Het nationaal historisch museum en de emotional turn

Recent discussions about the Dutch National History Museum (NHM) should not be restricted to issues put forward by professional historians, be it the importance of a historical canon or nuanced historical debates. Two major, strongly intertwined developments will have to be considered. Firstly, the emotional turn in recent heritage discussions and, secondly, the increasing multi-medialisation of our daily lives. These 21^st century developments call for a redefinition of the tasks of a museum for cultural history and a new paradigm in history museums. Traditional collection-driven museums will not be able to satisfy the challenges of the emotional and digital requirements. The NHM should aim to be at the cutting edge of new museum practises.