Museum of Extreme Experiences – Educational Aspects

Abstract

The article presents the experience of visiting a memorial museum as an emotional, axiological, and formative process whose dynamics resemble the stages of mourning. Based on qualitative research conducted among humanities students at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, the author analyses the emotional responses of young visitors to martyrological museums, showing that encounters with authentic sites of atrocity constitute a liminal experience that evokes reflection on human nature, suffering, and moral responsibility. The article also introduces an original educational scenario entitled From Pain to Hope, designed to provide reflective and emotional support for participants after visiting a memorial museum. The program, grounded in narrative, empathic, and axiological-reflective methods, guides participants through successive emotional phases – from shock and sorrow to understanding, gratitude, and acceptance – culminating in a symbolic farewell ritual that transforms pain into hope. Museum education is thus presented as a space of memory, where historical experience becomes a source of personal and moral growth.