Cover news reporter Shi Wei
On January 26, the incident of "students breaking private museum collections and being claimed 1.3 million yuan" in Wuhan, Hubei Province, attracted attention, and some netizens questioned the suspicion that the museum was "touching porcelain". After that, the museum staff posted a response saying that 1.3 million is the number said by the training institution when communicating with parents, and the museum did not know it before; the safety protection of private museums cannot be achieved at the national museum level, the leading teacher did not take good care of the students at the scene, who should be responsible for the damaged items, and netizens should not hold the mentality of "who is weak and who is reasonable".
In this regard, a staff member of the Wuhan Non-State-owned Museum Association said that the museum has the characteristics of being close to the people, and the museum should have sufficient consideration for the safety of the objects and the risk during the exhibition period, and should be fully responsible.
Huang Kunzhi, a lawyer at Hubei Shangzhuo Law Firm, believes that the museum has certain responsibilities, but it cannot be too harsh on the museum to do perfect safety protection, and parents and training institutions should share part of the responsibility.
Students smash the pottery figurines of the museum Netizens questioned that the fragile collection was not protected
Surveillance video circulating online showed that more than a dozen children were visiting the Department accompanied by the teachers who led the team. During the period, some children curiously walked to the pottery figurines in the corner of the wall and reached out to touch the terracotta figurines. Online photos show that the upper body of the clay figurine fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.
The video of the incident was transmitted online
Parents of the students asked for help through social platforms, saying that their children participated in the 1,000 yuan winter camp activities, and as a result, 1.3 million yuan of cultural relics were damaged and needed compensation, and reprimanded the off-campus training institutions for being too bad.
Many network big v forwarded relevant information that the pottery figurines were fragile but not effectively protected, and did not see the protection of glass covers and cordons from the video. Some netizens therefore questioned the suspicion of "touching porcelain", and even some netizens mistakenly hung up the names of the other two museums to denounce it.
On the 26th, the staff of the Zhenyuan Museum involved in the incident posted a response, saying that it had never made a claim of 1.3 million yuan, which was the number put forward by the training institution when communicating with the parents, and the netizens should not hold the mentality of "the weak are just", the damage should be compensated, after the incident, the students involved have been apologizing and have the courage to bear, but the museum has digested most of the losses on its own.
"As a spectator, enter into the realm of others with reverence. Even the Metropolitan Museum of Art has its collections on the outside. The museum is full of signs that are forbidden to be touched, and a private museum do we ask it to be perfect at the national level? ”
The staff member also said that in view of the psychological pressure of the child, the museum refused all media interviews, hoping to negotiate a solution privately.
The Police of Wuchang District said that they had received an alarm at that time, and after the police investigation, the case was transferred to the judicial office for mediation, and the 20,000 yuan involved in the repair was being negotiated between the two sides.
Interior view of the museum
Experts say that the museum's people-friendliness increases the risk of collections The museum should anticipate the risk and bear responsibility
A staff member of the Wuhan Non-State-Owned Museum Association said that the relevant situation was noted soon after the incident occurred, and it was not too appropriate for the museum to deal with it from the perspective of the industry.
According to the staff, the mainland museum is divided into state-owned museums, industry museums and non-state-owned museums (commonly known as private museums), non-state-owned museums during the opening of the exhibition, protective measures are more flexible and free, there is no hard and fast requirements, the overall state-owned museums and industry museums are strict, and the close distance with visitors is closer, and even some collections allow visitors to touch and feel.
"But this is a case-by-case scenario. Porcelain, lacquerware, calligraphy and painting these old objects, fragile and easy to oxidize or high value, must be a good safety protection. You can't put a jar of millions around in a place where small children walk around, and it's obvious that it's easy to get an accident. Just like you can't put the pesticides in the house where the children can hold them, and wait for things to go out to hold the children responsible, it will not help. According to the staff, when the museum opens its doors to receive tourists, it is an open public place, there are many people coming and going, there are many minors, fragile or too high-value objects, which will inevitably produce risks when they are visited in large quantities, and the museum should have full estimates. If there is no estimate or no measure is taken, the museum should be mentally prepared to bear the consequences.
"Warnings should be posted, lines of separation or protective covers should be drawn, but there are no hard and fast rules for the safety of private museums' collections." If this figurine does not have isolation measures, the staff on-site guidance and maintenance of order are not in place, and the students accidentally touch the items after dumping, I personally feel that the responsibility lies with the museum. In case you place a large item in the exhibition hall at random, accidentally touch and hurt people, the consequences are very troublesome. The staff member said that this incident has a great impact on dozens of non-state-owned museums in Wuhan, reflecting the professional problems of museums, and the willingness of some institutions and schools to take students to visit museums may be affected.
Collections furnished by the museum
lawyer:
The museum cannot be demanded to measure perfectly The training institution has the responsibility of guardianship
Huang Kunzhi, a practical lawyer at Hubei Shangzhuo Lawyers, said that from a legal point of view, this is a dispute over compensation for damage to the article, and public opinion should not demand the perfection of the museum in terms of protective measures, and the training institution leading the team has guardianship responsibility when the incident occurred, and the parents of the students involved should also bear part of the responsibility.
"Parents have a responsibility to educate their children, and it is common sense not to touch other people's things. Specific to this incident, the teacher of the training institution led the minors to visit, and the institution and the teacher temporarily assumed the guardianship responsibility of the minors. There is no hard and fast rule on what kind of protective measures should be taken for the objects of private museums, and if this clay figurine is placed here for a year or two without incident, then its placement is reasonable to a certain extent. After human external force caused by damage to the ceramic figurines, the damagers should be liable. Huang Kunzhi believes that considering the degree of minors' ability to act, the museum should do a good job of guidance and risk avoidance during reception, but the figurines are damaged after the artificial initiative, and the responsibility of the damaged party and the museum should be five or five points or three or seven points.
"As for the student responsibility part, because of the temporary transfer of custody, there should be institutions and parents to renegotiate. I personally feel inappropriate to say that children are completely irresponsible. Huang Kunzhi said that according to the premise of division of responsibility, the specific amount of compensation needs to be decided by the mediation agency or the court according to the situation of the goods.