Museums

As I have stated before, I love the Cold War.  The amount of silliness and intelligence that went hand in hand during this period of history is amazing (have a look at this if you don't believe me!).  We had plans for all sorts of things and discovered more than you can possibly know about how to kill each other.  Not only that but Britain had to do some amazing amount of planning for things which would never have been thought of.  

So why do we not keep some of these buildings as a museum to our past?  Well that is an interesting question.  Buildings are expensive to build, expensive to maintain and who is really interested in the cold war (Besides myself and some other geeks).  Now there are some museums out there for this (Check out here and here), but it got me thinking.  What does it take to make a museum?  I mean is it as simple as hanging a sign up and saying “Museum open today!”.  Well let's find out.

First off we need to think about the locations that we are looking for.  If only there was someone who had asked all the authorities in wales for all cold war structures…  Hmm… Oh yes, its me!  So now that we have a few suspects in the firing line, what is the process of making them into a museum?  Hmmm..

Well the Department of Culture, Media, and Sport have yet to get back in touch with me (At time of writing), so it would be interesting to see what they say about the guidance that is given to the creation of museums.  

That is not the only place that we could go to for the creation of a museum, is it?  Well I am a Welshman who lives in wales, so let’s see what the Welsh boys and girls. So, who owns the land (Prepare for the FoI request to the land registry on that one).  Let's assume it is the council.  Cardiff has a couple of cold war sites.  Would they be willing to create a museum based upon one of them?  

The simple answer is no.  The longer and more detailed answer is  more interesting.  You see - for those of you that didn't read the response - Cardiff council said that they they have never had a proposal to use a site.  Does that mean that they would consider it?  Well that is another FoI request for another day. So what would it do to create that?  Again another FoI request for another day.

So else can we ask?  Arts council Wales? Well…  “The Arts Council of Wales is the main development and funding body for contemporary art in Wales, and we therefore would not provide funding towards museums”.  So thats a no…  

How about Cadw?  Cadw look after all the ancient monuments in Wales.  They look after all the castles and all of the different castles that are in wales.  So would they be willing to set up a museum?  Well at time of writing they have yet to get back in touch with me.

What about the National Museum of Wales?  Would they take on a cold war site?  Well...I asked them if they had considered using a cold war site.  The simple answer is no.  The longer answer is that they have never been given one to use as a museum.  Which begs the question, why?  

So what am I going to do next?  Well, I think A heritage lottery fund, would be a good port of call.  Not only that I think that a FoI request to some of the different owners of the Cold war structures. Maybe even look at who would give authority to give the property to the museu?

This isn't the last of this one!