The thesis concerns public debate on the public activities of The Swedish History Museum (Historiska museet) in Stockholm between the years 1992 and 2011. Moreover, the thesis contribute with knowledge on how basic didactic questions regarding a single national museum has been answered in the public debate over time. Standpoints on what should be exhibited, how this should be done, to/with whom the mediation of history should be addressed/communicated and, what mission in society The Swedish History Museum’s is considered to be, is summed up in the concept of “exhibition ideal”. The research concerns four public debates; the debate about the exhibition The Swedish History (Den Svenska Historien), the debate about Kristian Berg, the debate about the free entry reform and, a less extensive debate about the exhibition History of Sweden (Sveriges Historia). A further aim of the dissertation is to put the publicly expressed positions on The Swedish History Museum in a wider historical-cultural context. Also, the study is related to other museums and other history communicating arenas. The debates coincides in time with challenges for the museum sector to deal with new perspectives in museology and cultural heritage research. The emergence of a multi-cultural society and the questioning of grand narratives are mentioned as examples. The emergence and strengthening of a broader history didactic discipline in Sweden, where a basic starting point is that the story is communicated in several different arenas with their own competencies, are also brought into the analysis. Historians and archaeologists tend to become silent in the recent debates about The Swedish History Museum’s public activities as the debates are less focused on content. The debates tends to be more “museum internal”, even in cases where there is opportunity to debate specific historical and archaeological content in the exhibitions. It appears, nevertheless, that the overall conflict around the public museum activities has reached the public spotlight through newspapers, radio and TV. Alongside with visits to the museum public debate are assumed to contribute to citizens’ own view of what museums should exhibit, how this should be done, to/with whom the mediation of history should be addressed/communicated and what the museum’s mission in society is.

Le musée des Antiquités nationales (MAN) a été créé sous l'impulsion de l'Empereur Napoléon III en 1862. Avec le projet de création du musée s'est imposée la nécessité de le doter d'ateliers de moulage et de restauration. Abel Maitre, sculpteur de formation, est le premier chef d'atelier de 1866 à la fin du 19e siècle. Rouage Indispensable du MAN, Il s'est avéré être un véritable précurseur de la restauration des objets archéologiques telle qu'on la conçoit de nos jours. Son successeur, Benoit-Claude Champion, dirige les ateliers durant toute la première moitié du 20e siècle et œuvre à la professionnalisation de cette discipline, à une période où la question de la formation des restaurateurs est au centre des débats. A travers l'exemple concret des ateliers du MAN, cette recherche se propose de montrer comment a émergé la spécialité archéologie dans l'univers très artistique de la restauration, et comment le développement de cette activité en discipline est Intimement lié à la politique Internationale de sauvegarde du patrimoine, qui prend toute son ampleur après la première guerre mondiale. / The National Museum of Antiquities (MAN) was created at the instigation of Emperor Napoleon Ill in 1862. With the proposed creation of the museum has become the need to equip the workshops of molding and restoration. Abel Maître, a sculptor by training, is the first leader of workshop in the late 19th century. Indispensable part of the MAN, Il proved to be a !rue precursor of the restoration of archaeological objects as it conceives today. His successor, Benoit-Claude Champion, leads workshops throughout the first half of the 20th century and works to professionalize the discipline, at a time when the Issue of training for restorers is central to the debate. Through concrete example of MAN workshops, this research alms to show how archeology has emerged as a specialty in the highly artistic restoration, and how the development of this discipline is closely linked to International politics Heritage Preservation, which comes into its own after World war 1.