Challenges of Museum Made from historic buildings: case study museums of Mazandaran

Museums are cultural foundations that display the cultural characteristics of different nations collectively. Museums have different types from a thematic and structural point of view, with archeological and anthropological museums in the first group and historical buildings museums in the second group. Historical building museums are created by restoring and changing the use of traditional buildings that one of the ways to bring traditional buildings into the life cycle is to use and protect them. Mazandaran is one of the historical provinces of Iran where several historical houses and museums have been built. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the functional challenges facing the museum of historical houses in Mazandaran. In the present study, three museums have been selected as a case study: The museum of the handicrafts of Sari, the Historical museum of Amol, and the museum of the Ganjineh of Babol. Data collection was done by documentary and field studies. Field studies in this research have been done by designing and distributing a researcher-made questionnaire and collecting the views of experts in the fields of architecture and archeology. The variables and dimensions examined in the questionnaire are the areas of physical structure, protective structure, performance quality and ancillary facilities. SPSS statistical software was used for data processing and descriptive statistics and inferential tests were used for data analysis. The results show that the components of performance quality are in a more favorable condition, but according to their average level, this sector needs a fundamental upgrade. Also, all the criteria related to the physical structure index are in an unfavorable position that this indicates the incompatibility of the physical structure of historic buildings with the physical structure of standard museums. The reflection of these problems can be obtained from the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the audience and visitors of the museum. Therefore, the current situation should be improved by relevant institutions such as the Heritage Organization.