I loved my visit there so this is sad to hear. I hope things work out for the Museum.
Graham.
Indeed very sorry to hear. I was also honoured to have a guided tour through the museum by Christian during the first RAT conference. Lovely museum with some interesting items. Seems the financial problems are now also influencing musea, as this isn't the first I see closing their doors.
This may also be a very good oppertunity! They will be looking for a new site, so perhaps there is the chance to take this musuem one step further to get greater interaction with the public and really get something worthwile going. Perhaps even combining it with the archaeological remains in the vicinity. As I advise musea in concepting, please let me know if I could be of any assistence by remote participation :-). It could even be set up as a partnerproject to the Limes visualisation project I am chairman of. This could even open the way to attracting European funding.
It is really a shame to see museums close like this. A few of us of Legio III Cyrenaica are lucky to have built a good working relationship with the Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester, Massachusetts (USA). They just opened an expanded exhibit of ancient world artifacts and I spent three days in my Roman legionary kit helping to promote it to the visitors.
All museums seem to be hurting and scrambling for whatever available money there is to keep going. As a registered volunteer, I am required to be a member, for which I pay, unless my volunteer hours exceed a certain number (which is set pretty high). It is certainly worthwhile to be a member and to help in the museum's mission both financially and through my volunteering with Roman/ancient world specific programs and exhibits.
One of the main and dominant problems with musea is they are predominantly run by people who are trained in managing a collection and putting on exhibits/exhibitions. When the steady flow of public means on which they have come to depend for years on end halts or is significantly cut back, they have no "mental tools" available to counter that threat. In Holland, we have the same problem with musea now that the governement on all kinds of levels is faced with budget cuts and is also cutting into yearly subsidies to musea. The term "cultural businessmanship" has been coined, but the practice is they get no further then holding out their hand to different parties for sponsorship. In times of crisis, a almost certainly doomed scenario, as money is tight all round. Seldom does one ask oneself: What is my unique selling point? What do I have that will enable me to bring in more money? What should I no longer do to cut costs? Is the time I invest in a new exhibition worth it in terms of generating income? Am I doing and showing the right things, things people want to buy a ticket for, not things that I believe are important?
Like I said, this is a hefty challenge, but requires some hefty soul searching to resolve and some musea just will not make it and go the way of the dinosaurs, which is a sad truth. Now, let me state here and now I have great compasion and admiration for most museum staff, I would not try to help them free of charge if I did not, but I do note a very ridgid mindset more often then not when trying to advise them. I believe the Americans call it "stuck in a rut".