Heritage Tourism

...

NMM also contributes to social benefits of the community it surrounds. For instance, visiting NMM enhances social cohesion in a way. According to a 2006 survey, a large percentage of people feel more tolerant towards other people and their cultures because of their visit to the museums and NMM is not an exception. Most people also see museums as appealing places to meet. Towards promoting social cohesion, some projects or even artwork involving some community groups and stored in the museums can help change people’s perception towards that community. The historic environment provided by the national maritime has a positive impact on the society in general. According to research by English heritage, a historically built environment like the one of the NMM reinforces local identity and increases the level of social capital. Other surveys also indicate that a visit to the heritage sites includes the people’s perception of the local area, the site increases the image of the wider host town, other local residents also say that the presence of a heritage site increases their pride and their sense of place (Maeer, Robinson, and Hobman, 2016). Apart from the individual and community benefits brought by the heritage site, there are also some economic advantages that are brought by the NMM such as heritage based recreation and tourism, capital works, economic security among others. All these benefits brought by the national maritime museum increase the sense of place of the local people and the perception of the Greenwich town as a whole.

Conservation

Just like other heritage sites of its kind, the national maritime museum has its conservation and preservation team who maintain and look after the museum’s collection (RMG, 2016). This team cares for collections on display, in-store, and on loan. This is done by simple operations such as dusting to complex activities such as managing the environmental control systems like in Queen’s house. This department has conservators who are dedicated to taking care of the following disciplines: metals, frames, organics, paper, paintings, textile and preventive (environment and pest management) (NMM, 2016).

For the easier judgment of how the museum deals with conservation issues, it is essential that we understand how it carries out its preservation and conservation. For instance, for best preservation, the team ensures that all objects are kept in the best possible conditions (RMG, 2016b). This makes it easier for the management of environmental risk factors such as incorrect humidity and temperature among other factors. This is because some damages to some objects may be irreversible and therefore good care is essential. According to the team, a good example of how they prevent damages caused by humidity and temperature is their use of radiotelemetric transmitters. These transmitters monitor the humidity levels, and in the case of any alarming levels, the team will know where the problem is and what needs to be done. My opinion on this is that it is a good way of dealing with the issue of humidity and temperature. The humidity and temperature data is collected by more than 200 sensors positioned in many places (RMG, 2016b). For the issue of light and UV radiation, the team advises on display lighting. This particularly touches on the light intensity, length of exposure and the nature of objects. Different objects are affected differently by these aspects of light. Another conservation issue is polluted air. Polluted air causes the paper to become brittle; it tarnishes silver, and it causes advanced metal corrosion among other effects. Many factors that contribute to air pollution such as certain paints; floor finishes fabrics, and for that reason, the team is said to be very selective about the materials that are too close to some objects.

One single most important aim of conservation is stabilizing the condition of an object. The conservation team is thus said to make a careful study of their objects before they start working on them. This prevents further damages that may be caused to the objects while trying to conserve them. For improvement of their conservation tactics, the team, works closely with other museums with a common goal of advancing the way they conserve their objects. My opinion is that this is a good way of conserving especially in the developing world because more and more people are coming up with innovative methods on how to do some things. This has particularly been made possible by the use of technology, and one way of reaching these innovative ideas is through is through working closely with other institutions providing the same service.

Apart from conserving the already destroyed objects, the museum also conserves working objects. Better care and knowledge has to be applied to such objects. For instance, a person cannot take good care of an ancient working warship, if he/she does not know how the particular ship works. A good conserver of such ship must know how the ship works, how to repair it in the case of breakdown and also how to make some spare parts in case some parts fail completely. For this reason, the national maritime museum has put in place experts who conserve these working objects. In addition, it is also good that in case something is replaced by the working objects, a way of differentiating the original and the replaced objects are put in place and according to RMG (2016), the NMM has this way to differentiate.

As seen earlier, one of the duties of the preservation and conservation team is to take care of objects including the ones on loan to other museums. Giving some things on loan makes it possible to see the objects for people who cannot travel all the way to Greenwich to see them. For safe for travel and loan on objects, conservators in NMM are said to check on the object’s safety to travel, and if it is not suitable for loan, they will take the necessary measures. The team also makes special mounts for these objects on loan to ensure that they are safe. As a tourism student, I would say this is a good way of conserving these objects, and I would also recommend that it is good to send some conservators together with some objects on loan so as to take good care of them even when they are not on the museum's premises. In an effort to deal with the issue of difficulties with access to the stores, it is said the workers work hard to make the stores accessible and that archival materials can be ordered from their library. Some items have also been digitized, and they are now available for view online and it is a good indication that the museum is making good use of technology.

However good their preservation and conservation team might be, a good future team cannot be assured if they are not hiring young conservators.