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The evolution of museums is a fascinating journey that reflects changes in society, culture, and technology. Let's explore it step by step:
1. Early Collecting and Proto-Museums (Ancient to Medieval)
1. Early Collecting and Proto-Museums (Ancient to Medieval)
Treasuries & Temples (c. 2500 BCE – 500 CE): Early civilizations, like the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Greeks, collected valuable objects in temples or royal treasuries. These were not public museums but held religious or symbolic significance.
Wunderkammern (Cabinets of Curiosities) (16th–17th century CE): Wealthy European elites kept collections of rare and exotic objects, showcasing their knowledge and status.
2. Birth of Public Museums (18th–19th Century)
2. Birth of Public Museums (18th–19th Century)
The Enlightenment & National Museums: The rise of rational thought led to the idea of museums as places of education. The British Museum (1753), Louvre (1793), and others opened to the public.
Colonialism & Museums: Many institutions acquired artifacts from around the world, often through colonial expeditions.
3. The Professionalization of Museums (19th–20th Century)
3. The Professionalization of Museums (19th–20th Century)
Curatorial Science & Conservation: Museums became more systematic, with trained curators and conservation techniques.
Specialized Museums: Art museums, natural history museums, and science museums developed distinct focuses.
4. The Digital & Interactive Era (21st Century)
4. The Digital & Interactive Era (21st Century)
Virtual & Augmented Reality: Museums now offer digital tours and immersive experiences.
Decolonization & Ethical Display: There is a growing movement to return artifacts to their countries of origin and present more diverse narratives.
Community-Focused & Experiential Museums: Museums now engage visitors through hands-on activities and storytelling.
- First Museums.
These discoveries and popular interest lead to the evolution of the first large public museums. This in turned fueled the thirst for greater objects to display and pillaging of ancient sites became common place. Because many European countries had colonies they were able to rob the art with no resistance from their subjects. The British museum was first national public museum in the world. It was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the Irish physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane. It first opened to the public on 15 January 1759 on the site of the current building.
Rivalling the British Museum the French opened the Lourve Museum 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, the majority of the works being royal and confiscated church property. The collection was increased under Napoleon and the museum was renamed Musée Napoléon.
People such as Belzoni and Napoleon Bonaparte fulled public interest and thus began a race for collecting and furnishing these Museums at a rapid pace. With no international law governing how these collections were acquired the flow of antiquities from countries ruled by powerful European states was astounding.
How does the evolution of Museums coincide with the beginnings of archaeology?
In what ways have museums preserved but also damaged history?
Original Egyptian Museum in Cairo
How have they transformed the way information is presented in the new museum.
Now look at the new Museum in Qatar.
Describe the presentation style there.
How are they presenting information using technology and design?
Assyrian Artefacts from Iraq
The Assyrian artefacts from Iraq were acquired (stolen?) by the British Museum from Iraq in the mid-19th Century, largely as a result of the archaeological work on Sir Austen Henry Layard. As well as the British Museum, there are Assyrian artefacts spread throughout the world in museums and private collections. The other most significant collection is housed in the Louvre in Paris.
Assyrian collection in the Louvre and British museum
Extract from the British Museum website regarding acquisition of the Assyrian collection:
The collection was dramatically enlarged in the mid-nineteenth century following A.H. Layard’s (1817-94) excavations at the Assyrian sites of Nimrud and Nineveh. At Nimrud, Layard found the state apartments of the North-West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II, as well as three other palaces and various temples.
In the Palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh he opened ‘no less than seventy-one halls, chambers and passages, whose walls, almost without an exception, had been panelled with slabs of sculptured alabaster recording the wars, the triumphs, and the great deeds of the Assyrian king.'
These excavations produced large numbers of stone bas-reliefs, stelae, including the Black obelisk of Shalmaneser III, gigantic gateway figures and an assortment of small finds. Many of the reliefs were removed from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh including the famous Royal Lion Hunt series. Layard and Rassam discovered the remains of the Library of Ashurbanipal, the oldest surviving royal library in the world and perhaps the single most important group of cuneiform tablets ever found.
