museum

Definition of museum in English English dictionary: A building or institution dedicated to the acquisition, conservation, study, exhibition, and educational interpretation of objects having scientific, historical, cultural or artistic value; {n} a repository of curiosities, a library local; The most celebrated are the British Museum in London; the Louvre at Paris; the Vatican at Rome; the Museum of Florence; that of St Petersburg; and those of Dresden, Vienna, Munich, and Berlin A walking museum So Longinus, author of a work on The Sublime, was called (A D 213-273 ); a depository for collecting and displaying objects having scientific or historical or artistic value; A repository or a collection of natural, scientific, or literary curiosities, or of works of art; A museum is a building where a large number of interesting and valuable objects, such as works of art or historical items, are kept, studied, and displayed to the public. For months Malcolm had wanted to visit the Parisian art museums. the American Museum of Natural History. a building where important cultural, historical, or scientific objects are kept and shown to the public (Mouseion, from Mousa; MUSE). Public institution dedicated to preserving and interpreting the primary tangible evidence of humans and their environment. Types of museums include general (multidisciplinary) museums, natural-history museums, science and technology museums, history museums, and art museums. In Roman times the word referred to a place devoted to scholarly occupation (see Museum of Alexandria). The public museum as it is known today did not develop until the 17th-18th century. The first organized body to receive a private collection, erect a building to house it, and make it publicly available was the University of Oxford; the resulting Ashmolean Museum opened in 1683. The 18th century saw the opening of great museums such as the British Museum, Louvre, and Uffizi Gallery. By the early 19th century the granting of public access to formerly private collections had become common. What followed for the next 100 years was the worldwide founding of museums intended for the public. In the 20th century, museums have broadened their roles as educational facilities, sources of leisure activity, and information centres. Many sites of historical or scientific significance have been developed as museums. Museum attendance has increased greatly, often attracted by "blockbuster" exhibitions, though museums have had to become more financially resourceful due to constraints in public funding. Alexandria Museum of Old Museum of Painting American Museum of Natural History British Museum Getty Museum J. Paul Guggenheim Museum Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Hermitage museum Louvre Museum Metropolitan Museum of Art Museum of Modern Art Prado Museum Victoria and Albert Museum Vatican Museums and Galleries; {i} place where objects of value or significance (historical, scientific, or artistic) are kept and displayed to the public; The Cadillac Historical Museum officially opened on 27 Oct 1990 on the third floor of the manufacturing building at the Clark Street plant in Detroit Plans had begun in 1988 The museum was in the process of moving to new premises in Warren, in Sept 1994, after Cadillac had moved all its operations to that area of N Detroit The new museum was scheduled to be in its new premises in November 1994 (Article CLC 1/90, pp 10-11, also CLC 10/94, p 9); An institution for exhibiting artistic, historical, or scientific objects; "Non-profit making, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, and open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study, education and enjoyment, material evidence of people and their environment " [according to the ICOM (The International Council of Museums)] Besides the exhibition and conservation labours there are research and extension labours through out foundations and other organisms; workshops, courses, seminars and media collaboration; Means a public or private nonprofit institution which is organized on a permanent basis essentially for educational or esthetic purposes and which, using a professional staff, owns or uses tangible objects, whether animate or inanimate; cares for these objects; and exhibits them to the public on a regular basis either free or at a nominal charge; Any institution or state or local government agency (including any institution of higher learning) that receives federal funds and has possession of, or control over, Native American cultural items Such term does not include the Smithsonian Institution or any other federal agency (25 U S C 3001 8); (derived from the Latin muses, meaning 'a source of inspiration', or 'to be absorbed in one's thoughts') A building, place or institution devoted to the acquisition, conservation, study, exhibition and educational interpretation of objects having scientific, historical or artistic value; Generic top-level domain reserved for museums
