The word museum evokes images of great buildings filled with art and natural or man-made objects that have been preserved for posterity. But there is much more to the concept of a museum than that. Major professional organizations from around the world offer some definitions of what a museum is, and most emphasize that museums are institutions dedicated to public good and the care, preservation, and interpretation of collections.
The earliest museums were private collections of interesting items gathered by individuals or families. They were not primarily meant to educate the public, but rather were intended as a record of the past. These early museums were more like libraries than the modern art institutions that we think of when we use the term today.
In the modern sense, a museum is an institution that collects, conserves, preserves, interprets, and communicates cultural heritage through collecting, documenting, researching, exploring, and exhibiting. Museums also play an important role in education and are places where people of all ages come to learn and to be inspired.
While museums are not always able to exhibit all of their collections, they do have the responsibility to take care of the objects they do have in storage and to make them available for exhibition when possible. Often, this is because there is not enough space to display the entire collection at one time, or because many objects are best displayed in the dark, or because of their fragility. In some cases, such as with paintings and textiles, the preservation of the work is the most important consideration.
Some museums, such as the Griffith Observatory and the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, have very few artifacts but tell powerful and memorable stories that are interpreted in various ways. Others, such as the National Holocaust Memorial in Washington D.C., and the Gold Museum of Colombia, rely on many artifacts to tell their stories. The latter, in fact, was built on the premise that legends of the city of El Dorado lured many Europeans to South America and that the over 30,000 pieces of gold that have been recovered tell an extraordinary story about pre-Hispanic Colombian society.
The most well-known museums in the world include the Vatican Museums, which had more than 5 million visitors in 2022, and London’s Natural History Museum, with over 4.6 million. However, these are just a few examples of the many great museums that can be found throughout the world.
During the 2019 ICOM Conference in Prague, representatives of many museums from around the world voted to approve a new version of the ICOM definition. The new definition includes for the first time phrases such as “inclusivity”, “accessibility”, and “sustainability” in addition to a call for museums to consider diverse perspectives on their collections and the way they engage with their communities.
The Standing Committee for the Museum Definition formulated a new methodology going forward, greatly based on the expressed need for consultation with National Committees, International Committees, and Regional Alliances and Affiliated Organisations that make up ICOM. This new methodology, known as ICOM Define: A new way for the future, is based on more transparency and careful listening to all proposals submitted during the first round of consultations.