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Museum
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For other uses, see Museum (disambiguation).

The British Museum in London

A museum is a building or institution which houses a collection of artifacts.[1]

Museums collect and care for objects of scientific, artistic, or historical importance and
make them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or
temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities throughout the world and
more local ones exist in smaller cities, towns and even the countryside.

Early museums began as the private collections of wealthy individuals, families or

institutions of art and rare or curious natural objects and artifacts.

There are museums all over the world. The museums of ancient times, such as the
Musaeum of Alexandria, would be equivalent to a modern graduate institute. The modern
meaning of the word can be traced to the Museum of Pergamon in Anatolia, which
displayed artwork.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 History
• 2 Purpose
• 3 Types
o 3.1 Archaeology museums
o 3.2 Art museums
 o 3.3 Maritime museums
o 3.4 Military and war museums
o 3.5 Mobile museums
o 3.6 Natural history museums
o 3.7 Open air museums
o 3.8 Science museums
o 3.9 Specialized museums
o 3.10 Virtual museums
o 3.11 Zoos and Zoological Gardens
• 4 Controversies
• 5 Management
• 6 Museum planning and exhibition design
• 7 Etymology
• 8 See also
• 9 References
• 10 Further reading

• 11 External links

[edit] History

Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City

Early museums began as the private collections of wealthy individuals, families or

institutions of art and rare or curious natural objects and artifacts. These were often
displayed in so-called wonder rooms or cabinets of curiosities. Public access was often
possible for the "respectable", especially to private art collections, but at the whim of the
owner and his staff.

The first public museums in the world opened in Europe during the 18th century and the
Age of Enlightenment:

• the Amerbach Cabinet, originally a private collection, was bought by the

university and city of Basel in 1661 and opened to the public in 1671.
• the Royal Armouries in the Tower of London is the oldest museum in the United
Kingdom. It opened to the public in 1660, though there had been paying
privileged visitors to the armouries displays from 1592. Today the museum has
three sites including its new headquarters in Leeds.[2]
 • the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'archéologie in Besançon was established in 1694
after Jean-Baptiste Boisot, an abbot, gave his personnal collection to the
Benedictines of the city in order to create a museum open to the public two days
every week.[3]
• the Museo Sacro, the first museum in the Vatican Museums complex, was opened
in Rome in 1756[citation needed]
• the British Museum in London, was founded in 1753 and opened to the public in
1759.[4] Sir Hans Sloane's personal collection of curios provided the initial
foundation for the British Museum's collection.[4]
• the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, which had been open to visitors on request since
the 16th century, was officially opened to the public 1765[citation needed]
• the Belvedere Palace of the Habsburg monarchs in Vienna opened with a
collection of art in 1781[citation needed]

The Pera Museum in Istanbul

These "public" museums, however, were often accessible only by the middle and upper
classes. It could be difficult to gain entrance. In London for example, prospective visitors
to the British Museum had to apply in writing for admission. Even by 1800 it was
possible to have to wait two weeks for an admission ticket.[citation needed] Visitors in small
groups were limited to stays of two hours.[citation needed] In Victorian times in England it
became popular for museums to be open on a Sunday afternoon (the only such facility
allowed to do so) to enable the opportunity for "self improvement" of the other - working
- classes.[citation needed]

The first truly public museum was the Louvre Museum in Paris, opened in 1793 during
the French Revolution, which enabled for the first time in history free access to the
former French royal collections for people of all stations and status. The fabulous art
treasures collected by the French monarchy over centuries were accessible to the public
three days each "décade" (the 10-day unit which had replaced the week in the French
Republican Calendar). The Conservatoire du muséum national des Arts (National
Museum of Arts's Conservatory) was charged with organizing the Louvre as a national
public museum and the centerpiece of a planned national museum system. As Napoléon I
conquered the great cities of Europe, confiscating art objects as he went, the collections
grew and the organizational task became more and more complicated. After Napoleon
was defeated in 1815, many of the treasures he had amassed were gradually returned to
their owners (and many were not). His plan was never fully realized, but his concept of a
museum as an agent of nationalistic fervor had a profound influence throughout Europe.

