Museums are places where art, artifacts, and sculptures are preserved for the benefit of society. The exhibits available for viewing can inspire and enlighten visitors. Fine arts, applied arts, craft, archaeology, anthropology and ethnology, history, cultural history, military history, science, technology, children’s museums, natural history, numismatics, and philately are all examples of museums.
Exhibit tours, lectures, and cultural programs help museums achieve their goals. Because of the Internet’s popularity, there are also virtual exhibits. Advances in museology, the study of how to organize and manage museums and museum collections, are currently expanding museum activities, particularly interactive exhibits.
The International Council of Museums (ICOM), an international association of museums and museum professionals whose mission is to preserve museums all over the world, is also promoting this study. In 1986, at the ICOM’s 15th General Assembly, a code of ethics for the management of museums was adopted. The acquisition of collections, how exhibits should be organized, maintained, and removed, the legal framework under which museums operate, and the cultural sensitivity with which displays should be organized are just a few of the topics discussed. The Museums Association is another organization that works to improve museology. It is the oldest organization of individual museum professionals, corporate members, and institutions, and it was founded in 1889 in the United Kingdom to promote better museum management through training, information dissemination, annual conferences, and other means.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is one museum that has benefited from museology. It includes artifacts, sculptures, paintings, and scrolls that span centuries and continents. Lecture series, holiday activities such as the lighting of the Christmas tree, concert series, and even Spanish language classes for children and families are among the activities available.
Museums are important for society’s advancement, not only for general educational purposes, but also to investigate specific issues such as the distinction between veneration of art and veneration of religious icons. The Getty Museum in Los Angeles is attempting to address this issue with an exhibit featuring religious art, including a sixth-century portrait of the Apostle Peter holding the keys to heaven and a table with a chalice, patent, and cross. Visitors are free to draw their own conclusions about religion’s relationship to art.