Museum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Museum (disambiguation).

The Louvre Museum in Paris, one of the largest and most famous museums in the world

The British Museum in London

The Uffizi Gallery, the most visited museum inItaly and one of most important in the world. View toward the Palazzo Vecchio, in Florence

A museum is an institution that cares for (conserves) a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing

through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary.[1] Most large museums are located in major cities throughout the world and more local ones exist in smaller cities, towns and even the countryside. The continuing acceleration in thedigitization of information, combined with the increasing capacity of digital information storage, is causing the traditional model of museums (i.e. as static collections of collections of three-dimensional specimens and artifacts) to expand to include virtual exhibits and high-resolution images of their collections for perusal, study, and exploration from any place with Internet.

Etymology

The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg

The English "museum" comes from the Latin word, and is pluralized as "museums" (or rarely, "musea"). It is originally from the Greek (Mouseion), which denotes a place or temple dedicated to the Muses (the patron divinities in Greek mythology of the arts), and hence a building set apart for study [2] and the arts, especially the Musum(institute) for philosophy and research at Alexandria by Ptolemy I [3] Soter about 280 BCE. The first museum/library is considered to be the one [4] of Plato in Athens. However, Pausanias gives another place called "Museum," namely a small hill in Classical Athens opposite the Akropolis. The hill was called Mouseion after Mousaious, a man who used [5] to sing on the hill and died there of old age and was subsequently buried there as well. [edit]Purpose

Hampton Court Palace, the great gatehouse.

Museum purposes change from institution to institution. Some favor education over conservation, or vice versa. For example, in the 1970s, the Canada Science and Technology Museum favored education over preservation of their objects. They displayed objects as well as their functions. One exhibit featured a [6] historic printing press that a staff member used for visitors to create museum memorabilia. Some seek to reach a wide audience, such as a national or state museum, while some museums have specific audiences, like the LDS Church History Museum or local history organizations. Generally speaking, museums collect objects of significance that comply with their mission statement for conservation and display. 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. In 2009, Hampton Court Palace, palace of Henry VIII, opened the council room to the general public to create an interactive environment for visitors. Rather than allowing visitors to handle 500 year old objects, the museum created replicas, as well as replica costumes. The daily activities, historic clothing, and even temperature changes immerse [7] the visitor in a slice of what Tudor life may have been.

History
The museums of ancient times, such as the Musum of Alexandria, would be equivalent to a modern graduate institute.

The State Historical Museum in Moscow

Museo Nacional de Antropologa in Mexico City

Early museums began as the private collections of wealthy individuals, families or institutions of art and rare or curious natural objects and artifacts. These were often displayed in so-called wonder rooms or cabinets of curiosities. Public access was often possible for the "respectable", especially to private art collections, but at the whim of the owner and his staff. The oldest such museum in evidence was Ennigaldi-Nanna's museum, dating from c. 530 BC and devoted to Mesopotamian antiquities; it apparently had sufficient traffic as to warrant labels for the ordered collection, although there is no source for this information. The oldest public museums in the world opened in Rome during the Renaissance. However, many significant museums in the world were not founded until the 18th century and the Age of Enlightenment: the Capitoline Museums, the oldest public collection of art in the world, began in 1471 when Pope Sixtus IV donated a group of important ancient sculptures to the people of Rome. the Vatican Museums, the second oldest museum in the world, traces its origins to the public displayed sculptural collection begun in 1506 by Pope Julius II the Amerbach Cabinet, originally a private collection, was bought by the university and city of Basel in 1661 and opened to the public in 1671. the Royal Armouries in the Tower of London is the oldest museum in the United Kingdom. It opened to the public in 1660, though there had been paying privileged visitors to the armouries displays from [8] 1592. Today the museum has three sites including its new headquarters in Leeds. the Muse des Beaux-Arts et d'archologie in Besanon was established in 1694 after Jean-Baptiste Boisot, an abbot, gave his personal collection to the Benedictines of the city in order to create a [9] museum open to the public two days every week. the Kunstkamera in St. Petersburg was founded in 1717 in Kikin Hall and officially opened to the public in 1727 in the Old St. Petersburg Academy of Science Building the British Museum in London, was founded in 1753 and opened to the public in 1759. Sir Hans Sloane's personal collection of curios provided the initial foundation for the British Museum's [10] collection. the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, which had been open to visitors on request since the 16th century, was [citation needed] officially opened to the public 1765
[10]

the Hermitage Museum was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been open to the public since 1852. the Belvedere Palace of the Habsburg monarchs in Vienna opened with a collection of art in [citation needed] 1781 the Louvre Museum in Paris (France), also royal palace, pas opened to the public in 1793

The Orthodox Church, later an Ottoman mosque, and now a museum, Hagia Sophia was once the pride of theByzantine Empire. Historically located in Constantinople, is now modern day Istanbul, Turkey

The Charleston Museum was established in 1773 thereby making it the first American museum. It did [11] not open to the public until 1824. The Constitution house of Isfahan; in Isfahan; Iran is a house that belonged toHaj Aqa Nourollah (one of the big political leaders in the constitution era of Iranand Isfahan). There is a lot of information about the constitution era of Iran and a lot more information about Haj Aqa Nourollah's social and caltural activities. The museum is open to the public every day.

