Portal:Museums

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Introduction

The Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino in Santiago, Chile

A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying and/or preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private collections that are used by researchers and specialists. Museums host a much wider range of objects than a library, and usually focus on a specific theme, such as the arts, science, natural history or local history. Public museums that host exhibitions and interactive demonstrations are often tourist attractions, and many attract large numbers of visitors from outside their host country, with the most visited museums in the world attracting millions of visitors annually.

Since the establishment of the earliest known museum in ancient times, museums have been associated with academia and the preservation of rare items. Museums originated as private collections of interesting items, and not until much later did the emphasis on educating the public take root. (Full article...)

Selected museum

NGV International on St Kilda Road in Southbank

The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum.

The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two sites: NGV International, located on St Kilda Road in the Melbourne Arts Precinct of Southbank, and the Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, located nearby at Federation Square. The NGV International building, designed by Sir Roy Grounds, opened in 1968, and was redeveloped by Mario Bellini before reopening in 2003. It houses the gallery's international art collection and is on the Victorian Heritage Register.

The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, designed by Lab Architecture Studio, opened in 2002 and houses the gallery's Australian art collection.

A third site, The Fox: NGV Contemporary, is planned to open in 2028, and will be Australia's largest contemporary gallery. (Full article...)

Did you know...

... that a pair of sealskin-covered high heels by Inuk designer Nicole Camphaug are held in the Bata Shoe Museum of Toronto?
... that when the Ivankiv Historical and Local History Museum was burned during the recent Battle of Ivankiv, artworks by Hanna Veres and Maria Prymachenko were destroyed?
... that one of the buildings that house the Safe House Museum was where Martin Luther King Jr. hid from the Ku Klux Klan on 21 March 1968, just weeks before he was assassinated?
... that the World War I memorial in Pierson, Iowa, was rededicated in 2018 by the Pritzker Military Museum & Library?
... that Hasanpaşa Gasworks escaped its demolition through the resistance of local residents, became a festival venue for a time and was finally transformed into a museum after redevelopment?
... that exhibits at Peale's Philadelphia Museum included the first nearly complete skeleton of a mastodon?

Get involved

For editor resources and to collaborate with other editors on improving Wikipedia's Museums-related articles, see WikiProject Museums.

Selected images

Image 1Archive Processing rooms provide a space for archivists to arrange and describe archival materials to make them accessible to researchers. (from Museum)
Image 2Collections storage for three-dimensional historic artifacts. (from Museum)
Image 3A guided tour group at the Soumaya Museum in Mexico City, Mexico (from Museum)
Image 4Moai figure at the British Museum (from Museum)
Image 5The Louvre in 1853 (from Museum)
Image 6A curator and exhibit designer dressing a mannequin for an exhibit (from Museum)
Image 7Construction of Titanic Belfast in 2010 (from Museum)
Image 8Classic cars displayed at an automotive museum, which could be considered both a history and technology museum (from Museum)
Image 9The Nantong Museum, the first Chinese-sponsored museum (from Museum)
Image 10The old Ashmolean Museum building in Oxford, England (from Museum)
Image 11Paintings arranged in groupings in the "salon style" (from Museum)
Image 12Museum textile storage includes rolled storage racks, hanging wardrobe and garments shelving, and cabinets. (from Museum)
Image 13In museums, paintings, framed and unframed, are normally hung on sliding or fixed racking. (from Museum)
Image 14Officials blamed a lack of funding for a 2018 fire at the National Museum of Brazil that destroyed over 90% of its contents (from Museum)
Image 15Visitors examining fossils displayed at the National Museum of Iran in Tehran, Iran (from Museum)
Image 16Restoration of a gilded mirror by a conservator (from Museum)
Image 17An honours board listing the directors of a museum in Auckland, New Zealand (from Museum)
Image 18An exhibition of the remains of Native Americans at the Royal Ontario Museum in 1908 (from Museum)
Image 19Exhibit planning (from Museum)
Image 20Workers rallying at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (from Museum)

Selected type of museum

The Fortifications Interpretation Centre in Valletta, Malta

An interpretation centre, interpretive centre, or visitor interpretive centre is an institution for dissemination of knowledge of natural or cultural heritage. Interpretation centres are a kind of new-style museum, often associated with visitor centres or ecomuseums, and located in connection to cultural, historic or natural sites.

Interpretation centres use different means of communication to enhance the understanding of heritage. To aid and stimulate the discovery process and the visitor's intellectual and emotional connection to heritage, the main presentation strategy tends to be user-friendly and interactive, and often use scenographic exhibitions and multimedia programs. Many interpretation centres have temporary exhibitions related to a specific aspect of the site. (Full article...)

Subcategories