Museums: keepers of memory and records

The museum is the main keeper of cultural memory. It generates scientific knowledge and cultural meanings. Moreover, museum science can turn a monument into an instrument for a dialog between cultures in societies cultivating hatred. In the past 25 years, the public role of museums has risen dramatically. This has inspired in them a renewed interest in power and money, but weakened the museum as a scientific institution. The report outlines proposals, the implementation of which, in cooperation with the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), can restore research activities at museums, making them one of the leading areas of work.