The Constitution house of Isfahan in Isfahan

These "public" museums, however, were often accessible only by the middle and upper classes. It could

be difficult to gain entrance. In London for example, prospective visitors to the British Museum had to apply in writing for admission. Even by 1800 it was possible to have to wait two weeks for an admission [citation needed] [citation needed] ticket. Visitors in small groups were limited to stays of two hours. In Victorian times in England it became popular for museums to be open on a Sunday afternoon (the only such facility [citation allowed to do so) to enable the opportunity for "self-improvement" of the other - working - classes. needed] The Ashmolean museum, however, founded in 1677 from the personal collection of Elias Ashmole, was set up in the University of Oxford to be open to the public and is considered by some to be the first [12] modern public museum. In France, the first public museum was the Louvre Museum in Paris, opened in 1793 during the French Revolution, which enabled for the first time free access to the former French royal collections for people of all stations and status. The fabulous art treasures collected by the French monarchy over centuries were accessible to the public three days each "dcade" (the 10-day unit which had replaced the week in the French Republican Calendar). The Conservatoire du musum national des Arts (National Museum of Arts's Conservatory) was charged with organizing the Louvre as a national public museum and the centerpiece of a planned national museum system. As Napolon I conquered the great cities of Europe, confiscating art objects as he went, the collections grew and the organizational task became more and more complicated. After Napoleon was defeated in 1815, many of the treasures he had amassed were gradually returned to their owners (and many were not). His plan was never fully realized, but his concept of a museum as an agent of nationalistic fervor had a profound influence throughout Europe. American museums eventually joined European museums as the world's leading centers for the production of new knowledge in their fields of interest. A period of intense museum building, in both an intellectual and physical sense was realized in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (this is often called "The Museum Period" or "The Museum Age"). While many American museums, both Natural History museums and Art museums alike, were founded with the intention of focusing on the scientific discoveries and artistic developments in North America, many moved to emulate their European counterparts in certain ways (including the development of Classical collections from ancient Egypt, Greece, Mesopotamia and Rome). Drawing on Michel Foucaults concept of liberal government, Tony Bennett has suggested the development of more modern 19th century museums was part of new strategies by Western governments to produce a citizenry that, rather than be directed by coercive or external forces, monitored and regulated its own conduct. To incorporate the masses in this strategy, the private space of museums that previously had been restricted and socially exclusive were made public. As such, objects and artifacts, particularly those related to high culture, became instruments for these new tasks of social [13] management. Universities became the primary centers for innovative research in the United States well before the start of theSecond World War. Nevertheless, museums to this day contribute new knowledge to their fields and continue to build collections that are useful for both research and display.
[citation needed]

[edit]Management

Vatican Museums

The roles associated with the management a museum largely depends on the size of the institution, but every museum has a hierarchy of governance with a Board of Trustees serving at the top. The Director is next in command and works with the Board to establish and fulfill the museums mission statement and to [14] ensure that the museum is accountable to the public. Together, the Board and the Director establish a good system of governance that is guided by various other documents such as an institutional or strategic plan, institutional code of ethics, bylaws, and collections policy. The American Association of Museums (AAM) has also formulated a series of standards and best practices that help guide the management of museums. Unfortunately, many small, local museums lack this guidance since [15] accreditation with AAM requires a museum to operate on an annual budget of at least $25,000. A change in leadership may ultimately effect changes at the museum, as new directors commonly have new ideas for the institution they work for. While change and growth is often good for a museum, they should not reach outside the original mission statement of the institution.

Miami Art Museum in Miami, Florida

According to museum professionals Hugh H. Genoways and Lynne M. Ireland, Administration of the organization requires skill in conflict management, interpersonal relations, budget management and monitoring, and staff supervision and evaluation. Managers must also set legal and ethical standards and [16] maintain involvement in the museum profession.

Various positions within the museum carry out the policies established by the Board and the Director. These positions include but are not limited to curators, collections managers/registrars, public programmers/educators, exhibition designers, and building operators. These positions and all other employees should work together toward the museums institutional goal. Curator research the collection and most often write the text labels for exhibitions. In larger institutions, there may be a curator assigned to each collection of objects the museum holds. Ex: Curator of Modern Art, Curator of Natural History, Curator of History, etc. Collections Management/Registrar responsible for the care and maintenance of all objects in the museums collection, tracks movement of objects in and out of the museum on loan or on exhibition, records information about objects in databases-such as an object's provenance. Registrars oversee the accessioning process, which formally accepts objects into the museum's collection with an accession number and detailed record. Collections Managers and Registrars uphold the Collections Policy, which guides what is and is not accepted into the museum collection. Public Programmer/Educator creates programs for the public and designs interactives for exhibitions. This position also oversees volunteers and docents at the museum. Depending on the institution, educators may also research the collections and write text for exhibitions. Educators work with the Board, Director, and Curator to ensure that the needs of the public are met as laid out in the institutions mission statement. Exhibition Designer designs and installs the exhibition under the supervision of the curator and collections manager. They have the vital role of creating exhibition space that is navigable by the visitor. Building Operators oversee security and maintenance of the museum. In larger museums, building operators will work with Collections Managers to maintain appropriate levels of temperature and [17] humidity which can affect the stability of the objects.

[edit]Museum

planning

So Paulo Museum of Art in So Paulo, Brazil.

