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 exibits, 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 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
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, archeology, anthropology and ethnology, history, cultural hhistory, 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 Toul 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 reenactement.
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 specialised art museum is considered a fairly modern invention, the first being the Hermitage in St. Petersburg which was established in 1764.
TheLouvre in Paris, France was established in 1793, soon after the French Revolution when the royal treasures were declared for the people. The Cartoryski 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.
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 Oxford University Museum of Natural History in Oxford, the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris.