The concept of memory in cultural tourism : enhancing the visitor’s experience at the Inquisitor’s Palace, National Museum of Ethnography

Abstract

This study focuses on the application of intangible cultural heritage as an interpretation component in the Inquisitor’s Palace – National Museum of Ethnography in Birgu. This interpretation strategy can add value to the Palace as another cultural product in Malta’s tourism package. The Literature review looks closely at a number of key aspects: nostalgia, memory, oral history, domestic tourism, interpretation and ethnographic studies. The methodology discusses the purpose and the strategy used to collect the data, explaining the rationale why one-to-one interviews were conducted. Findings are reported and the researcher selected the important themes that emerged from the collected data, proceeding to propose how Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) can be implemented and interpreted at the Inquisitor’s Palace – National Museum of Ethnography (IP). In conclusion, the thesis proposes a set of suggestions that can be implemented to create a new interpretation strategy for the IP, inclusive of ICH and a number of interactive activities, so as to engage the visitors in a unique experience.