See also: Museum planning and Interpretive planning The design of museums has evolved throughout history. Interpretive museums, as opposed to art museums, have missions reflecting curatorial guidance through the subject matter which now include content in the form of images, audio and visual effects, and interactive exhibits. Museum creation begins with a museum plan, created through a museum planning process. The process involves identifying the museum's vision and the resources, organization and experiences needed to realize this vision. A feasibility study, analysis of comparable facilities and an interpretive plan are all developed as part of the museum planning process. Some museum experiences have very few or no artifacts and do not necessarily call themselves museums; the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, being notable examples where there are few artifacts, but strong, memorable stories are told or information is interpreted. In contrast, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. uses many artifacts in their memorable exhibitions. Notably, despite their varying styles, the latter two were designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates. [edit]Exhibition

design

Main article: Exhibit design Most mid-size and large museums employ exhibit design staff for graphic and environmental design projects, including exhibitions. In addition to traditional 2-D and 3-D designers and architects, these staff departments may include audio-visual specialists, software designers, audience research and evaluation specialists, writers, editors, and preparators or art handlers. These staff specialists may also be charged with supervising contract design or production services. The exhibit design process builds on the interpretive plan for an exhibit, determining the most effective, engaging and appropriate methods of communicating a message or telling a story. The process will often mirror the architectural process or schedule, moving from conceptual plan, through schematic design, design development, contract document, fabrication and installation. Museums of all sizes may also contract the outside services of exhibit fabrication businesses. Predator Exhibits, located in Ontario, Canada, is one such business. Exhibition design has as multitude of strategies, theories, and methods but two that embody much of the theory and dialogue surrounding exhibition design are the metonymy technique and the use of authentic artifacts to provide the historical narrative. Metonymy, or "the substitution of the name of an attribute or [18] adjunct for that of the thing meant," is a technique used by many museums but few as heavily and as influentially as Holocaust museums. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C., for example, employs this technique in its shoe exhibition. Simply a pile of decaying leather shoes piled against a bare, gray concrete wall the exhibit relies heavily on the emotional, sensory response the viewer will naturally through this use metonymic technique. This exhibition design intentionally signifies metonymically the nameless and victims themselves. This metaphysical link to the victims through the deteriorating and aged shoes stands as a surviving vestige of the individual victim. This technique, employed properly, can be a very powerful one as it plays off the real life experiences of the viewer while evoking the equally unique memory of the victim. Metonymy, however, Jennifer Hansen-Glucklich argues, is not without its own problems. Hansen-Glucklich explains, "...when victims possessions are collected according to type and displayed en masse they stand metonymically for the victims themselves ... Such a use of metonymy contributes to the dehumanization of the victims as they are reduced to a heap of

indistinguishable objects and their individuality subsumed by an aesthetic of anonymity and [19] excess." While a powerful technique Hansen-Glucklick points out that when used en masse the metonym suffers as the memory and suffering of the individual is lost in the chorus of the whole. While at times juxtaposed, the alternative technique of the use of authentic objects is seen the same exhibit mentioned above. The use of authentic artifacts is employed by most, if not all, museums but the degree to which and the intention can vary greatly. The basic idea behind exhibiting authentic artifacts is to provide not only legitimacy to the exhibit's historical narrative but, at times, to help create the narrative as well. The theory behind this technique is to exhibit artifacts in a neutral manner to orchestrate and narrate the historic narrative through, ideally, the provenance of the artifacts themselves. While albeit necessary to most some degree in any museum repertoire, the use of authentic artifacts can not only be misleading but as equally problematic as the aforementioned metonymic technique. Hansen-Glucklick explains, "The danger of such a strategy lies in the fact that by claiming to offer the remnants of the past to the spectator, the museum creates the illusion of standing before a complete picture. The suggestion is that if enough details and fragments are collected and displayed, a coherent and total truth concerning the past will emerge, visible and comprehensible. The museum attempts, in other words, to archive the [19] unachievable." While any exhibit benefits from the legitimacy given by authentic objects or artifacts the temptation must be protected against in order to avoid relying solely on the artifacts themselves. A well designed exhibition should employ objects and artifacts as a foundation to the narrative but not as a crutch; a lesson any conscientious curator would be well to keep in mind. [edit]Types

The Martin Gusinde Anthropological Museum, located in the Navarino Island, is the southernmost museum in the world and preserves artefacts of the Yaghan people.

Types of museums vary, from large institutions, covering many of the categories below, to very small institutions focusing on a specific subject, location, or a notable person. Categories include: fine arts, applied arts, craft, archaeology, anthropology and ethnology,history, cultural history, science, technology, children's museums, natural history, botanicaland zoological gardens. Within these categories many museums specialize further, e.g. museums of modern art, folk art, local history, military history, aviation history, philately,agriculture or geology. Another type of museum is an encyclopedic museum. Commonly referred to as a universal museum, encyclopedic museums have collections representative of the world and typically include art, science, history, and cultural history. The type and size of a museum is reflected in its collection. A museum normally houses a core collection of important selected objects in its field.

Gold Museum, Bogot Colombia.

[edit]Archaeology

museums

Archaeology museums specialize in the display of archaeological artifacts. Many are in the open air, such as the Agora of Athens and the Roman Forum. Others display artifacts found in archaeological sites inside buildings. Some, such as the Western Australian Museum, exhibit maritime archaeological materials. These appear in its Shipwreck Galleries, a wing of the Maritime Museum. This Museum has also developed a 'museum-without-walls' through a series of underwater wreck trails. [edit]Art

