The main role of museums is still a topic of debate for many. While some argue that going to a museum should be an amusing experience, others believe that its sole purpose is to educate. I believe they should be both entertaining and educational. In this ,essay I will present arguments that support both views and justify my choice.
On the one hand, people are more likely to go to a museum if it offers them an enjoyable experience, after all these are places of leisure and many times tourist attractions. For this reason, visitors are going to engage more if they are met with an interactive and visually appealing exhibit rather than an overbearing informative and boring one. For example, statistics show that the human body exhibition in Portugal attracted a great number of people because it demonstrated to be visually stunning.
On the other hand, some claim that museums should only focus on educating their visitors. Visitors should leave having learned information they did not previously. To achieve this several different methods are employed, like headsets that lecture people while they see the collections or a guide that tours the museum explaining its content. For instance, it is common to see big groups of tourist tours parading in museums guided by someone who speaks to them in their own language facilitating their interpretation of what they are looking at.