Introduction

The introductory chapter draws readers’ attention to a significant transformation of museums in the era of digital globalisation. It stresses that contemporary museums have become important players in the economic sector of culture and have challenged the traditional canons of cultural diplomacy. In order to develop this key argument, this chapter introduces case studies of three museums from different parts of the world. These cases include the Guggenheim, as a pioneer museum of global expansion strategies, as well as K11 from China and the State Hermitage Museum from Russia. The chapter reveals methodological adventures that shaped the comparative analysis across cases, from traditional desk research to immersive auto-ethnography. It also explains the design of the book, while outlining key theoretical developments in the field of contemporary diplomacy that help to conceptualise the phenomenon of the new museum diplomacy. The chapter sets the background context for arguing that museums are becoming important centres of soft power and more autonomous actors of diplomacy on the world stage beyond traditional government patronage.