museums

Main article: Art museum

Museum of Modern Art, New York

An art museum, also known as an art gallery, is a space for the exhibition of art, usually in the form of art objects from the visual arts, primarily paintings, illustrations, and sculpture. Collections of drawings and old master prints are often not displayed on the walls, but kept in a print room. There may be collections of applied art, including ceramics, metalwork, furniture, artist's books and other types of object. Video art is often screened. The first publicly owned museum in Europe was the Amerbach-Cabinet in Basel, originally a private [20] collection sold to the city in 1661 and public since 1671 (now Kunstmuseum Basel). The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford opened on 24 May 1683 as the world's first university art museum. Its first building was built in 16781683 to house the cabinet of curiosities Elias Ashmole gave Oxford University in 1677. The Uffizi Gallery in Florence was initially conceived as a palace for the offices of Florentian magistrates (hence the name), it later evolved into a display place for many of the paintings and sculpture collected by theMedici family or commissioned by them. After the house of Medici was extinguished, the art treasures remained in Florence, forming one of the first modern museums. The gallery had been open to visitors by request since the sixteenth century, and in 1765 it was officially opened to the public. Another early public [10] museum was the British Museum in London, which opened to the public in 1759. It was a "universal museum" with very varied collections covering art, applied art, archaeology, anthropology, history, and science, and a library. The science collections, library, paintings and modern sculpture have since been found separate homes, leaving history, archaeology, non-European and pre-Renaissance art, and prints [citation needed] and drawings. The specialised art museum is considered a fairly modern invention, the first being the Hermitage in Saint [citation needed] Petersburg which was established in 1764. The Louvre in Paris was established in 1793, soon after the French Revolution when the royal treasures [21] were declared for the people. The Czartoryski Museum in Krakw was established in 1796 by Princess [22] 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. [edit]Encyclopedic

museums

Encyclopedic museums are large, mostly national, institutions that offer visitors a plethora of information on a variety of subjects that tell both local and global stories. "With 3% of the world's population, or nearly 200 million people, live outside the country of their birth, encyclopedic museums play an especially [23] important role in the building of civil society. They encourage curiosity about the world." James Cuno, President and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, along with Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, are two of the most outspoken museum professionals who support encyclopedic museums. Encyclopedic museums have advantages; however, some scholars and archaeologists argue against encyclopedic [24] museums because they remove cultural objects from their original cultural setting, losing their context. [edit]Historic

house museums

Main article: Historic house museum Within the category of history museums historic house museums are the most numerous. The earliest projects for preserving historic homes began in the 1850s under the direction of individuals concerned with the public good and the preservation of American history, especially centered on the first president. Since the establishment of Americas first historic site at Washingtons Revolutionary headquarters at Hasbrouck House in New York State, Americans have found a penchant for preserving similar historical structures. The establishment of historic house museums increased in popularity through the 1970s and 1980s as the Revolutionary bicentennial set off a wave of patriotism and alerted Americans to the destruction of their physical heritage. The tradition of restoring homes of the past and designating them as museums draws on the English custom of preserving ancient buildings and monuments. Initially homes were considered worthy of saving because of their associations with important individuals, usually of the elite classes, like former presidents, authors, or businessmen. Increasingly, Americans have fought to preserve structures characteristic of a more typical American past that represents the lives of everyday [25] people including minorities. While historic house museums compose the largest section within the historic museum category they usually operate with small staffs and on limited budgets. Many are run entirely by volunteers and often do not meet the professional standards established by the museum industry. An independent survey conducted by Peggy Coats in 1990 revealed that sixty-five percent of historic house museums did not have a full-time staff and 19 to 27 percent of historic homes employed only one full-time employee. Furthermore, the majority of these museums operated on less than $50,000 annually. The survey also revealed a significant disparity in the amount of visitors between local house museums and national sites. While museums like Mount Vernon and Colonial Williamsburg were visited by over one million tourists a [26] year, more than fifty percent of historic house museums received less than 5,000 visitors per year. These museums are also unique in that the actual structure belongs to the museum collection as a historical object. While some historic home museums are fortunate to possess a collection containing many of the original furnishings once present in the home, many face the challenge of displaying a collection consistent with the historical structure. Some museums choose to collect pieces original to the period while not original to the house. Others, fill the home with replicas of the original pieces reconstructed with the help of historic records. Still other museums adopt a more aesthetic approach and

use the homes to display the architecture and artistic objects. Because historic homes have often existed through different generations and have been passed on from one family to another, volunteers and professionals also must decide which historical narrative to tell their visitors. Some museums grapple with this issue by displaying different eras in the homes history within different rooms or sections of the structure. Others choose one particular narrative, usually the one deemed most historically significant, and restore the home to that particular period. [edit]History

[27]

museums

Museum of the Filipino People, Manila, Philippines.

History museums cover the knowledge of history and its relevance to the present and future. Some cover specialized curatorial aspects of history or a particular locality; others are more general. Such museums contain a wide range of objects, including documents, artifacts of all kinds, art, archaeological objects. Antiquities museumsspecialize in more archaeological findings. A common type of history museum is a historic house. A historic house may be a building of special architectural interest, the birthplace or home 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 Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum orRobben 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, and language. It is similar to historical reenactment. See also: Medical History Museum (disambiguation)
[disambiguation needed]

[edit]Living

history museums

Main article: Living museum Living history museums recreate historical settings to simulate past time periods, providing visitors with an [28] experiential interpretation of history. These museums feature reconstructions of particular time periods and/or locations and are staffed by historical site interpreters who often reflect the time period. To reflect the time period, interpreters use costumes, period speech, and character impersonations while performing daily tasks and crafts of the period. These museums have found particular popularity in the [29] United States and Canada.