A winged lion with a human head is carted into the grand portico of the British Museum, something never seen before in London: the arrival of a lamassu, an ancient Assyrian guardian figure more than two thousand years old. Clearly this was a newsworthy event in 1852—for those who could not be there to watch, the News provided an engraving of the arrival of these majestic creatures entering the museum.
Assyrian hall at the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad
But the greatest damage has been done in the last two years. When IS turned up, the skyline of Mosul changed forever with the detonation of shrines, minarets, mosques. And in time they turned their attention to Nineveh, and the winged bull, blasting away its face with a drill.
"Really I find it the most iconic of what ISIS destroyed, is going and boring the eyes of the Bull," says Lamia al-Gailani, a leading Iraqi archaeologist. "We have even a saying gulla abut ainak." An aggressive insult in the Arab world, it means something like, "I'm going to poke your eyes out."
A colossal statue arriving at the British Museum
The legality of the removal of Assyrian artefacts from Iraq is not as controversial as that of the Parthenon marbles. There has been no call from Iraq for their return.
The British Museum has been custodian of many of the Assyrian artefacts for over 150 years allowing them to be documented, studied and conserved. The Assyrian galleries within the British Museum allow the public to enjoy these works. In recent times terrorists have damaged many ancient sites in the Middle East, the British Museum have stated that if they had not housed the ancient art, then they may well have been lost to terrorist vandalism.
Problems of removal of artefacts from the original sites:
The context of the artefact is lost. The significance of a lamassu (a protective deity in the shape of a human-headed winged bull or lion) is much clearer if it can be seen as one of a pair at the entrance of a throne room, rather than on display in a museum.
Both the English and French excavations in the 19th century sought large and impressive items for their collections. Many smaller pieces were abandoned on site to be scavenged by locals and either destroyed or sold on the black market with no reference to the context of the object.
The artefacts are dispersed throughout the world in dozens of museums. It is difficult to make a thorough study of all the artefacts because of their wide dispersal.
The safety of objects depends on the security of the country in which they are held. Objects in Iraqi museums have suffered considerable damage over the past twelve years. Iraq is not the only country to suffer war damage. During World War I portable objects were removed from the British Museum for fear of German bombing. During World War II the entire collection was relocated. Parts of the museum were damaged during air raids.
Should the Assyrian artefacts be returned to Iraq?
Destruction of archaeological sources
What is the fate of artefacts that remained in Iraq and of the ancient Assyrian sites within Iraq? After World War One,, the British took control of Iraq until independence was granted in 1932. A revolution brought an end to the monarchy in 1958 and in 1968 a further revolution brought the Ba’ath Party into power. The Ba’ath Party soon came under the control of Saddam Hussein, whose dictatorship lasted until the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Since then, the government of Iraq has had difficulty maintaining control over the whole country. The most recent, and most serious, challenge to its authority has come with the rise of ISIS which at present controls large parts of northern and western Iraq.
Destruction of Nimrud
Read The Guardian account of the destruction of Nimrud
News report of the destruction of Nimrud
Read the Aljazeera report on the reopening of the Iraq National Museum.
Taking into account the problems in Iraq over the last 20 years, answer the following question again:
Should the Assyrian artefacts be returned to Iraq?
Looting of Bagdad museum during the US invasion.
Explain the way antiquities were taken from the Bagdad Museum and trace their journey to antique shops in New York.
What does this show about the economic value of historical objects?
ACTIVITY> Research Black market trade online.
You task.
Make a google slide document.
Make a slide for each of the following and include the link for the site you found it.
The most expensive ancient object you can find.
A cylinder seal
One that you think is stolen, no province!
Find one that had clear province. Copy the history that they provide and a photo of the object.
The cheapest ancient artifact you can find.
An artifact that you think is worth buying for less than $100
Google Sites
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