The Fascinating History Of The Museum

The museum has provided many hours of enjoyment and emotion for many generations now, and we take it for granted in this modern day and age. We assume that the museums in every town and city have been standing since the dawn of time and are simply there for our own convenience. However, the history of the museum is just as fascinating as the works of art that populate those standing at the moment and is a story that every individual with even a passing interest in art should know.

In fact, the museum is a relatively recent addition to the world of art. The first museums can be traced back to the 1600s. This may sound like a long time ago to you and me, but in terms of how long various works of art have been around, this is relatively new. When you think that the Ancient Egyptians were collecting art, this is most definitely recent! In fact, all of the earliest museums, in terms of those that were around before the 1600s, were most definitely private. Works of art in "museums" often took pride of place in private collections that were only displayed to the individuals living in the same house as the collection and their guests.

The private collections around in the 1400s and 1500s were owned by the wealthy and royal, as well as old families that looked upon the art as a status symbol because only the rich could afford such frivolities. Paintings, sculpture and artefacts were extremely popular and were proudly displayed in rooms dedicated to art, or rooms that were only used on special occasions. Although they were available for public viewing, as such, it was only when the owner allowed it.

The first public museums, that is to say the first collections of art that the public could view but were not owned by one individual or family, were opened in the 1700s. They were largely based somewhere in Europe because that continent was going through what is called the Age Of Enlightenment at that point. That is to say that the majority of large and influential European countries were beginning to take an interest in the arts for pleasure, thus moving the way art was viewed from being a status symbol to being a medium that inspired wonder for individuals from the middle to upper social classes.

A number of the museums opened in the 1600s and 1700s are still standing now and anybody can visit them as and when possible. The oldest museum in the UK, for example, is the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology. It is located in Oxford and was opened in 1683. The British Museum that is located in London is also still open to the public and has been since 1759, although it was founded six years previously.

There are older museums throughout the rest of Europe as well. For example, the Museum Sacro, which was the first of the Vatican museums to be opened in Rome, has been open since 1756. Similarly, Florence's Uffizi Gallery opened in 1765.

All of the oldest museums in the world are accessible today. You simply turn up and pay for admission. However, this was not always the case. The British Museum, for example, required you to write and request admission, and even then you were not guaranteed to be accepted as a visitor. The admission tickets were sent through the post, but without one there is no way that you would pass through the doors. If you did have a ticket then you would only be allowed access for two hours, and this practice persisted into the 19th Century.

Today, public museums are completely different. You can turn up and wander around for as long as you like. It is easy to get lost in the paintings of a few hours and look for inspiration. The way that museums have changed is no bad thing at all. The world can now appreciate art regardless of social class and level of knowledge!