The beginnings of the living history museum can be traced back to 1873 with the opening of the Skansen Museum near Stockholm, Sweden. The museums founder, Arthur Hazelius, began the museum by using [30] his personal collection of buildings and other cultural materials of pre-industrial society. This museum began as an open air museum and, by 1891, had several farm buildings in which visitors could see [29] exhibits and where guides demonstrated crafts and tools. For years, living history museums were relatively nonexistent outside of Scandinavia, though some [29] military garrisons in North America used some living history techniques. However, the growth of new social history beginning in the 1960s and 1970s and excitement over the United States Bicentennial in 1976 gave living history displays new credibility and use. Since this time, living history museums have become more widespread. Some of these first museums that are now well known in the United States are Colonial Williamsburg,Plimoth Plantation, Connor Prairie Pioneer Settlement, and Old Sturbridge Village. Many living history farms and similar farm and agricultural museums have united under an [30] association known as the Association for Living History, Farm, and Agricultural Museums (ALHFAM). The relative authenticity of living history farms varies significantly. At its best, they most accurately reflect the past appropriate to the time period while at their worst they may portray gross inaccuracies in an attempt to portray a certain idealized image. One such example is Wichitas Old Cowtown Museum, which in its small, rural representation of Wichita resembles Western movies and Wild West myths more than the bustling urban city that Wichita quickly became. This living history narrative developed because of the availability of small historical buildings and inaccurate replicas, prodding from the city, and the influence [31] of Hollywood. Museum professionals must grapple with these issues of conflicting audience and institutional needs which impact the overall structure of living history. Living history museums have also been criticized for their ability to teach, particularly from those that believe living history is antiquarian, [30] idyllic, or downright misleading. In response to this question, the Association for Living History, Farm, and Agricultural Museums (ALHFAM) has stated that they distinguish between an unchanging past and an interpretation of a constantly changing past. It additionally was affirmed by the ALHFAM that they also support Dr. Scott Magelssens idea that living history museums produce history as others do, such as [30] teachers in classrooms, authors in monographs, and even directors in film. For a more comprehensive list, see List of open-air and living history museums in the United States. [edit]Maritime

museums

Main article: Maritime museum Maritime museums are museums that specialize in the presentation of maritime history, culture or archaeology. They explore the relationship between societies and certain bodies of water. Just as there is a wide variety of museum types, there are also many different types of maritime museums. First, as metioned above, maritime museums can be primarily archaeological. These museums focus on the interpretation and preservation of shipwrecks and other artifacts recovered from a maritime setting. A second type is the maritime history museum, dedicated to educating the public about humanity's maritime past. Examples are the San Francisco Maritime Museum and Mystic Seaport. Military-focused maritime museums are a third variety, of which the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum is an example. [edit]Military

and war museums

See also category: Military and war museums

The Canadian War Museum

Military museums specialize in military histories; they are often organized from a national point of view, where a museum in a particular country will have displays organized around conflicts in which that country has taken part. They typically include displays of weaponsand other military equipment, uniforms, wartime propaganda and exhibits on civilian life during wartime, and decorations, among others. A military museum may be dedicated to a particular or area, such as the Imperial War Museum Duxford for military aircraft, Deutsches Panzermuseum for tanks or the International Spy Museum for espionage, The National World War I Museum for World War I or more generalist, such as the Canadian War Museum or the Muse de l'Arme. [edit]Mobile

museums

Mobile museum is a term applied to museums that make exhibitions from a vehicle, such as a van. Some institutions, such as St. Vital Historical Society and the Walker Art Center, use the term to refer to a portion of their collection that travels to sites away from the museum for educational purposes. Other mobile museums have no "home site", and use travel as their exclusive means of presentation. [edit]Natural

history museums

For a more comprehensive list, see List of natural history museums.

The National Museum of Natural History inWashington, D.C.

Museums of natural history and natural science typically exhibit work of the natural world. The focus lies on nature and culture. Exhibitions educate the public on natural history, dinosaurs, zoology, oceanography, anthropology and more. Evolution, environmental issues, and biodiversity are major areas

in natural science museums. Notable museums include theNatural History Museum in London, the Oxford University Museum of Natural History inOxford, the Musum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris, the Smithsonian Institution'sNational Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta,Denver Museum of Nature and Science and the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. A rather minor Natural history museum is The Midwest Museum of Natural History is located in Sycamore, Illinois. [edit]Open-air

museums

Main article: Open-air museum

The open-air museum of King Oscar II atBygdy near Oslo in the museum guide of 1888. The World's first open-air museum was founded in 1881.

An old farmhouse at the Salzburger Freilichtmuseum in Grogmain nearSalzburg.

Open-air museums collect and re-erect old buildings at large outdoor sites, usually in settings of recreated landscapes of the past. The first one was King Oscar II's collection near Oslo in Norway, opened [32] in 1881. In 1907 it was incorporated into the Norsk Folkemuseum. In 1891, inspired by a visit to the open-air museum in Oslo, Artur Hazeliusfounded the Skansen in Stockholm, which became the model for subsequent open-air museums in Northern and Eastern Europe, and eventually in other parts of the [33] world. Most open-air museums are located in regions where wooden architecture prevail, as wooden [citation needed] structures may be translocated without substantial loss of authenticity. A more recent but [citation needed] related idea is realized in ecomuseums, which originated in France.

