visitors it is “played” like a performance. This approach helps to retain the attention of tourists, especially schoolchildren.

But without someone they won’t let you into the museum, it’s the caretakers. They work in the same rooms, where they carefully and unobtrusively keep an eye on visitors. Caretakers ensure the safety of exhibits, monitor cleanliness and ensure that the rules of conduct in the museum are followed. Typically, these positions are occupied by women of retirement age, for whom the caretaker’s modest salary is a good opportunity to earn extra money.

A museum worker is, first of all, love and dedication to his profession. My mother has been head of the fund department for over twenty years. And all these years, work has been a way of life for her. I see how she worries about her business, with what trepidation she treats the storage of exhibits, how carefully she prepares for the opening of the exhibition...

Keep up with the times

It is worth noting that museum workers are successfully mastering modern information Technology, with the advent of which the following became in demand in museums:

• programmers take part in the creation of catalogs, maintain the working state of the software, and participate in restoring system functionality in the event of equipment failure;
• work in museums that have organized their websites and pages on social networks; and are simply necessary for virtual museums that have become popular on the Internet;
• public relations specialists prepare information materials for museum websites, print and electronic media, social networks. Museums keep up with the times and organize exhibitions contemporary artists- authors of bright and unusual three-dimensional paintings, as well as interactive animated films.

Museum "secrets"

If you decide to work in a museum, you should know:

· this will be difficult for a person prone to allergies, since there is a possibility of contact with allergens (book dust);

· museums are open for visits six days a week; you will have to rest on weekdays, because there are the most visitors on Saturday and Sunday. These were the main museum professions.

By the way, experienced specialists advise all future museum workers who are just planning to enter a university to study history, study the history of religion, literature and foreign languages, natural sciences.

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Today modern museums are trying to find new ways of presenting information and communicating with the audience: from warehouses with ancient artifacts, they want to turn into cultural centers, where people will meet, communicate, exchange ideas and gain new knowledge and impressions. To achieve this, exhibition curators come up with interactive formats, project managers collect temporary exhibitions from all over the world, tour guides create free audio guides, and only caretakers cannot always find a place for themselves in this new world of the museum. Often they can be replaced by surveillance cameras, but are such changes possible in a provincial museum? whose work structure has not changed for 20 years?

Of course, such museums have their own charm, although almost no new exhibits appear there, a strict caretaker is watching you in each room, and the only unusual thing in the museum is the local cat, which periodically touches valuable artifacts with its tail.

Our correspondent spent one day in the role of a museum caretaker and talked about all the intricacies of the work of a typical Yaroslavl museum.

It's exactly ten o'clock.

As I climb the modest stairs of the museum located in the very center of Yaroslavl, I fantasize with anticipation how my day might go as a caretaker of one of the main museums in the city. Stopping in the first hall of the museum, to my surprise, I find myself in the dark and stumble upon a cat walking past the museum exhibits - the most faithful lover of Yaroslavl history.

It is very difficult to find a crowd of people in the museum on a weekday, so local workers take their time: one of the senior caretakers, suddenly appearing from the darkness, slowly approaches me, greets me and in a quiet voice tells me what I have to do for the next seven hours.

She leads me through the halls of the museum, periodically repeating: “You can’t touch anything here, otherwise the alarm will go off. It’s better to turn off the lights here while there are no visitors. Don’t even think about leaving things here, otherwise they might steal it. Well, don’t forget to put your phone in your bag while visitors are in the hall, otherwise it’s dangerous.”

Not really understanding the danger of my phone, I follow the caretaker into the last hall of the museum, where I will have to watch visitors throughout the day, and, putting my things aside, they slowly begin to examine the exhibits in the hall.

The museum where I was sent to practice as a caretaker has been operating since 1985 and is especially popular among out-of-town tourists, who usually enthusiastically look at all the exhibits, intently study the accompanying labels and admire the history of our city. However, despite the constant flow of tourists, many of whom, as a rule, are residents of the capital, the museum is not in great demand among the local population (not counting young schoolchildren and students who are herded into the museum and forced to devour the objects around them with their eyes).

It seems that the development of the museum stopped at the end of the 20th century: behind the huge shelves there are exhibits, many of which are printed copies or models that require urgent restoration, the further from the halls dedicated to ancient history city, the more boring it becomes to watch the development of Yaroslavl over several centuries. A sure way to attract attention and dilute the emptiness of museum halls on weekdays is to completely change the presentation of information. For example, instead of boring exhibits with accompanying labels, a museum could try to include innovative assistants in its displays.

True, any, even minimal change In a museum, things like renovations or installing new shelving cannot be done without money, which is difficult to obtain.

An hour passes.

The first visitors begin to appear in the halls of the museum and carefully examine the exhibits. Since at a time when there are people in the halls of the museum, I cannot take out either a book or a mobile phone, there is nothing left to do but carefully examine the tourists, to my surprise, studying with great attention what is under the shelves. In pursuit of a new amount of knowledge, some of them cautiously approach me and begin to ask questions regarding the exhibits on display. However, I can hardly answer most of them, which causes surprise on the part of tourists - after all, the caretaker should know everything.

The silence of the museum halls and the silent movement of visitors slowly makes me doze off. I close my eyes for a few seconds, but soon I flinch from the stern voice of one of the caretakers: “To stay awake, you better watch the visitors.”

A little perplexed, I answer: “What could happen to the exhibits, since they are under the shelves?” “Well, what if visitors bring a bomb into the museum. We don’t have metal detectors, so we, the caretakers, must be as attentive as possible,” the woman answers, and meanwhile I understand that all my ideas that the museum’s exhibitions should be updated with modern technologies seem ridiculous, because there are local workers here, Moving modestly around the hall and whispering comments to visitors, they are asked to prevent terrorist attacks.

