The second in a series of November online seminars with Norwegian experts on museums and human rights education took place on the 25th November 2020. These online seminars introduced participants from Bulgaria to the practices of museums that  educate young people in democracy and human rights. The seminar was led by Thorleif Hamre, who is a senior expert and head of research, collections and exhibitions at the Eidsvoll 1814 National Museum, Norway.

The topic of dicussion was “How museums cooperate with schools and introduce young people to the practices of democratic citizenship”. Torleif Hamre spoke about good practices in which museums work and give space to young people to understand and make sense of the past. At the same time, one of the important goals that is set is how to reach the students, their interests and the topics that really excite them.

Thorleif Hamre presented the Museum of the Norwegian Constitution Eidsvoll 1814, which is a cultural museum center and a national historical monument and which works actively with schools and universities. One good example of connecting history to the present is the practice of Norwegian Youth Parliament students who gather in the same hall as it did in 1814 and discuss the basic issues and challenges Norway is facing Norway today.

The online seminar provided a stage for dicussion where particpants had the opportunity to exchange interesting ideas from  Norway and from Bulgarian.

This seminar was the second in a series of November seminars on “Museums and Human Rights Education”. Experts from leading museums in Norway spoke about the work of museums on topics such as human rights and training young people in democratic citizenship. The seminars have been part of the project “Increasing democratic competence and understanding of human rights among young people” implemented by the Partners  Bulgaria Foundation and the Academy of Human Rights, Norway, through the Active Citizens Fund and with financial support provided by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway under the EEA Financial Mechanism.