American museums eventually joined European museums as the world's leading centers
for the production of new knowledge in their fields of interest. A period of intense
museum building, in both an intellectual and physical sense was realized in the late 19th
and early 20th centuries (this is often called "The Museum Period" or "The Museum
Age"). While many American museums, both Natural History museums and Art
museums alike, were founded with the intention of focusing on the scientific discoveries
and artistic developments in North America, many moved to emulate their European
counterparts in certain ways (including the development of Classical collections from
ancient Egypt, Greece, Mesopotamia and Rome). Universities became the primary
centers for innovative research in the United States well before the start of the Second
World War. Nevertheless, museums to this day contribute new knowledge to their fields
and continue to build collections that are useful for both research and display.

[edit] Purpose

View of the Winter Palace from the Palace Square in Saint Petersburg, home of the
Hermitage Museum.

Museums collect and care for objects of scientific, artistic, or historical importance and
make them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or
temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities throughout the world and
more local ones exist in smaller cities, towns and even the countryside. Many museums
offer programs and activities for a range of audiences, including adults, children, and
families, as well as those for more specific professions. Programs for the public may
consist of lectures or tutorials by the museum faculty or field experts, films, musical or
dance performances, and technology demonstrations. Many times, museums concentrate
on the host region's culture.

Although most museums do not allow physical contact with the associated artifacts, there
are some that are interactive and encourage a more hands-on approach. Modern trends in
museology have broadened the range of subject matter and introduced many interactive
exhibits, which give the public the opportunity to make choices and engage in activities
that may vary the experience from person to person. With the advent of the internet, there
are growing numbers of virtual exhibits, i.e. web versions of exhibits showing images and
playing recorded sound.

Museums are usually open to the general public, sometimes charging an admission fee.
Some museums are publicly funded and have free entrance, either permanently or on
special days, e.g. once per week or year.

Museums are usually not run for the purpose of making a profit, unlike private galleries
which more often engage in the sale of objects. There are governmental museums, non-
governmental or non-profit museums, and privately owned or family museums. Museums
can be a reputable and generally trusted source of information about cultures and history.

Definitions include: "permanent institution in the service of society and of its

development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates
and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment, for the
purposes of education, study, and enjoyment", by the International Council of Museums;
[5]
and "Museums enable people to explore collections for inspiration, learning and
enjoyment. They are institutions that collect, safeguard and make accessible artifacts and
specimens, which they hold in trust for society," by the UK Museums Association.[6]

[edit] Types
There are many types of museums, from very large collections in major cities, covering
many of the categories below, to very small museums covering either a particular
location in a general way, or a particular subject, such an individual notable person.
Categories include: fine arts, applied arts, craft, archaeology, anthropology and
ethnology, history, cultural history, military history, science, technology, children's
museums, natural history, numismatics, botanical and zoological gardens and philately.
Within these categories many museums specialize further, e.g. museums of modern art,
local history, aviation history, agriculture or geology. A museum normally houses a core
collection of important selected objects in its field. Objects are formally accessioned by
being registered in the museum's collection with an artifact number and details recorded
about their provenance. The persons in charge of the collection and of the exhibits are
known as curators.

Gold Museum, Bogota Colombia

[edit] Archaeology museums

Archaeology museums specialize in the display of archaeological artifacts. Many are in

the open air, such as the Acropolis of Athens and the Roman Forum. Others display
artifacts found in archaeological sites inside buildings.

[edit] Art museums

Main article: Art museum

Museum of Modern Art

An Art museum, also known as an art gallery, is a space for the exhibition of art, usually
in the form of art objects from the visual arts, primarily paintings, illustrations, and
sculpture. Collections of drawings and old master prints are often not displayed on the
walls, but kept in a print room. There may be collections of applied art, including
ceramics, metalwork, furniture, artist's books and other types of object. Video art is often
screened.

