Danish "House of Memories" for people with dementia

September 25, 2016 11:24 AM

House of Memories is a Danish living history museum created to stimulate the memories of people with dementia through sight, sound, smell and touch. A living history museum usually conjures up images of butter churns and anvils. At Den Gamle By (The Old Town) Museum in Aarhus, Denmark, you'll find all that. But tucked away in one corner of this museum, there's also something different — an entire apartment straight out of the 1950s. The "House of Memories" is not usually open to the public, and it's not aimed at schoolchildren sent to learn about a distant and exotic past. Rather, this exhibit is intended for visitors living with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. And the history they've come to experience is their own.

Previously on MeFi about innovative therapies for dementia:

music and dementia
Dementia Village
Snoezelen--multi sensory rooms

posted by hurdy gurdy girl (11 comments total)

This is fascinating and heartwarming, hurdy gurdy girl. Thank you for posting! My hope is that we see places like this spread world wide to provide much greater access for dementia patients who aren't always located in cities with museums. I can see where smaller setups could exist in dedicated dementia care centers.
posted by Silverstone at 12:36 PM on September 25, 2016 [2 favorites]

A sort of extensional, physical form of nostalgia as we see with television, movies, and collecting. I like it
posted by xtian at 12:50 PM on September 25, 2016 [2 favorites]

How awesome! I visited Den Gamle By this summer, and it was great*, and I didn't know about this facility. What a loving and smart way to help people who are dealing with dementia.

*They also have an entire neighbourhood from 1974, which is open to the general public. Well worth a visit.
posted by Too-Ticky at 1:01 PM on September 25, 2016 [4 favorites]

That is so cool, Too-Ticky! I'd love to visit the 1974 neighbourhood...
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:03 PM on September 25, 2016

It really was cool! There were fully furnished apartments that you could visit, and you could look in the cupboards and in the fridge, and 'play records' by laying a record sleeve on top of a record player, and then you'd hear the music. The rooms looked as if the inhabitants were just off on an errand and would come home any moment.
There were also workshops and shops to look around in. I went into a moped repair shop and it smelled exactly right, like petrol and grease, and there was a 1970 Kreidler hanging from the ceiling, while the engine was being overhauled. The radio/TV store was great too... all full of tape recorders, record players, vinyl records, TV sets and parts. And even all the cars, bicycles and motorcycles parked in the streets were from exactly the right period.
Some pictures on the museum's website: http://www.dengamleby.dk/engelsk/the-old-town/discover/remember-the-1970s/
posted by Too-Ticky at 1:15 PM on September 25, 2016 [5 favorites]

My home town! The 1974 part of the museum has an apartment exactly recreating a collective of the time. A niece of mine, along with other university students, lived there for a week (along with the technology of the era, and without their technology of today) giving the museum input on their experience.
posted by bouvin at 2:14 PM on September 25, 2016 [5 favorites]

The recreations need to have hidden smoke machines generating the omnipresent clouds of cigarette smoke that hung over everything in the 1970s. Also the '70s in Denmark were apparently much more tastefully decorated than they were in Northern New Jersey.
posted by octothorpe at 5:44 PM on September 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

This is great. People with dementia--or in my tragic familial case, a sibling with Early Onset Alzheimer's--have exceptionally vivid memories of their earlier life. This brilliant enterprise looks to offer some people exceptional comfort. And comfort they need.
posted by kozad at 7:56 PM on September 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

This is wonderful.

I want to visit that 1974 neighborhood! Sounds so cool!
posted by SisterHavana at 8:02 PM on September 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

One data point. This weekend I attended a family wedding. Many of the people attending I had never meet before. One such guest, and a close and dear friend of family member, was R. He is in his early '60's and has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. He has been given "five good years". I wondered what he would be like. There was no outward sign of frailty except for the frequent far-away look in his eyes. After the wedding reception, far out in the countryside, 50 or so of us, including R. caught the bus back into town. Singing took place. Intoxicated singing took place. The old, well-worn classics. 'Climb Every Mountain', 'Country Road', 'Danny Boy'. Songs from the past. It was led by R. who sang, like an angel, in two languages, word and pronunciation perfect. Deep within his brain was something so familiar and ingrained that even the early onslaught of dementia could not diminish. I imagine that in a year or two he will sing in the same way. Maybe even longer.

Who would have thought that the old and familiar ways would guide us through the ravages of the present?
posted by vac2003 at 11:45 PM on September 25, 2016 [2 favorites]

Also the '70s in Denmark were apparently much more tastefully decorated than they were in Northern New Jersey.

Not just the 70s.
posted by Dysk at 12:00 AM on September 26, 2016 [2 favorites]