Paper short abstract:

This paper transfers Gennep´s and Turner's concept of liminality to museum objects. Discussing the examples of the former Feuchtwanger mikveh and engraved stone slabs on the walls of the Franconian Museum Feuchtwangen, the paper provides new insights into processes of meaning making in museums.

Paper long abstract:

The former mikveh of Feuchtwangen is covered by the building of an historic forge in the garden of the Franconian Museum in Feuchtwangen. Eye-catching for the public however are engraved stones slabs from Feuchtwangen historic buildings which have been incorporated in the museum´s walls. Currently both the Feuchtwangen mikveh and a relief depicting Jerusalem on the exterior wall of the museum have attracted increased public interest. How shall these monuments be publicly discussed and exhibited in the future?

This paper investigates the particular role and uncertain futures (historic) building elements can have in museum collections and exhibitions, based on the example of the Franconian Museum in Feuchtwangen. How has the museum treated and classified these objects? What layers of meaning have been ascribed to them during their history?

In its analysis this paper transfers Gennep´s and Turner's concept of liminality to museum objects and their biographies. By conceptualizing them as objects in a liminal state, the paper highlights and explains the special role building elements can take in museum collections and exhibitions.

The liminal state of the objects discussed here is produced through certain practices, as this paper argues: The building elements, which have been (temporarily) immobile during their object biography, are once again put (on display) as immobile building elements in the current museum presentation, now in a new local and conceptual context. Being presented without protection by display cases and identification by object labels, the building elements are placed in a liminal state in relation to the museum collection and exhibition.

This paper discusses the effects and consequences of the liminal state of the objects on their perception and interpretation. It examines the ways (respectively rituals) for a possible change of state of these objects, as well as its consequences. Finally, the paper discusses potential future roles of these objects.