Political Myth as a Way to Establish a Dialogue with the Past in the Museum Space

Political scientists, sociologists and social philosophers have repeatedly addressed political myth as both an object and a subject of analysis. This article presents an analysis of political myth from a philosophical and cultural perspective. The concept of political myth is understood as a complex phenomenon that arises from the interplay between mythical and ideological elements. A political myth comprises three key elements: a myth-idea, which represents its conceptual basis; myth-images, which delineate its objective manifestations; and myth-events, which establish a link between the images and the tangible realities that have shaped the collective consciousness. It is myth-events that are perceived to be true, yet they are in fact subjective, as they are different for everyone. Political myth is a construct created by ideologues with the objective of maintaining the cohesion of society. Simultaneously, it relies on archetypal elements to express the enduring cultural meanings and values associated with the human experience. In considering the representation of political myth as a component of cultural memory, we turn our attention to the ways in which such mythological narratives are represented in museum spaces. In this paper, we draw upon the works of prominent cultural memory researchers, namely Jan and Aleida Assmann, who introduced the idea of memory as a collective experience; as well as M. Halbwachs, the founder of the concept of memory as a communicative phenomenon, and the theory of dialogue of cultures, as posited by M. M. Bakhtin to illustrate the communicative potential of political myth as a means of conveying the “truth of life” and of initiating a dialogue with the past. The objective of our research is to ascertain the potential of political myth in maintaining the “truth of the past” and fostering cultural dialogue within the museum context.