A museum is typically a "permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study, education, enjoyment, the tangible and intangible evidence of people and their environment." This definition is taken from the International Council of Museums (ICOM) Statutes.

Museum Definitions

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The Museums Association definition (adopted 1998) is:

A previous Museums Association definition was:

"A museum is an institution which collects, documents, preserves, exhibits and interprets material evidence and associated information for the public benefit."

Etymology

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The word "museum" comes from the Latin museum, plural musea, which is in turn derived from the Greek mouseion, which refers to 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, especially the institute for philosophy and research at the Library established at Alexandria by Ptolemy I Soter c280 B.C.

Overview

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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. Large museums are located in major cities throughout the world and more local ones exist in small cities. Most 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 perfomances, 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 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 galleries which engage in the sale of objects. There are governmental museums, non-governmental or non-profit museums, and privately-owned or family museums.

It is said that there are more museums per person in Finland than in any other country in the world.^*

Types of museums

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Modern museums generally concentrate on a particular subject, and most museums belong to one or more of the following categories: fine arts, applied arts, craft, archaeology, anthropology and ethnology, history, cultural history, military history, science, technology, children's museums, natural history, numismatics, 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.

History museums

History museums have concern over the knowledge of history and its relevance to the present and future. The museums tend to cover specialized aspects of history at the local or state level; some are more general. Such museums contain a wide range of historical objects, including ancient artifacts, antique belongings, and rare models. Antiquities museums specializes in more archaeological findings.

A common type of history museum is a historic house. A historic house can be a stately home, the birthplace 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 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.

Art museums

An art museum, also known as an art gallery, is a space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art, and usually primarily paintings, illustrations, and sculpture. It is also sometimes used as a location for the sale of art.

The first museum in Europe was The British Museum in London, which was founded in 1753 and opened free to the public in 1759. It was a 'universal museum' with art, history, and science collections, and a library. The science collections, library, portraits, paintings and modern sculpture have since been found separate homes, leaving history, drawings, and prints.

The Louvre in Paris, France was established in 1793, soon after the French Revolution when the royal treasures were declared for the people. The Czartoryski Museum in Kraków was established in 1796 by Princess Izabela Czartoryska. 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.

Science museums

Science museums and technology centers revolve around scientific 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, 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.

Natural history museums

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 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, and the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta.

Open-air museums

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. In 1891 Arthur Hazelius founded the famous Skansen in Stockholm, 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. A more recent but related idea is realized in the ecomuseums, which originated in France.

Other museums

A number of different museums exist to demonstrate a variety of topics. Music museums may celebrate the life and work of composers or musicians. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio is a good example. A recent development with the expansion of the web, is the establishment of virtual museums, typically with no counterpart in the real world. Museums targeted for the youth, such as the Miami Children's Museum, often exhibit interactive and educational material on a wide array of topics. The Baseball Hall of Fame museum is an institution of the sports category. Interpretation centres are modern museums or visitors centres that often uses new means of communication with the public.

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.

Management

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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.

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 fulltime in this kind of activity. 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.

History

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Early museums began as princely collections of art and rare or curious natural objects and artifacts. These were often displayed in so-called wonder rooms or cabinets of curiosities.

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

• the Museo Sacro, the first museum in the Vatican Museums complex, was opened in Rome in 1756
• the British Museum in London, was founded in 1753 and opened to the public in 1759
• the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, which had been open to visitors on request since the 16th century, was officially opened to the public 1765
• the Belvedere Palace of the Habsburg monarchs in Vienna opened with an outstanding collection of art in 1781

These "public" museums, however, were generally inaccessible to all but the aristocracy. It was extremely 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. Visitors in small groups were limited to stays of two hours.

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. His plan was never fully realized, but his concept of a museum as an agent of nationalistic fervor had a profound influence throughout Europe.

Architecture

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The architecture of museums has evolved throughout history. Notable international museum designers include Ralph Appelbaum and Edwin Schlossberg.

Further reading

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• Tony Bennett, The Birth of the Museum: History, Theory, Politics, Routledge, 1995.

See also

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• List of museums
• List of notable museums and galleries
• List of transport museums
• Art museum
• Art gallery
• Muse

External links

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• Museum News
• Virtual Library museums pages (VLmp)
• International Council of Museums (ICOM)
• The .museum top-level domain (Dot-museum)
• MOLLI (Museum On-Line Learning Initiatives)
• Great Museums in the World

• Museums in Argentina
• Museums in China
• Museums in Greece
• Museums in Turkey
• UK Museum Guide
• US Historical Museums Guide
• American Association of Museums
• Art Museum Partnership
• A short history of Museums

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