European Museums: Mapping an Ongoing Change

While the investigation and the consideration of the role of contemporary museums and heritage has nowadays become a relevant component of the European agenda and lively debate on the subject is gaining prominence, nurtured also by several research projects and academic studies, museums themselves are questioning their raison d’être and roles, and undergoing a process of deep transformation of their missions, strategies, practices, spaces and exhibitions. Building on on this consideration, this essay sketches a theoretical introductory framework for the reading of the book "European Museums in the 21st Century".