[edit]Pop-up

museums

A concept developed in the 1990s, the pop-up museum is generally defined as a short term institution [34] existing in a temporary space. These temporary museums are finding increasing favor among more progressive museum professionals as a means of direct community involvement with objects and exhibition. Often, the pop-up concept relies solely on visitors to provide both the objects on display and the accompanying labels with the professionals or institution providing only the theme of the pop-up and the space in which to display the objects, an example of shared historical authority.. Due to the flexibility of the pop-up museums and their rejection of traditional structure, even these latter provisions need not be supplied by an institution; in some cases the themes have been chosen collectively by a committee of interested participants while exhibitions designated as pop-ups have been mounted in places as varied as [35] community centers and even a walk-in closet. Some examples of pop-up museums include: Museum Of New Art (MONA)- founded in Detroit, Michigan in 1996 this contemporary art museum is [35] generally acknowledged to be the pioneer of the concept of the pop-up museum. The Pop-Up Museum of Queer History- a series of pop-up museum events held at various sites [36] across the United States focusing on the history and stories of local LGBT communities. Denver Community Museum- a pop-up museum that existed for nine months during 2008-9, located [37] in downtown Denver, Colorado. Museum of Motherhood, currently located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Has extended past its original close date & is seeking a permanent home.

[edit]Science

museums

For a more comprehensive list, see List of science museums.

Museum of Science and Industry,Chicago

CLSU Living Fish Museum CLSU,Philippines.

Science museums and technology centers revolve around scientific achievements, and marvels and their history. To explain complicated inventions, a combination of demonstrations, interactive programs and thought-provoking media are used. Some museums may have exhibits on topics such as computers, aviation, railway museums, physics, astronomy, and the animal kingdom. Science museums, in particular, may consist ofplanetaria, or large theatre usually built around a dome. Museums may have IMAX feature films, which may provide 3-D viewing or higher quality picture. As a result, IMAX content provides a more immersive experience for people of all ages. Also new virtual museums, known as Net Museums, have recently been created. These are usually web sites belonging to real museums and containing photo galleries of items found in those real museums. This new presentation is very useful for people living far away who wish to see the contents of these museums. [edit]Specialized

museums

Antique cuckoo clocks in the interior of Cuckooland Museum.

A number of different museums exist to demonstrate a variety of topics. Music museums may celebrate the life and work of composers or musicians, such as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inCleveland, Ohio, or even Rimsky-Korsakov Apartment and Museum in St Petersburg (Russia). Other music museums include live music recitals such as the Handel House Museum in London. In Glendale, Arizona the Bead Museum fosters an appreciation and understanding of the global, historical, cultural, and artistic significance of beads and related artifacts dating as far back as 15,000 years. Also residing in the American Southwest are living history towns such asTombstone, Arizona. This historical town is home to a number of "living history" museums (such as the O.K. Corral and the Tombstone Epitaph) in which visitors can learn about historical events from actors playing the parts of historical figures like Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and John Clum.Colonial Williamsburg (in Williamsburg,
[38]

Virginia), is another great example of a town devoted to preserving the story of America through reenactment.

The "Borusseum" is a museum aboutBorussia Dortmund in Dortmund, Germany

Another example of a specialized museum, in this case devoted to horology, is the Cuckooland Museumin the United Kingdom, which hosts the world's largest and finest collection of antique cuckoo [39] clocks. Korea is host to the world's first museum devoted to the history and development of organic farming, the Namyangju Organic Museum, with exhibit captions in both Korean and English, and which opened in [40] 2011. Museums targeted for youth, such as children's museums or toy museums in many parts of the world, often exhibit interactive and educational material on a wide array of topics, for example, the Museum of Toys and Automata in Spain. The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and the "Borusseum", the museum about Borussia Dortmund in Dortmund,Germany, are institutions of the sports category. The Corning Museum of Glass is devoted to the art, history, and science of glass. TheNational Museum of Crime & Punishment explores the science of solving crimes. The Great American Dollhouse Museum [41] in Danville, Kentucky, U.S.A., depicts American social history in miniature. Interpretation centres are modern museums or visitors centres that often use new means of communication with the public. In some cases, museums cover an extremely wide range of topics together, such as the Museum of World Treasures in Wichita, KS. In other instances, museums emphasize regional culture and natural history, such as the Regional Museum of the National University of San Martin, Tarapoto, Peru. [edit]Virtual

museums

A recent development, with the expansion of the web, is the establishment of virtual museums. Online [42] initiatives like the Virtual Museum of Canada and the National Museum of the United States Air Force provide physical museums with a web presence, as well as online curatorial platforms such as [43] Rhizome. Some virtual museums have no counterpart in the real world, such as LIMAC (Museo de Arte [44] Contemporneo de Lima), which has no physical location and might be confused with the city's own museum. The art historian Griselda Pollock elaborated a virtual feministmuseum, spreading between [45] classical art to contemporary art. Some real life museums are also using the internet for virtual tours and exhibitions. On March 23, Whitney Museum in New York organized what it called the first ever online Twitter museum tour.

[edit]Zoological

parks and botanic gardens

Zoos are considered "living museums"

Main article: Zoo Although zoos and botanic gardens are not often thought of as museums, they are in fact "living museums". They exist for the same purpose as other museums: to educate, inspire action, and to study, develop and manage collections. They are also managed much like other museums and face the same challenges. Notable zoos include the Bronx Zoo in New York, the London Zoo, the Los Angeles Zoo, the Philadelphia Zoo, the Saint Louis Zoological Park, the San Diego Zoo, Berlin Zoological Garden, the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Frankfurt Zoological Garden, Jardin des Plantes in Paris, and Zrich Zoologischer Garten in Switzerland. Notable botanic gardens include Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis,Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden and Royal Botanical Gardens (Ontario).

COFFEE MUSEUM
Coffee is a favored drink around the world however it is especially loved in its place of origin. The coffee plant has played a major role in Ethiopian life for hundreds of years. It seems appropriate then that Ethiopia's national museum dedicated to coffee should be built in Kafa, the birthplace of coffee. This museum will be a center for research on Coffea arabica and will guide the visitor through the world of coffee production. Visitors will gain a deeper appreciation of their favorite beverage.

Whetted your appetite? The National Coffee Museum is currently under construction in Kafa and is expected to open in 2013. Along with the museum, a ranger station and information center will be built on the compound.

Coffee Museum in Santos, SP

The Cafe, or Cafeteria, at the Coffee Museum has tables in the classy museum lounge and a more casual area (photo) for a quick coffee and snack. The cafe sells gifts and special coffees from different areas in Brazil that can be toasted on the spot. Santos launched contests to choose the official city dish and candy. The winning dish - Meca Santista - consists of grilled meca fish with lime juice, butter and herbs and can be found at many of the city's seafood restaurants. The winning candy, called Doce Caf, or Sweet Coffee, can be found at the Cafe at the Coffee Museum. It's shaped like a little brick with a chocolate coffee bean on top and made of Belgian Gianduia truffle and Brazilian coffee The Coffee Museum at the Official Coffee Exchange in the port city of Santos, So Paulo, is not the only museum dedicated to coffee in Brazil, but it features unique architecture and attractions. Built in the 1920s, it is one of the buildings that can be seen on the vintage streetcar tour of the historic downtown area. The tour is brief about 15 minutes and costs less than $1. It runs every 30 minutes and is open year-round. The starting point is in front of Jos Bonifcio Palace, the Santos City Hall. After the tour is over, you can walk back to the Museum and visit.

Animal-pulled streetcars started being used in Santos in 1871. The first electric streetcar came from Scotland in 1909. In 1971, the city discontinued the use of streetcars and the one now running in the downtown area had been abandoned for years before it went through a year-long restoration process and inaugurated in 2000. A visit to Santos is one of the best day trips from So Paulo, state capital. It takes just one hour from the Jabaquara bus terminal, in So Paulo, to the Santos bus terminal, which is a ten-minute walk away from the Coffee Museum - and buses run between the two cities at short intervals throughout the day. Coffee Museum: Rua XV de Novembro 95 Centro Santos - SP 11010-916 Phone: 55-13-3219-5585 Website: www.museudocafe.com.br Hours: Tue-Sat 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sun 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Night Visits: Twice a month to 9 p.m.; the cafe remains open as well. Check the 2012 schedule. Admission: R$5/Seniors and other visitors with special discounts R$2.50 The Official Coffee Exchange opened in 1914, when coffee was Brazils main source of wealth. On September 7, 1922, as part of the celebrations of the Brazilian Independence Centennial, the Coffee Palace Palcio do Caf was inaugurated, unfinished. Alterations of the original project during construction, the excellence of the professionals involved and the use of luxury materials took their toll on the budget and called for three loans. But the building fulfilled its purpose to assert, in a grand way, the importance of coffee to the Brazilian economy. Companhia Construtora de Santos, founded by Roberto Cochrane Simonsen, was the company responsible for construction. The building's outstanding features include a 120-ft tall clock tower and the statues above the main entrance (photo). To the right of "Bolsa Official de Caf", Ceres, goddess of agriculture, looks out to sea and watches as Brazilian coffee departs to international markets. To her right, Mercury, god of commerce, looks at the city of Santos as it grows - the closest end of a trail of development that would raise So Paulo state and particularly the capital, So Paulo, to the forefront of Brazilian economy. Restoration of the Coffee Palace was concluded in 1998, as part of the revitalization of the downtown area. Outside the museum, on Rua XV de Novembro, or November 15th Street, the coffee theme is present in the decorative coffee bean pattern of the boulevard pavement. The area around the museum thrives on Friday nights, when bars and snack bars have tables outside and bands play live. However, on a Sunday afternoon such as the one when this photo was taken,

when most businesses are closed and a lot of people are on the beach toasting in the sun, the streets are quite empty. It is advisable to walk around in a group. The central symbol on the imported marble floor of the Trading Room at the Coffee Museumbears the initials for Bolsa Official de Caf, or Official Coffee Exchange. Flashes cannot be used to photograph the Trading Room and it takes adequate lenses to get a good shot. A full view of the trading room, available in the Museum's photo gallery, shows the 81 chairs and the table made of jacaranda, a noble neotropical wood. One of the walls is taken by the triptych The Foundation of Santos, painted by Benedicto Calixto (18531927), one of the greatest painters in the history of So Paulo State. Founder Braz Cubas is portrayed in the middle panel. The Coffee Palace was the site of the Coffee Exchange until 1950, long after the Crash of 1929 had deeply affected coffee production in Brazil. As the country's coffee industry recovered, new regions emerged as coffee growing areas. Today, Minas Gerais is the country's largest coffee producer. But some of the best coffee in Brazil still comes from So Paulo. On the Museum's second floor, permanent and temporary exhibits help learners discover the history of coffee in Brazil. In early 2008, the Museum held an exhibit honoring the Centennial of the Japanese Immigration in Brazil. The official start of Japanese immigration in Brazil can be dated practically down to the minute, as the ship Kasato Maru docked in Santos at about 5pm on June 18, 1908, bringing the first 781 immigrants who signed up for the Japan-Brazil immigration program and 12 independent travelers. Today, Brazil has the largest Nikkei (Japanese and descendants) community outside Japan, with about 1,500,000 people. According to the Coffee Museum, 2,122,273 immigrants 935,222 of whom were Italian - arrived in So Paulo State to work on coffee plantations between 1875 and 1930.

