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Concept
Museology
Summary
Museology or museum studies is the study of museums. It explores the history of museums and their role in society, as well as the activities they engage in, including curating, preservation, public programming, and education.
The words that are used to describe the study of museums vary depending on language and geography. For example, while “museology” is becoming more prevalent in English, it is most commonly used to refer to the study of museums in French (muséologie), Spanish (museología), German (Museologie), Italian (museologia), and Portuguese (museologia) – while English speakers more often use the term “museum studies” to refer to that same field of study. When referring to the day-to-day operations of museums, other European languages typically use derivatives of the Greek “museographia” (French: muséographie, Spanish: museografía, German: Museographie, Italian: museografia, Portuguese: museografia), while English speakers typically use the term “museum practice” or “operational museology”
The development of museology in Europe coincided with the emergence of early collectors and cabinets of curiosity in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. In particular, during The Age of Enlightenment anthropologists, naturalists, and hobbyist collectors encouraged the growth of public museums that displayed natural history and ethnographic objects and art in North America and Europe. In the 18th and 19th centuries, European powers’ colonization of overseas lands was accompanied by the development of the disciplines of natural history and ethnography, and the rise of private and institutional collection building. In many cases museums became the holding places for collections that were acquired through colonial conquests, which positioned museums as key institutions in Western European colonial projects.
In the 19th century, European museology was focused on framing museums as institutions that would educate and “civilize” the general public. Museums typically served nationalist interests, and their primary purpose was often to celebrate the state, country, or colonial power.
Official source
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