Museums

A museum has a large collection of objects which are very important for science, culture, or history. It allows people to see them, and attempts to explain their importance. Most cities in the world have at least one big museum; however, it wasn’t always like that.

Early museums were just collections of artifacts owned by rich people. As the world was being increasingly explored, new books, animals, plants, and objects – both natural and historical – were discovered, and the wealthiest people in society often bought and collected them to show their status. They kept all the objects in special rooms to show their friends, or simply feel more educated and worthy than other people. However, many scientists also wanted to look at these objects, as did the public, who were interested in all these new and wonderful objects. Eventually the government responded, and the ‘public’ museum was invented, open to everyone to enter and enjoy.

For example, there was a rich man in England called Elias Ashmole, who had an extensive personal collection of objects. When he died, his will donated his collection to the government and so the ‘Ashmolean Museum’ opened. This was probably the first ever ‘public’ museum. In France, the first public museum was the Louvre Museum in Paris, opened in 1793. But as museums collected more and more objects, it became difficult to show them all, and they began to seem a little boring.

Modern museums are changing. Many of them have activities which allow children to play and learn. Also, with technology improving everyday, people can now see and study the objects on the Internet, or with special displays, so perhaps museums will become less important in the future. Time will tell.

Question Time

Do most cities in the world have a big museum? ………………………………..………

Who owned the first museums? ……………………………………………………..……..

Who did these people have museums? …………………………………………..….……

What was the name of the first ‘public’ museum? ………………………………….…….

How do many people see and study museum objects today? ………………….………

Word-Learning Time

Do you know the meaning of the underlined words?

Culture

Artifacts

Status

Public

Extensive

A will

To donate                                

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