Coffee Museum, Santos

October 18, 2010 | By Tony

The imposing building where the Bolsa Oficial do Caf (the coffee stock exchange) operated in Santos, state of So Paulo, is host today to one of the most interesting museums you will visit in Brazil: the Museu do Caf (coffee museum).

For decades, Santos was the HQ for the ever important coffee-producing sector of the Brazilian economy. On the first half of the XX century coffee was the main source of wealth for Brazil. Big panels at the museum show scenes from daily life at the turn of the century.

The museum is divided in two halfs. First you will visit the wonderful prego (pit), the salon where coffee stocks where negotiated.

On the ceiling theres an spectacular stained glass by local artist Benedito Calixto.

On an adjacent room several panels and utensils tell the story of coffee.

The second floor of the building contains panels and all sorts of tools and items related to the history of coffee in Brazil.

The Museu do Caf is an unmissable Santos sight. PRACTICAL INFORMATION: Address: Palcio da Bolsa Oficial de Caf, Rua XV de Novembro n 95, Santos. Website: Museu do Caf. Visiting times: from Tuesday to Saturday, from 09:00 till 17:00. Sundays, from 10:00 till 17:00. Entrance fee: R$ 5,00. Guided visits are in Portuguese. Most of the panels are in Portuguese and English. You can drive to Santos (between an hours drive and two hours depending on where you are in So Paulo). Alternatively, take one of the frequent buses running from the Terminal Jabaquara bus station (at the end of the blue line of So Paulos subway). The bus will leave you within walking distance of the centre of Santos.

Caferama
The Caferama, Badilatti`s own coffee-museum, offers a fascinating introduction into the world of coffee. The visitor learns all about coffee-production and coffee-trade and we show how the coffee bean found its way to the Engadine valley to be roasted in a pure alpine climate. As a visitor one gains an insight into the cultivation and processing of coffee as well as into the daily work of the people involved. A whole section of the museum is dedicated to the coffee trade and its evolution and shows the importance of coffee in todays world. Historical photographs and paintings show the social role of coffee over the last centuries and on display are various old coffee-roasters and antique coffee-mills as well as modern and automatic coffee machines of today. You will learn all about the evolution of the coffee roasting process and about the incredible variety of the coffee plant. A section of the exebition shows also the use of surrogate products, for example chicory and how soluble or decaffeinated coffee is obtained. At our small but stylish bar you can enjoy a good cup of freshly roasted coffee and take a souvenir home from our well-stocked shop. Opening hours Caferama Monday to Friday from December to March and June to October from 3.p.m. 6.p.m. On Thursdays, free guided tours at 4.p.m., reservation necessary. Private tours are possible the whole year round on request.

MuMAC Museum of Coffee Machines in Milan

The most important professional coffee machine manufacturer in the world Gruppo Cimbali celebrates its centenary with an own museum. Architects/Designers: Arkispazio and V12 Design Location: Via Pablo Neruda 2, 20082 Binasco (Milan), Italy

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

The core of the new architecture is a building previously used as a warehouse, within which are located both the exposition area and a versatile open space suitable for events and exhibitions to the culture of coffee. Within 1,800 m, MuMAC narrates a story that spans across 100 years, recounting the history of these extra ordinary objects. Both facades of the museum have been rendered with a delicate nonetheless technological technique: LaCimbali red slats of a composite material create a sinuous embrace that has been inspired by the flow of the aroma lifting off a coffee cup and at night a carefully designed illumination creates a strikingly backlit grid of light that evokes the energy living inside MuMAC.

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

Drawing: Arkispazio

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

The internal garden is limited by this coffee-colored wall that is marked by nine trees which divide it into 10 equal spaces: ten decades of the century that symbolize the life and the achievements of Cimbali Group. The museum area offers an exposition divided into six historical periods from the beginning of the 20th century to the present: The area called The early years is characterized by a suspended ceiling and posters from Art Deco period. The exhibition of The age of rationalism includes a severe fascist colonnade and strict grid of orthogonal lines identifies the layout of the marble display stands. In the area dedicated to the culture of the 50s and 60s (Invention of the lever) the visitor can find a reconstruction of a bar and an entirely cantilevered structure that supports the machines of the period where thanks to cleverly positioned mirrors, visitors can enjoy both sides of these wonderful machines.

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

Site plan, drawing: Arkispazio

Section, drawing: Arkispazio

Ground floor plan, drawing: Arkispazio

Second floor plan, drawing: Arkispazio

Under the banners of design is characterized by a collection of design masterpieces of the late '60s and '70s: great masters of design have penned coffee machines in these decades, therefore these machine are actual design icons. The new millennium is where the display stands are coated in white resin and they smoothly emerge from the floor equally coated in white resin: this area portrays the most modern machines, those designed for an increasingly fast society. This room has a full height red volume, which is visible from any angle of the museum. Within this volume is visible an installation of the new LaCimbali M100 coffee machine designed by Valerio Cometti+V12 Design: a daring exploded view

that allows to grasp the technological content and the level of complexity of such machine, becoming an invitation to reflect on the extraordinary journey that the coffee machine has made during these last hundred years.

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati


Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati


Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati


Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati


Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

Photograph: Angelo Margutti & Associati

Project data Head designers: Paolo Balzanelli, Valerio Cometti Structural engineering: Francesco Terreni MEP engineering: Antonio Bozino Client: Gruppo Cimbali

Built surface: 1,800 m Opening: October 2012