When we think of a museum we might imagine it is a building full of old objects. But there is a lot more to museums than this. For example, museums need curators to look after these objects, and to research them and share that knowledge with us, the public. Museums are also places where we come to learn about the world in all its diversity, and our own place within it.
Museums have been around for a long time. They started out as private collections of artwork and artifacts. When these collections were opened to the public they became what we would call modern museums. These museums were often housed in beautiful buildings, built specifically for them. The word museum itself was first used in Europe in the 16th century to describe collections such as Ole Worm’s Museum in Copenhagen and John Tradescant’s collection at Lambeth, which later became known as the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
Since then the museum world has been in a state of rapid evolution. The development of the so-called “world cultures” museums is one of the most significant new developments; these are museums that address questions of cultural identity, diversity and social responsibility. Museums have responded to the ongoing climate crisis with new sustainable practices and exhibitions that are addressing the issues of the Anthropocene. And they have been addressing the question of restitution and decolonisation of their artifacts in the wake of a growing number of African countries’ claims to reclaim their cultural heritage from the museums that once held them.
This evolution of museums and their role in society has been accompanied by the gradual development of a theory that is now called museology. This theory explains the role and function of museums. It explains why museums exist and how they should operate, and identifies a range of values that they must have. It also suggests strategies for museum management.
But the process that produced this definition of a museum has been a difficult one. At the last ICOM conference in Kyoto, a majority vote was not possible and so the previous museum definition, created in the 1970s and last amended in 2007, still stands.
The new proposal was the result of a very intensive consultation process, carried out by the ICOM Standing Committee for the Museum Definition, Prospects and Potentials (ICOM Define) with the help of members of the 126 Icom National Committees worldwide. The process was based on four rounds of consultation, each of which involved several steps over 18 months. ICOM Define analysed the results of Consultation 4 and selected two proposals to put forward for a vote at the Advisory Council meeting. This will be held on August 24 at the ICOM Extraordinary General Assembly in Prague. The outcome of the vote will be published in September 2022. In the meantime, all documents related to the museum definition reformulation are available in Icom’s ‘Museum Definition Space’. This space will be updated regularly to allow members to keep track of the progress made on this work.