Participatory Museology in the Hungarian Open Air Museum (Szentendre, Hungary)

New museology, emerging from the 1970s reached critical museology at the beginning of the 2000s. A few peculiar examples of participatory museology have been looking back to decades of tradition in the Hungarian Open Air Museum too. It was a long way to transform from a basically architectural museum into the position of a social museum. In my paper I reflect on some examples of this history. Open air museums represent one of the most popular and sought-aft er museum types of the world with significant ethnographical and historical collections, with determining, visitor-friendly exhibitions attracting the public and a wide range of programs related to these exhibitions. The Hungarian Open Air Museum has continuously worked on the construction of its peculiar social network in the previous years, with which it connects different types of communities to the institution, and helps local communities in preserving and strengthening their heritage and identity.