Museum guestbook data visualization
Ivan Lutskievič Belarusian Museum in Vilnius celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2021. I was commissioned to visualize data from the guestbook (1932–39) for exhibition dedicated to this memorable date.
The wall poster size 2×1 meter was a part of the exposition and introduced visitors to some statistic facts from the history of museum: from which cities the visitors came, in which languages they wrote well-wishes and commemorative records, which groups the guests belonged to, which seasons and days of the week were more popular, etc.
The central part of the visual is occupied by a map showing the cities from which visitors arrived. I faced the problem with it, how to clearly show why people came from these particular cities. Simply plotting all mentioned places on the map does not make it obvious why the museum, placed in Lithuania, was so popular among people from Poland and western parts of Belarus and Ukraine.
The fact is that the guestbook stores entries for the years 1932–39. The political map of Europe at that time was different and Vilnius was part of Poland, as well as parts of Belarus and Ukraine were. Placing borders of the Second Rzeczpospolita Polska (Republic of Poland) on the map makes this story more clear, provides important historical context.
