A museum is an institution that holds and cares for collections of objects and documents that have been accumulated over time. It is an educational and cultural center that offers experiences to visitors in order to promote understanding of the history of humanity and the environment, and encourages dialogue and mutual respect between cultures. It is also a place where people can discover their personal connections to the heritage they are experiencing.
Many of us have visited museums as children on school field trips or with family members. These visits often shape how we feel about museums later in life. However, we can always change our views about museums if we are open-minded and approach them with the right attitude.
If you are a lover of art, history, or culture, visiting museums is one of the best ways to immerse yourself in these fields and learn something new every time. In addition to learning about different eras in history, you can also experience the creativity of some of the most important artists and designers throughout time.
While museums are not for everyone, they can be a great way to expand your horizons and find inspiration. They are places where you can discover a little bit of yourself in each object, from the art that makes your heart sing to the historical events that have touched you in some way. Museums can also teach you about other cultures and help you appreciate the beauty of the world around you.
In the past, museums tended to be filled floor to ceiling with artifacts and documents, stacked up in drawers and in cabinets. However, these museums often lacked proper context and were completely devoid of labels. While some of these objects are still very interesting, they are often not as meaningful as if you had read about them in a book or learned about them from a museum guide.
Moreover, the old definition of a museum allowed museums to acquire artifacts with dubious provenance or ignore indigenous knowledge about their pieces. It also encouraged them to view objects from non-western cultures through a Western lens. The new ICOM definition addresses these issues by stressing that museums are not collectors but social institutions that collect, conserve, research, preserve, transfer, communicate and exhibit in collaborations based on equality.
In recent years, some museums have been able to turn their facilities into sources of economic development and rejuvenation in their cities. For example, the Guggenheim Bilbao was built in an effort to revitalize a former port area of Bilbao. However, it is important to note that this kind of role for a museum should not be the only reason for a city to build a museum.
As I mentioned, the definition of a museum has been hard-fought. The old definition was created in the 1970s, and there were no major changes until 2019. The last conference of Icom did not reach a consensus on the new definition, which was proposed to address the responsibilities, commitments, challenges and visions that museums face today.