Several more hours pass.

I fight hard against drowsiness and try to keep an eye on the visitors. Suddenly the silence of the museum is broken by noise.

On the stairs you can hear the footsteps of people heading towards central hall museum. One of the caretakers whispers to the other: “Today at the museum thematic lesson" After these words, tourists begin to pass by me, the column of which is headed by museum employees dressed in costumes from the times of “War and Peace” by L. N. Tolstoy.

It's funny to watch the museum's guides and research staff hobble around in fluffy dresses and then clumsily begin to dance the mazurka.

The museum is trying to somehow attract the attention of tourists who have long since memorized all the permanent exhibitions, but their love of history has brought them to this place again. Such thematic events, of course, will not replace updated shelves with exhibits or audio guides, but they will definitely attract visitors who will want to see the theatrical abilities of the museum staff. And it is thanks to the museum workers, who do not hesitate to put on a fluffy dress during breaks between scientific activities, that this place continues to live, albeit without fresh renovations, unique finds and big salaries employees.

Head of the excursion department of the Amur Regional Museum of Local Lore named after. G.S. Novikova-Daursky, Honored Cultural Worker Elena Smetanina spoke about what kind of people work within the walls of the institution and where the most valuable exhibits are stored

Interactive news

- Elena Vladimirovna, in what mode does the Amur Regional Museum of Local Lore operate now?

Photo from the archives of the local history museum

Museum now very interesting forour visitors. Previously worked only two formsevents: ex courses and lectures. Now we have expanded the forms of mutual interaction isexcursion with searchspecial tasks, excursionprocession, conversation, theatricalexcursion. Popular among visitorsexcursion quizzes, for exampleenvironmental or historical measures.

Multimedia is actively usednaya presentation when the guidegives lectures. If earlier ourslecturers took on field tripsthese huge traveling exhibitionski, now one is enough for themflash drives to demonstrateall our exhibits.

For little viewers in ourthe children's center conducts theatrical performancesovated excursions. There nowthere are two expositions thatvery in demand. For children tooVarious holidays are held:New Year, Christmas, Easter -especially for such eventsour employees dress up incostumes. Demonstration of exhibitspasses into game form, which is very

Children like it.

- What does the local history department offer?museum in addition to getting to know the expo natami?

Our museum hosts Master-classes in arts and craftsoh creativity. We work withthe most talented teachers,craftsmen who on weekends andholidays teach handicraftstownspeople This is a birch bark painting,wooden, ceramic products,this is embroidery, clay modelingproducts, as well as from Japanese poly measured clay.

Works for our visitorssouvenir kiosk whereanyone can buy the fightmemorabilia. And also everyonethe visitor can make a souvenir with views of the city of Blagoveshchenskin a special apparatus in your own waydesire. Our museum is becominginteractive, very usefulinformational and educationalplan. Touch kiosks, miracle-viTrina-3D museum give a lot of knowledgein historical and environmental local history.

About visitors

- Elena Vladimirovna, excursionThe leader works closely withpeople who come bya third for exhibits. How to build their dialogue?

It is very important to love your ownnetworkers. Visit us on excursionswalk different people- from little oneschildren to adults. Not for everyonemust be found undermove, interest,captivate. We are tryingto adapt toour guests, aboutdrive periodicallymonitoring tounderstand in whatfurther managementwork. We are workingin close contact withschool teachers who regularly

We are trying to correct the programwe have events to captivate,interest the younger generationtion taking into account the requirements of school programs.

- What kind of guests come to you? rates?

Our museum has already become internationalonal, we track "geografiyu" of our visitors. It's gratifying,that there are a lot of guests among themcities you want to meetwith the history of our region. For thatwhich people we organized the systemindividual excursions, whichI haven’t worked in our museum before.Previously, visitors simply boughttickets and walked through the halls, nowwe have tour attendants working for usyou who are readytaking into account your wishesprovide guestsall information aboutexhibits. More often,of course, visiting usut group chinesetourists. Specialbut for them on staffour museum atlecturers are attractedwith knowledge of Chinese who speaknative language for foreignerslead excursions.

Photo: Evgenia Nifontova

About employees

- What kind of people work for you?

Most often to our workpeople come with pedagogicaleducation. Most ouremployees studied at BSPU,historical and philological, geographysics faculties. They are verythey know the history of their native land well,can work with people of different agesaudience, these are ready-made specialiststo build work with people.The guide must be Krasnorechivvy, emotional, must captivatebehind him so that people can hear him.To work in a museum you need to knowthe history of our region, its nature,culture. A person must strivelearn more, constantly workabove yourself and raise your level of knowledgetion, improve the methodology forconducting excursions. It is importantwork in constant contact withcolleagues, with visitors, toknow their wishes, their interests.Museum staff should knownot only history, but also a mustbut funds to navigatein the objects that are in ourmuseum. When lecturers prepare formeeting, they collect a large volumeinformation to be able to tellabout objects literally with closed eyes.

- Tell us about the positions withmuseum workers.

We have many specialties.These are lecturers, tour guides, andworkers who work directlywith museum objects, researchcomfort and describe them. We also haveartists and specialists workexposition and exhibition department,who are organizing the exhibition beforeexcursion. Each exhibition hasyour curator who researchestopic, goes deep into it and preparesprovides material for the event,is working on the excursion. Important,for the exhibition to work!

- Do students come to you forgives the biggest one for herexhibition hall toBlagoveshchensk residents and city guests couldenjoy it to the fullestscale. The institution is readytake one guide forworking with visitors.