museum piece: 1. (Social Science / Education) an object of sufficient age or interest to be kept in a museum2. Informal a person or thing regarded as old-fashioned
Museum of Alexandria: Ancient centre of Classical learning at Alexandria, Egypt. It was a research institute, organized into faculties and headed by a president-priest, with a renowned library. It was built near the royal palace either by Ptolemy II Philadelphus 280 BC or by his father, Ptolemy I Soter. The best surviving description is by Strabo. In AD 270 its buildings were destroyed, although its educational and research functions seem to have continued until the 5th century
Museum of Jewish Heritage: Jewish museum in New York
Museum of London: a museum in central London which tells the history of London from Roman times to the present
Museum of Mankind: a museum in west central London which contains objects and information about the lives and cultures of people from many countries around the world
Museum of Modern Art: the Museum of Modern Art MOMA a museum in New York City which contains one of the world's finest collections of modern art and photography. Museum in New York City, the world's most comprehensive collection of U.S. and European art from the late 19th century to the present. It was founded in 1929 by a group of private collectors. The original building on 53rd St. opened in 1939; a later addition and sculpture garden were designed by Philip Johnson (1953). A condominium tower and western wing, doubling the exhibition space, were completed in 1984. Its collections of Cubist, Surrealist, and Abstract Expressionist paintings are extensive; other holdings include sculpture, graphic arts, industrial design, architecture, photography, and film. Through its permanent collections, exhibitions, and many publications, it exerts a strong influence on public taste and artistic production
Museum of Tolerance: Holocaust museum in Los Angeles (California, USA), part of the Simon Wiesenthal Center
Museum of the Moving Image: MOMI a museum on the South Bank in London, containing information about the history of the cinema and of television, and collections of equipment used in the making of films and television programmes
museum piece: If you describe an object or building as a museum piece, you mean that it is old and unusual. One day these are multi-million dollar war machines and the next they are museum pieces
open air museum: A museum where the exhibitions are located outdoors
wax museum: A museum featuring lifelike statues made of wax
A museum: exploratorium
American Museum of Natural History: Major centre of research and education on the natural sciences, established in New York City in 1869. It pioneered in staging field expeditions and creating dioramas and other lifelike exhibits showing natural habitats and their plant and animal life. Its research collections contain tens of millions of specimens, and its fossil and insect collections are among the largest in the world. It conducts research in anthropology, astronomy, entomology, herpetology, ichthyology, invertebrate biology, mammalogy, mineralogy, ornithology, and vertebrate paleontology, and it maintains permanent research stations in The Bahamas and the U.S. states of New York, Florida, and Arizona. It also contains one of the world's largest planetariums
Ashmolean Museum: a famous museum of ancient history and archaeology in Oxford, England, which also contains important collections of paintings, jewellery, historical documents etc
Bilbao Guggenheim Museum: Art museum in Bilbao, Spain. It opened in 1997 as a cooperative venture between the Guggenheim Foundation and the Basque regional administration of northwestern Spain. The museum complex, designed by Frank Gehry, consists of interconnected buildings whose extraordinary free-form titanium-sheathed mass suggests a gigantic work of abstract sculpture. The interior space, organized around a large atrium, is mainly devoted to modern and contemporary art
British Museum: the British Museum a famous building in London which contains a large and important collection of ancient art, writings, coins, drawings etc. Britain's national museum of archaeology and antiquities, established in London in 1753 when the government purchased three large private collections consisting of books, manuscripts, prints, drawings, paintings, medals, coins, seals, cameos, and natural curiosities. In 1881 the natural-history collections were transferred to another building to form the Natural History Museum, and in 1973 the library collections were consolidated to form the British Library. Among the museum's most famous holdings are the Elgin Marbles, the Rosetta Stone, the Portland Vase, and Chinese ceramics. In 1808 the department of prints and drawings opened with over 2,000 drawings. It is now one of the world's largest and most comprehensive collections
