Scientific Journal of Pazhuhesh-e Honar

Today, war, with its immense killings and damage, can indicate the collapse of human history, and since peace museums are known as important tools for the rapprochement of cultures and social reconciliation, they can be helpful. The main question of this research is “How can peace museums strengthen pacifism in societies?” Previous research has focused more on the exhibitions and events of these museums, and not enough attention has been paid to how to strengthen pacifism in societies, and in particular, there is no comprehensive research on it in Iran. This study, based on Galtung’s definition, which considers peace to be the absence of violence, not just the absence of war, was conducted using the method of content analysis and the aim of examining educational, content, and exhibition strategies in peace museums. The research identifies key themes in museums, analyzes conceptual patterns and strategies used, and offers suggestions for improving museum policies. This research is applied in terms of purpose and qualitative in terms of methodology.  Data have collected from written sources and analyzed in three stages of open, axial and selective coding. The research focuses on two successful international museums; The Grassroots House Peace Museum has helped reduce regional disputes with its dialogue-based events and realistic look at Japanese war crimes, and the activities of the Community Peace Museums Heritage Foundation in Kenya have also been effective in reducing conflicts by using the peace heritage of different tribes. The findings show that the most important strategies for peace museums to strengthen peacemaking are: peace education through interactive programs, challenging the war-oriented narratives of official history, and creating spaces for dialogue for conflicting groups. Therefore, designing educational programs based on experience and multifaceted narratives of history and peace heritage has a greater impact on peacemaking attitudes and can be used in cultural and educational policy-making of museums.