Challenges of Museum Made from Historic Buildings: Case Study Museums of Mazandaran

Museums are cultural foundations that display the cultural characteristics of different ethnic groups and nations collectively. Museums have different types from a thematic and structural point of view, with archeological and anthropological museums in the first group and historical buildings museums in the second group. Historical building museums are created by restoring and changing the use of traditional buildings that one of the ways to bring traditional buildings into the life cycle is to use and protect them. Mazandaran is one of the historical provinces of Iran where several historical houses and museums have been built. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the functional challenges facing the museum of historical houses in Mazandaran. In the present study, three museums have been selected as a case study: The museum of the handicrafts of Sari, the Historical museum of Amol, and the museum of the Ganjineh of Babol. Data collection was done by documentary and field studies. Field studies in this research have been done by designing and distributing a researcher-made questionnaire and collecting the views of experts in the fields of architecture and archeology. The variables and dimensions examined in the questionnaire are the areas of physical structure, protective structure, performance quality and ancillary facilities. SPSS statistical software was used for data processing and descriptive statistics and inferential tests were used for data analysis. The results show that the components of performance quality are in a more favorable condition, but according to their average level, this sector needs a fundamental upgrade. Also, all the criteria related to the physical structure index are in an unfavorable position that this indicates the incompatibility of the physical structure of historic buildings with the physical structure of standard museums. The reflection of these problems can be obtained from the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the audience and visitors of the museum. Therefore, the current situation should be improved by relevant institutions such as the Heritage Organization.
Keywords: House of Historical Museums, Functional Challenges, Mazandaran.
Introduction
Museums are the most prominent manifestation and exhibition of human cultural heritage (Lee et.al, 2010: 743). The role of this foundation in showing the cultural characteristics of the destination country and creating spiritual joy in the audience is undeniable. Considering the importance of culture and the preservation of cultural artifacts, adhering to certain standards in the museum is vital. For this reason, along with evolutionary procedure of museums and in order to monitor the accuracy of their critical cultural obligations, Icon approves laws and programs at the international level. The rules of this council, based on the mission of museums, requires this cultural institution to create different sections such as physical structure, protective structure, ancillary facilities and accurate performance (Zahedi et.al 1388; Nafisi, 1391).The creation of these sections and the observance of the related laws are vital in order to perform the most important tasks of the museum, and neglecting them will cause major challenges in carrying out the responsibilities of the museum. Basically in spaces that are constructed as a museum from the beginning actions to comply with museum standards becomes thought. But in some of the current museums around the world, which are the result of the restoration and change of use of historic buildings, it is impossible to observance all the aforementioned indicators, and this situation will create challenges for the audience and the works of the museum. Historically, with the formation of the International Association of Historical Museums in the 1990s, the tradition of converting historic houses into museums spread around the world.
In Iran, many houses and generally historical buildings have been also turned into museums after restoration. Due to the cultural richness and abundance of antiquities discovered in Mazandaran, many of these museums have been established as archeological and anthropological museums, its examples are sari`s handicrafts Museum, Amol History Museum, and Babol Ganjineh Museum. Due to the serious mission of museums in the field of culture, the historical significance of building museums resulting from the restoration and change of use of ancient buildings and, finally, the non-renewability of the antiquities displayed in them, it is very important to find and study the challenges of such museums. Hence, the most fundamental question propounds in the present study is that to what extent do the three selected museums, as examples of museums resulting from the restoration of historical monuments in Mazandaran, operate in accordance with museum standards and standard museums? And what are the essential challenges of this type of museums?
Identified Traces
The physical structure of the museum is one of the most basic parts, the observance of the standards of which will contribute to the correct functioning defined by ICOM. Studies show that the criteria of this index are not in a good condition. “Existence of a standard exhibition hall” to display cultural works is one of the most important criteria in the index of the physical structure of museums which in the present study, the average is 2and shows the adverse conditions of the exhibition hall in the researched museums. Also two criteria “assembly rooms” and “audio-visual unit” have earned the average 1. Due to the non-renewable nature of cultural objects, the index of the protective structure of museums is the most important index for the evaluation of museums. Also, according to investigations, approximately 40% of the criteria of this index have been reported adverse in the studied museums, and the remaining 60% are fragile. Another main pillar of the museum is the quality of its work.
One of the most important functional tasks of the museum institution functional provide accurate cultural information in a way that create a process chain in the audience in order to conclude about seeing these cultural works. In fact, the performance of museums is the last stage of the specialized responsibility of this institution, which has the greatest impact on the memory of the audience. In this study, approximately 70% of the indicators of this criterion have obtained an average equal to or greater than the desired average, which indicates the optimal quality of museum performance. The quality of the museum’s ancillary facilities is another important indicator that completes the museum’s performance. Although this index is not as relevant as the previous three indicators to the technical structure of museums, but taking them into account, in a way, leads to advertising to visit the museum and the dissemination of culture by the audience. Unfortunately, the criteria of this index are not in a good condition. Although 50% of the criteria of this index are equal to the desired average, but their percentage of desirability is low and they are fragile.
 
Conclusion
Among the four criteria examined, three criteria are adverse and only the criterion of quality of performance of museums has obtained the highest average. Of course, the desirability of those criteria is fragile and needs to be improved. Also, the physical structure index has gained the least utility among the four indices and 100% of its criteria have been reported as unsatisfactory. This indicates the incompatibility of the physical structure of the museum with the physical structure of the mentioned historical buildings and, accordingly, the imposition of irreparable damage to cultural monuments by this index. Based on the results of the research, the important point in the construction of this type of museum is the appropriateness of the new use with the spaces in the historical buildings. Failure to observe some structural rules in turning this building into a museum, due to the importance and originality of historical buildings on the one hand and the non-renewal of antiquities preserved in it on the other hand, will cause irreparable cultural damage.  Because many of these buildings have been created with special uses in the past and its physical structure and other facilities are not appropriate for the museum. In this change of dual-purpose uses, a little tolerance is needed to revive historic buildings and make cultural use of them.