Museum

The Japanese Shōsō-in in Nara is the oldest museum building in Japan.

A museum is a building^[1] which is open to the public.^[2] It is also the institution where things are collected and then shown to people.^[3]

History

The word, museum, originates from Musa which is the goddesses of literature, art, and science who appears in Greek mythology.

According to the International Council of Museums (ICOM), the definition of museums has changed over time.^[2]

The oldest museum structure in the world is the Shōsō-in in Nara, Japan.^[4]

Today's museums are non-profit, permanent institutions in the service of society and its development.^[2]

Function

A museum acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible heritage^[5] and the intangible heritage^[6] of humanity and the environment.^[2]

Museums exist for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment.^[2]

Some museums have things that visitors can do. For example, ecomuseums exist.

Museums can be about different things such as art, national history, natural history, or science. People go to museums sometimes to learn, or to simply have fun.

Museums with live animals are called zoos.

Exhibitions

Temporary or changing exhibits

Exhibition which selects works along with some themes, e.g., a writer, a time, an area, etc.

Permanent exhibits

Exhibition which displays the works which the museum possesses.

Gallery

Art museums

The Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia
Morohashi Museum of Modern Art in Fukushima

History museums

The Tōhoku History Museum in Miyagi

Literature museums

Koriyama Museum of Literature in Fukushima is the former home of Masao Kume

Natural history museums

The American Museum of Natural History in New York

Open air museums

New Lanark is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in South Lanarkshire, Scotland
Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine is a World Heritage Site in Shimane Prefecture, Japan

Science museums

Mushitec in Fukushima is about insects

Museum ships

Cutty Sark in London, England
Nippon Maru in Yokohama harbor
National Museum, Szczecin, Poland

Museum Media

Visitors examining fossils displayed at the National Museum of Iran in Tehran, Iran
A guided tour group at the Soumaya Museum in Mexico City, Mexico
The old Ashmolean Museum building in Oxford, England
Photographic print from Reunion des Tuileries au Louvre. 1852 - 1857. Recueil de Photographies publie par order...Achille Fould...[Vol. 1]
The Nantong Museum, the first Chinese-sponsored museum
An exhibition of the remains of Native Americans at the Royal Ontario Museum in 1908
An honours board listing the directors of a museum in Auckland, New Zealand
A curator and exhibit designer dressing a mannequin for an exhibit
Restoration of a gilded mirror by a conservator
See wikistrategies.net/computer-history-planning

Related pages

References

↑ Alexander, Edward Porter et al. (2008). Museums in Motion: an Introduction to the History and Functions of Museums, p. 2; excerpt, "Douglas Alan, former director of the Royal Scottish Museum in Edinburgh, said that 'a museum in its simplest form consists of a building to house collections of objects for inspection, study and enjoyment."
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 International Council of Museums (ICOM), "Museum Definition" Archived 2015-03-02 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 2012-6-26.
↑ Alexander, p. 2; excerpt, "The American Association of Museums ... defines 'a museum as an organized and permanent non-profit institution ... which organizes or utilizes tangible objects, cares for them, and exhibits them to the public on some regular schedule."
↑ Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Museums" in Japan Encyclopedia, pp. 671-672.
↑ Miyagi Prefecture, 文化財財案内 (Cultural heritage guide); excerpt, tangible objects include "arts and crafts, ... historical documents, textiles, swords, sculpture, paintings, houses, temples and shrines" Archived 2012-04-21 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 2012-6-27.
↑ Miyagi, 文化財財案内; excerpt, "intangible cultural heritage is 'human technology', such as the process of traditional Japanese sword training, traditional Japanese dyeing and weaving, traditional Japanese theater like Kabuki and Noh" Archived 2012-04-21 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 2012-6-27.

Other websites

International Council of Museums website
Virtual Library Musems website Archived 2012-12-12 at the Wayback Machine
Museum at the Open Directory Project

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[1] Alexander, Edward Porter et al. (2008). Museums in Motion: an Introduction to the History and Functions of Museums, p. 2; excerpt, "Douglas Alan, former director of the Royal Scottish Museum in Edinburgh, said that 'a museum in its simplest form consists of a building to house collections of objects for inspection, study and enjoyment."

[icom-2] 2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 International Council of Museums (ICOM), "Museum Definition" Archived 2015-03-02 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 2012-6-26.

[3] Alexander, p. 2; excerpt, "The American Association of Museums ... defines 'a museum as an organized and permanent non-profit institution ... which organizes or utilizes tangible objects, cares for them, and exhibits them to the public on some regular schedule."

[nussbaum671-4] Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Museums" in Japan Encyclopedia, pp. 671-672.

[5] Miyagi Prefecture, 文化財財案内 (Cultural heritage guide); excerpt, tangible objects include "arts and crafts, ... historical documents, textiles, swords, sculpture, paintings, houses, temples and shrines" Archived 2012-04-21 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 2012-6-27.

[6] Miyagi, 文化財財案内; excerpt, "intangible cultural heritage is 'human technology', such as the process of traditional Japanese sword training, traditional Japanese dyeing and weaving, traditional Japanese theater like Kabuki and Noh" Archived 2012-04-21 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 2012-6-27.

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