Abstract Today the relation between the museum and the city becomes increasingly significant from both socioeconomic and architectural points of view. This paper examines one aspect of this relation: how the museum interior, through its physical and spatial form, can bring the city of which it is a part into its display and express its history. It takes selected European museums and, through architectural description, and spatial analysis using the concepts of sequence and choice, connectivity and depth, permeability and visibility, and axiality and convexity, shows the potential of the museum itself as a presentational device. Each case highlights a different expression of this: viewers experience the topography of the ancient city through moving in museum space, or perceive the contemporary urban landscape as the reality against which to co-ordinate the display; they engage emotionally with intangible urban meanings through the sensory qualities of architecture, or relate to the real ancient built environment through technologically mediated experiences. In all cases, acute spatial awareness of the visually immediate—either of the city itself or its spatial representation in the museum—is the condition for understanding and meaning-making, as cognitive learning and interpretation are complemented by embodied forms of knowledge, immersive experiences, and affective engagement. Using bodily movement as the primary interaction between museum and visitor, and presenting “the past as a field of experience”, relates, it is argued, to the late twentieth century turn towards “affective history”, and opens up new possibilities in mediating our relationship with the urban past.

中文翻译：

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展示城市：作为展示设备的博物馆空间

摘要 今天，从社会经济和建筑的角度来看，博物馆与城市之间的关系变得越来越重要。本文考察了这种关系的一个方面：博物馆内部如何通过其物理和空间形式，将其所在的城市带入展览并表达其历史。它采用选定的欧洲博物馆，并通过建筑描述和空间分析，使用顺序和选择、连通性和深度、渗透性和可见性以及轴性和凸性等概念，展示了博物馆本身作为展示设备的潜力。每个案例都突出了这一点的不同表达：观众通过在博物馆空间中移动来体验古城的地形，或将当代城市景观视为协调展示的现实；他们通过建筑的感官品质在情感上与无形的城市意义互动，或者通过以技术为中介的体验与真实的古代建筑环境联系起来。在所有情况下，对视觉直接事物（城市本身或其在博物馆中的空间表现形式）的敏锐空间意识是理解和意义制定的条件，因为认知学习和解释得到了具体形式的知识、沉浸式体验的补充，以及情感参与。使用身体运动作为博物馆和参观者之间的主要互动，并将“过去作为经验领域”呈现，有人认为，这与 20 世纪后期向“情感历史”的转变有关，