Issues of terminology: «museum network» and «museum landscape»

The author analyzes the concepts of «museum network» and «museum landscape», which are used in the modern professional museum community as synonyms. The context of their origin and application is analyzed. The concept «museum network» appeared in the museum language after the revolution (1917) as a management category; since the second half of the 20th century it has aquired the status of a scientific category and retained this up to the present. The concept «museum landscape» arose in the post-Soviet period as an analogue of the concept «museum network», but «museum landscape» constitutes neither management nor scientific category. In the article the definition of «museum landscape» is offered, the general and the special in the content of this concepts are revealed. As synonyms, they denote the total complex of museums in a particular area. The difference is in their genesis and function. «Museum network» appeared under centralized management of museums as a necessary tool for the organization of museum activity in the Soviet period. «Museum landscape» appeared in the post-Soviet period under decentralization of culture management. The concept «museum landscape» means variety of museums that take form freely on the initiative of society and develop naturally.