Good practice:

Water Museum of Esztergom-a way of showing water-based heritages and the climate change

Komárom-Esztergom County is rich in water, water-linked heritages, climate change is a problem also in our region. Locals and tourists are not always familiar with the importance of water, water-linked heritages and the effects of climate change. The Museum was established in 1973 with the aim of collecting documents and objects related to the Hungarian water management, to keep a record of the collection, and present it at exhibitions and to show the effects of climate change and give instructions on environmental protection.
A new permanent exhibition was opened in October, 2019 after 1,5 year planning. The concept of creating it was not only to show the past but to reflect on the present. It explains the presence of water in the natural world, the regionally important cultural heritages (especially old water-linked professions) and the effects of climate change. Lots of high-tech elements, pictures, films, games, animations and just a few texts characterize it. There is parallel content for different age groups.
Museum also offers: craft activities, water and climate change experiments and lectures for children, summer camps, thematic days and additional events
Stakeholders of the new exhibition: former museum director; deputy director; staff of the museum; Climate Friendly Municipalities Association; General Directorate of Water Management; Narmer company
Beneficiaries: children-, teachers-, inhabitants of the region; tourists; local enterprises working in tourism

Total cost of the new exhibition was ca. 823 880 Eur.
10 persons (biologist, ethnographer, museologists, restorers, museum educators, historian, architect, IT expert) were directly involved in the content development and implementation of the new exhibition. Currently the museum has 13 employees

-The museum was several times a “museum of year” in Hungary; attracts ca. -20 000 visitors/year, one of the most popular museum in region
-2-3 lessons and activities for 20-30 children/lesson/day about water, climate change- pupils become more committed to water-related intangible -heritages, nature, environmental protection
-10-15 additional events/year
-more and more followers in the social media
-very positive feedback from visitors, children

Challenges: to figure out how to create in a monumental environment (the build of the museum is a monument) a modern high-tech exhibition; the continuous maintenance of IT equipment
Limitation: the capacity of the museum’s building; the limitation of financial resources

A water and climate-change museum can be interesting everywhere, as the topic is universal. Creating a completely new museum is not easy but some elements of our practice is easily adaptable E.g: the idea of using an exhibition for showing intangible heritages: a “house of old professions” can be created; film can be created and showed about heritages; a separate section can be created in an existing museum dealing with different aspects of water or heritages; the methods of the museum education for pupils and students for increasing their commitment; the idea of using a monument building for “high-tech” –based exhibition
Success factors: mixture of regionally and generally interesting elements; long term planning; group of enthusiastic experts from different fields; existence of financial resources and a place; interactive exhibition, with IT tools, games, own-made films, different contents for different age groups; reliable contractor who is opened to innovations; strong marketing