The first publicly owned museum in Europe was the Amerbach-Cabinet in Basel,
originally a private collection sold to the city in 1661 and public since 1671 (now
Kunstmuseum Basel).[7] The Uffizi Gallery in Florence was initially conceived as a
palace for the offices of Florentian magistrates (hence the name), it later evolved into a
display place for many of the paintings and sculpture collected by the Medici family or
commissioned by them. After the house of Medici was extinguished, the art treasures
remained in Florence, forming one of the first modern museums. The gallery had been
open to visitors by request since the sixteenth century, and in 1765 it was officially
opened to the public. Another early public museum was the British Museum in London,
which opened to the public in 1759.[4] It was a "universal museum" with very varied
collections covering art, applied art, archaeology, anthropology, history, and science, and
a library. The science collections, library, paintings and modern sculpture have since
been found separate homes, leaving history, archaeology, non-European and pre-
Renaissance art, and prints and drawings.[citation needed]
The specialised art museum is considered a fairly modern invention, the first being the
Hermitage in Saint Petersburg which was established in 1764.[citation needed]

The Louvre in Paris was established in 1793, soon after the French Revolution when the
royal treasures were declared for the people.[8] The Czartoryski Museum in Kraków was
established in 1796 by Princess Izabela Czartoryska.[9] This showed the beginnings of
removing art collections from the private domain of aristocracy and the wealthy into the
public sphere, where they were seen as sites for educating the masses in taste and cultural
refinement.

History museums cover the knowledge of history and its relevance to the present and
future. Some cover specialized curatorial aspects of history or a particular locality; others
are more general. Such museums contain a wide range of objects, including documents,
artifacts of all kinds, art, archaeological objects. Antiquities museums specialize in more
archaeological findings.

A common type of history museum is a historic house. A historic house may be a

building of special architectural interest, the birthplace or home of a famous person, or a
house with an interesting history. Historic sites can also become museums, particularly
those that mark public crimes, such as Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum or Robben Island.
Another type of history museum is a living museum. A living museum is where people
recreate a time period to the fullest extent, including buildings, clothes and language. It is
similar to historical reenactment.

[edit] Maritime museums

Main article: Maritime museum

Maritime museums specialize in the display of objects relating to ships and travel on seas
and lakes. They may include a historic ship (or a replica) made accessible as a museum
ship.

[edit] Military and war museums

See also: Category:Military and war museums

The Canadian War Museum

Military museums specialize in military histories; they are often organized from a
national point of view, where a museum in a particular country will have displays
organized around conflicts in which that country has taken part. They typically include
displays of weapons and other military equipment, uniforms, wartime propaganda and
exhibits on civilian life during wartime, and decorations, among others. A military
museum may be dedicated to a particular service or area, such as the Imperial War
Museum Duxford for military aircraft or the Deutsches Panzermuseum for tanks, or more
generalist, such as the Canadian War Museum or the Musée de l'Armée.

[edit] Mobile museums

Mobile museum is a term applied to museums that make exhibitions from a vehicle,
such as a van. Some institutions, such as St. Vital Historical Society and the Walker Art
Center, use the term to refer to a portion of their collection that travels to sites away from
the museum for educational purposes. Other mobile museums have no "home site", and
use travel as their exclusive means of presentation.

[edit] Natural history museums

For a more comprehensive list, see List of natural history museums

The National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

Museums of natural history and natural science typically exhibit work of the natural
world. The focus lies on nature and culture. Exhibitions may educate the masses about
dinosaurs, ancient history, and anthropology. Evolution, environmental issues, and
biodiversity are major areas in natural science museums. Notable museums of this type
include the Natural History Museum in London, the Oxford University Museum of
Natural History in Oxford, the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris, the
Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., the
American Museum of Natural History in New York City, the Royal Tyrrell Museum of
Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta, Denver Museum of Nature and Science and the
Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

• Museums

[edit] Open air museums

Main article: Open air museum

An old farmhouse at the Salzburger Freilichtmuseum in Großgmain near Salzburg.

Open air museums collect and re-erect old buildings at large outdoor sites, usually in
settings of re-created landscapes of the past. The first one was King Oscar II's collection
near Oslo in Norway, opened in 1881 and is now the Norsk Folkemuseum.[citation needed] In
1891 Artur Hazelius founded the Skansen in Stockholm,[citation needed] which became the
model for subsequent open air museums in Northern and Eastern Europe, and eventually
in other parts of the world. Most open air museums are located in regions where wooden
architecture prevail, as wooden structures may be translocated without substantial loss of
authenticity.[citation needed] A more recent but related idea is realized in ecomuseums, which
originated in France.[citation needed]

[edit] Science museums

For a more comprehensive list, see List of science museums

Museum of Science and Industry

Science museums and technology centers revolve around scientific achievements, and
marvels and their history. To explain complicated inventions, a combination of
demonstrations, interactive programs and thought-provoking media are used. Some
museums may have exhibits on topics such as computers, aviation, railway museums,
physics, astronomy, and the animal kingdom.

