There are so many museums, how are they classified?

When people are free or traveling, many of them tend to visit museums. After all, one of the simplest and most direct ways to understand local culture is to visit a museum. This is also a manifestation of our national cultural confidence in recent years.

Recently, I went to Yongchuan Museum for some reason and found a plaque in front of the door that read "National Second-Class Museum". So are all museums classified? What are the conditions for being a second-class museum? How are museums classified? Maybe everyone is not very clear about this, so let's give a brief introduction to this.

First of all, it should be noted that not all museums are graded. Many newly built museums and private museums, even if they are quite large, will not be graded if they have not submitted a rating application to the relevant departments, have not met the rating conditions, or have not passed the rating. A second-level museum is a museum that has met certain standards in terms of the number, quality, exhibition level, and public service capabilities of its collections according to the Provisional Standards for Museum Evaluation stipulated by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

Among them, the number of collections must be at least 10,000 pieces/sets or more than 1,000 pieces/sets of precious cultural relics; and for archaeological and ancient building museums that rely on various types of relics and sites, cultural relics protection units at all levels or historical buildings, the conditions can be appropriately relaxed, and the total number of collections only needs to reach 8,000 pieces/sets or more than 800 pieces/sets of precious cultural relics of level three or above.

In terms of quality, the collection must have high historical, cultural, scientific, and artistic value, or one of these values ​​must be of national significance.

In terms of exhibitions and services, it is required to be equipped with social education institutions and personnel who specialize in social education work. There should be a special education service area in the museum. There should also be a stable and certain size of museum volunteer team. The museum needs to train qualified volunteers to serve the museum or visitors more than 4 times a year, and each volunteer must serve the museum or visitors for at least 48 hours a year. If it is a state-owned museum, it must be open for more than 300 days a year. Basic exhibitions are required to be open regularly and free of charge for at least 60 days. The system and measures for daily free and preferential opening are required to be publicized to the society.

And the number of young audiences received free of charge each year is required to reach more than 30% of the total number of audiences.

On May 21, 2013, after a re-evaluation by the National Museum Evaluation Committee, the Beijing Planetarium, the Memorial Hall of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, the Chinese Naval Museum and the Overseas Chinese Museum were delisted from the National First-Class Museum level and downgraded to National Second-Class Museums because they did not meet the standards of a National First-Class Museum. Therefore, the rating of a museum is not static.

In terms of museum management, the Ministry of Culture issued the "Museum Management Measures" in 2005, allowing our museums to be managed in a classified manner. Since 2011, the state has officially begun to regularly evaluate the operation of museums.

The museum scoring criteria are divided into three major items: comprehensive management and infrastructure (200 points), collection management and scientific research (300 points), and display and social services (500 points). The comprehensive score needs to reach 800 points to be called a first-level museum, while the standards for second- and third-level museums are 600 and 400 points respectively. When evaluating museums, there are also detailed requirements. The minimum score for comprehensive management and infrastructure items needs to be above 60 points; the minimum score for collection management and scientific research items also needs to be at least 60 points; and the minimum score for display and social services items needs to reach 180 points. The museum's grade certificates and signs are uniformly produced and issued by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

Source: Chongqing Science Writers Association

Author: Zou Qinjia, Class of 2021, Cultural Relics and Museums, Hebei Oriental University

Audit expert: Li Hanbin

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