The Museum: From its Origins to the 21st Century

This beautiful and visually immersive book charts the fascinating story of the institution of the Museum, from its origins to the present. Visited by millions around the world every year, museums are one of mankind’s most essential creations. They tell stories, shape cultural identities and hold valuable insight about the past and about the future. This captivating works charts a path from the very first collection through to the latest developments in cultural curation, interweaving Using examples of the greatest cultural institutions to shape the narrative, historian and academic Owen Hopkins draws on his deep knowledge of the field to outline the history of the museum movement. Tracking the evolution from princely collections in Europe and the Enlightenment’s classically inspired temples of curiosities, via the public museums of the late nineteenth century, on to today’s global era oficonic buildings designed by the world’s leading architects, this book is a vital work for anyone seeking to understand the development of the museum into what it is today.