Science museums, in particular, may consist of planetaria, or large theatre usually built
around a dome. Museums may have IMAX feature films, which may provide 3-D
viewing or higher quality picture. As a result, IMAX content provides a more immersive
experience for people of all ages.

Also new virtual museums, known as Net Museums, have recently been created. These
are usually web sites belonging to real museums and containing photo galleries of items
found in those real museums. This new presentation is very useful for people living far
away who wish to see the contents of these museums.
[edit] Specialized museums

Museum of Toys and Automata in Verdú, Spain

A number of different museums exist to demonstrate a variety of topics. Music museums

may celebrate the life and work of composers or musicians, such as the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. Other music museums include live music recitals such
as the Handel House Museum in London. In Glendale, Arizona, The Bead Museum[10]
fosters the appreciation and understanding of the global historical, cultural and artistic
significance of beads and related artifacts. The permanent collection includes beads from
around the globe including a 15,000 year old bead. Temporary exhibits are also available.

Museums targeted for the youth, such as children's museums or toy museums in many
parts of the world, often exhibit interactive and educational material on a wide array of
topics, for example, the Museum of Toys and Automata in Spain. The National Baseball
Hall of Fame and Museum is an institution of the sports category. The Corning Museum
of Glass is devoted to the art, history, and science of glass. The National Museum of
Crime & Punishment explores the science of solving crimes. The Great American
Dollhouse Museum depicts American social history in miniature.[11] Interpretation centres
are modern museums or visitors centres that often use new means of communication with
the public.

[edit] Virtual museums

A recent development, with the expansion of the web, is the establishment of virtual
museums. Online initiatives like the Virtual Museum of Canada[12] provide physical
museums with a web presence, as well as online curatorial platforms such as Rhizome.[13]

Some virtual museums have no counterpart in the real world, such as LIMAC (Museo de
Arte Contemporáneo de Lima),[14] which has no physical location and might be confused
with the city's own museum. The art historian Griselda Pollock elaborated a virtual
feminist museum, spreading between classical art to contemporary art.[15]

[edit] Zoos and Zoological Gardens

Zoos are considered "living museums"
Main article: Zoo

Although zoos are not often thought of as museums, they are considered "living
museums". They exist for the same purpose as other museums: to educate, inspire action,
study, and preserve a collection. Notable zoos include the Bronx Zoo in New York, the
London Zoo, the San Diego Zoo, Berlin Zoological Garden, the Taronga Zoo in Sydney,
Frankfurt Zoological Garden, Jardin des Plantes in Paris, and Zürich Zoologischer Garten
in Switzerland.

[edit] Controversies

The Guggenheim (New York)

There have been controversies recently regarding artifacts being damaged or being
exposed to high risk of damage whilst on loan. For example, an ancient Egyptian stone
lion on loan from the British Museum was being manually carried down a flight of stairs
(as shown in a BBC Television documentary 2007). The supervisor in charge advised the
people carrying it if it starts to fall, let it drop.[citation needed] The irony is that these artifacts
have been carefully excavated and transported, often thousands of miles, without damage.
Once arriving at a museum the artifact usually does not receive the same level of care and
attention that it received whilst being excavated and transported.[citation needed] Another
example of this is the recent return of a Terracotta Army horse on loan from a museum in
Rome, which showed the item to be damaged on return.[citation needed] As yet, there is no
internationally agreed protocol for a level or standard of care of artifacts on display or on
loan from museums.

Like any institution dedicated to the memorialization of the past, museums play a
substantial role in the construction of ideologies and identities, which is accomplished
through a variety of means, though these typically pertain to the particular ways in which
the past is put on public display.

