About Us

Former Warsaw Pact

Museum Studies Abroad is for cultured travelers seeking to understand the cities and civilizations they visit.

Museum Studies Abroad is run by SRAS, a US-based organization that encourages study abroad to and the study of the post-Communist space (defined here broadly as the former Warsaw Pact countries). Museum Studies Abroad is primarily a study resource and publishing platform for students on SRAS’ museums studies and art programs. However, SRAS staff, interns, and other students (including those not affiliated with SRAS) have also helped to build Museum Studies Abroad into what it currently is and help to continue its active development.

Museums are given primary importance on this site. We explore the great range of museum types developed in the post-Communist space and discuss individual museums in detail. Performance and performance spaces are also covered, which also help preserve, develop, and define the cultures around them. We also discuss here how post-Communist cities are changing in their urban design – specifically what they are choosing to preserve, what they are redeveloping, and what they may be tossing to the dustbin of history.

We see all these subjects as related. They all exist as physical structures within the post-Communist space. They help preserve the cultural memory – one which often stretches back for millennia. They also develop and encourage new directions for civilizational culture.

Our last menu item, Study Art, looks at individuals and movements who create or inspire the materials often seen in the spaces considered on this site: the writers, the film makers, and the artists, as well as the translators brining authorial works to a broader world. We also provide a growing number of resources for students and teachers on art- and museum-related language, study abroad and funding opportunities, books and internet resources for further study, student publishing opportunities, and more.

If you are interested in contributing to this site, considering studying abroad with SRAS with one of our Challenge Grants or as a Home and Abroad Scholar. Your can also sign up for an online internship or submit a contribution to Vestnik. Find out more about our authors here.

If you would like monthly updates on what’s new on this site – and on all of SRAS’ family of sites – sign up for the SRAS newsletter.