Penzenes Museum
The Penzenes Museum (TPM) is the only state-subsidised museum in Germanalasia. The grand museum is a major tourist attraction in Penzenes, with a wide range of historical artefacts set into the scenery of an impressive former Royal Palace.
Collections
The Museum is the single largest collection of historical artefacts in Germanalasia. The palace's numerous wings cover a broad range of topics from the evolution of mankind to the local military history. Pride of place in the prehistory section is one of the most well preserved examples of Archaeopteryx, forming a centrepiece of a discussion of the link between dinosaurs and birds that includes models and reproductions from partial bone samples of other notable creatures that illustrate this connection, including the Compsognathus and a full-size reconstruction of Argentavis magnificens.
A further wing serves as a gallery of fine art, with a secondary area of more modern collections. Among the examples of the finest work of artists from around the world are featured several pieces of Germanalasian artwork, all certified as suitable material for public display by Beranostra officials.
A large quantity of this material, including the exhibition of pottery and porcelain, was the property of the Royal Household before its dissolution, and still further artefacts were "donated" by the government for their conservation following various seizures. The Museum's retained profit at the end of each year is reinvested in further expansions to these collections, and the Museum possesses several vaults of various records - including large quantities of archaeological finds not on display, in addition to a massive collection of historical writings - that are available to be used by scholars for research purposes at written request.
Opening hours
The Penzenes Museum is open to the public 9:30 AM to 5 PM Tuesday to Friday, with extended hours of 9:30 AM to 6:30 PM on Saturday. Arrangements may be made through the museum for specialist guides by the scholarly staff for school visits during these times, or, in some cases, outside of them.
The Museum often closes wings for refurbishment, maintenance, or for other reasons. The curators try to maintain as many exhibits as possible at any one time, even if they may not be their main exhibit. The Museum advises visitors to telephone ahead or check their website should they wish to visit a certain exhibit explicitly to confirm it will be open.
Multi-lingual tours are in operation, and guide maps are covered in the entry fees.
Entry fees
The Museum charges a rate of five DiM for adult visitors, with visitors under the age of ten entering for free - however, all children must be accompanied by at least one paying adult - and children between the ages of ten and eighteen are charged two DiM admission.
Staff
The Museum employs around fifty to sixty full time curators with various administrative tasks, and a large number of palaeontologists, archaeologists, and various specialist historians to work on promoting and expanding the exhibitions. A large workforce of part time staff assist visitors to make most of their excursion, and there are regular tours in several different languages for those who wish to be guided around the Museum.
The large cafeteria - that spills out into the Museum's courtyard on warm days - and the nearby souvenir shop employ their own separate teams of employees. The cafeteria provides a variety of hot and cold drinks and snacks throughout the opening hours. Food and drink products may not be consumed in the Museum itself.
Conspiracies and controversies
There have been a number of conspiracy theories involving the Museum in recent years. Staff details discovered by private investigation were used as evidence for a suspicious, Government-endorsed operation taking place in the facility. Supporters of this conspiracy cite the large numbers of scientists and engineers in the Museum's employment that do not appear to be directly related to the day to day operations of such a building.
The theories as to what this operation may be vary widely, with the tamer suggesting it is some form of emergency nuclear bunker and the more elaborate claiming that the Government is using the tourist attraction to bug visitors with devices implanted in gift shop products and the food to steal personal information and infiltrate foreign countries. Some claim that the entire building has been specially fitted to act as an amplifier for some form of brainwashing programme, however even the most devout conspiracy theorist tends to be somewhat sceptical of this.
There has been some speculation that the collection of catacombs that were present in the Royal Palace has been expanded, following confidential military "structural maintenance" to areas of the Museum that some have suggested lead to the catacombs. The government has not acknowledged this rumour in any way, neither to dismiss it or support it.
In 2006, an unnamed curator of the Museum attracted some media attention after penning a response - branded by one foreign newspaper as "an inappropriate gesture [and] not even a slight approach to embracing the multiculturalism that is essential to foreign tourism" - to a question about why the museum did not have an exhibit promoting Intelligent Design arguments - "[the Museum] is an institute of empirical evidence, and not a marsh of waste and twaddle [about Intelligent Design]" - that the recipient was displeased with.