Museums serve to homogenize our views of the past by the following means:

1. failing to account for matters of historical (or more accurately, historiographical)

dispute; by not providing alternative viewpoints
2. by presenting the past in terms of a coherent, linear, unified narrative
3. by creating complex audio, visual and textual experiences, in which the observer
is overwhelmingly confronted by the massive weight of all the physical evidence:
the photos, the facts, the personal vignettes—after being penetrated in such an
intimate way by a holistic bodily experience, observers are then typically directed
to gift shops, where they are likely encouraged to purchase books which can help
to further reinforce the desired indoctrination of the museum's particular ideology
4. they present a view of history based entirely upon the romanticization of the
achievements of great men, brilliant thinkers, cultural or scientific innovators, war
heroes (and their technologies)

As is self-evident to the seasoned traveler, most national museums around the world
adhere to the same basic structural patterns, whereby the past is divided up into a series
of epochs, beginning with "prehistory," then passing through the ancient and medieval
worlds until finally arriving at the nation's present. This view of the history is plainly
teleological, which is to say that the past is depicted as a series of trends and
developments aiming at the present condition.

The point is often under-emphasized by those who love museums that a sizable
percentage of museum artifacts have been acquired unethically (if ethics are defined in a
Kantian sense at least). The government of Egypt for instance has consistently pressed
the British Museum in London to return the enormous hordes of pharaonic objects
plundered by British (though not exclusively British) archaeologists during Britain's
period of colonial administration in Egypt, which began officially in 1882 (while the end
is just a matter of opinion).

The National Museum of Iraq was created during the British Mandate period through the
efforts of colonial officer and Oriental Secretary of the short-lived British Mandate,
Gertrude Bell.[citation needed]

[edit] Management
Vatican Museums

The museum is usually run by a director, who has a curatorial staff that cares for the
objects and arranges their display. Large museums often will have a research division or
institute, which are frequently involved with studies related to the museum's items, as
well as an education department, in charge of providing interpretation of the materials to
the general public. The director usually reports to a higher body, such as a governmental
department or a board of trustees.

Objects come to the collection through a variety of means. Either the museum itself or an
associated institute may organize expeditions to acquire more items or documentation for
the museum. More typically, however, museums will purchase or trade for artifacts or
receive them as donations or bequests.

Miami Art Museum in Miami, Florida

For instance, a museum featuring Impressionist art may receive a donation of a Cubist
work which simply cannot be fit into the museum's exhibits, but it can be used to help
acquire a painting more central to the museum's focus. However, this process of
acquiring objects outside the museum's purview in order to acquire more desirable
objects is considered unethical by many museum professionals. Larger museums may
have an "Acquisitions Department" whose staff is engaged full time for this purpose.
Most museums have a collections policy to help guide what is and is not included in the
collection.

Museums often cooperate to sponsor joint, often traveling, exhibits on particular subjects
when one museum may not by itself have a collection sufficiently large or important.
These exhibits have limited engagements and often depend upon an additional entry fee
from the public to cover costs.

[edit] Museum planning and exhibition design

São Paulo Museum of Art in São Paulo, Brazil.

The design of museums has evolved throughout history. Interpretive museums, as

opposed to art museums, have missions reflecting curatorial guidance through the subject
matter which now include content in the form of images, audio and visual effects, and
interactive exhibits. Museum creation begins with a museum plan, created through a
museum planning process.

Some of these experiences have very few or no artifacts and do not necessarily call
themselves museums; the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and the National
Constitution Center in Philadelphia, being notable examples where there are few artifacts,
but strong, memorable stories are told or information is interpreted. In contrast, the
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. uses many artifacts in
their memorable exhibitions. Notably, despite their varying styles, the latter two were
designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates.

Most mid-size and large museums employ design staff for graphic and environmental
design projects, including exhibitions. In addition to traditional 2-D and 3-D designers
and architects, these staff departments may include audio-visual specialists, software
designers, audience research and evaluation specialists, writers, editors, and preparators
or art handlers. These staff specialists may also be charged with supervising contract
design or production services.

[edit] Etymology
The English "museum" comes from the Latin word, and is pluralized as "museums" (or
rarely, "musea"). It is originally from the Greek Μουσεῖον (Mouseion), which denotes a
place or temple dedicated to the Muses (the patron divinities in Greek mythology of the
arts), and hence a building set apart for study and the arts,[16] especially the Musaeum
(institute) for philosophy and research at Alexandria by Ptolemy I Soter about 280 BCE.
[17]
The first museum/library is considered to be the one of Plato in Athens.[18] However,
Pausanias gives another place called "Museum", namely a small hill in Classical Athens
opposite the Akropolis. The hill was called Mouseion after Mousaious, a man who used
to sing on the hill and died there of old age and was subsequently buried there as well.[19]

[edit] See also