Eretz Israel Museum: museum located in Tel Aviv )Israel(, the Land of Israel Museum built around the archaeological site of Tel Kasile and displays artefacts relating to 3,000 years of Israelòs history
Guggenheim Museum: a museum in New York City that contains an important collection of modern art. It is named after the businessman who established it in 1939, Solomon R. Guggenheim, and is famous for its large circular building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1997 a new Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Gehry, was opened in Bilbao, Spain
Haifa museum: Municipal Museum of Haifa
Hermitage museum: Largest museum in Russia and one of the most important in the world. Located in St. Petersburg, it derives its name from the "Hermitage" pavilion adjoining the Winter Palace, built in 1764-67 for Catherine II( the Great) as a private gallery for her treasured collections. On her death in 1796, the imperial collections were estimated to total 4,000 pictures. After the Winter Palace was destroyed by fire in 1837, the Hermitage was reconstructed and opened to the public by Nicholas I in 1852. After the Bolshevik Revolution, the collections were transferred to public ownership. The museum is now housed in five interconnected buildings, including the Winter Palace and the Small, Old, and New Hermitages. Along with thousands of art objects from Central Asia, India, China, Egypt, the pre-Columbian Americas, Greece, and Rome, the Hermitage houses outstanding collections of Western painting. Russian history is represented by archaeological material from prehistoric times onward
Holocaust Memorial Museum: museum in Washington D.C. (USA) which is dedicated to the memory of the Holocaust
Imperial War Museum: a military museum in London, where people can see exhibits relating to wars that the UK has fought in
Israel Museum: major Israeli museum with extensive exhibits located in Jerusalem
J. Paul Getty Museum: Museum established by Jean Paul Getty to house his large collection of artworks, to which he continued to add. The original museum occupied a wing added to his ranch house in Malibu, Calif., U.S. His collections soon outgrew that location, and in 1974 they were moved to a new building in Malibu, a lavish re-creation of a Roman villa uncovered at Herculaneum. On Getty's death the museum became the most richly endowed in the world. It now is housed in the Getty Center, a striking six-building complex in Los Angeles designed by Richard Meier, which opened with great publicity in 1997. Its collections include European paintings, sculpture, drawings, and decorative arts to 1900, illuminated manuscripts, and photographs. Greek and Roman antiquities remain in the Malibu villa. The collections reflect Getty's preference for paintings of the Renaissance and the Baroque period and for French furniture
Louvre Museum: National museum and art gallery of France, in Paris. It was built as a royal residence, begun under Francis I in 1546 on the site of a 12th-century fortress. It ceased to be used as a palace when the court moved to Versailles in 1682, and plans were made in the 18th century to turn it into a public museum. In 1793 the revolutionary government opened the Grand Gallery; Napoleon built the northern wing; and two major western wings were completed and opened by Napoleon III. The completed Louvre included a vast complex of buildings forming two main quadrilaterals and enclosing two large courtyards. A controversial steel-and-glass pyramid entrance designed by I.M. Pei opened in 1989. The painting collection is one of the richest in the world, representing all periods of European art up to Impressionism; its collection of French 15th-19th-century paintings is unsurpassed
Louvre Museum: {i} art museum located in Paris (France) since 1793 which is one of the largest museums in the world and a major tourist attraction in Paris, formerly a royal palace
Metropolitan Museum of Art: the most important art museum in the US, in New York City. Most comprehensive collection of art in the U.S. and one of the foremost in the world. It was incorporated in New York City in 1870, and the present building in Central Park on Fifth Avenue was opened in 1880. The Metropolitan was built with the private fortunes of businessmen; today it is owned by the city but supported mainly by private endowment. Its outstanding Egyptian, Mesopotamian, East Asian, Middle Eastern, Greek and Roman, European, pre-Columbian, and U.S. collections include in addition to paintings, sculpture, and graphic arts architecture, glass, ceramics, textiles, metalwork, furniture, arms and armour, and musical instruments. It also incorporates a Costume Institute and the Thomas J. Watson Library, one of the world's greatest art and archaeology reference collections. Much of the medieval collection is housed at The Cloisters in Manhattan's Fort Tryon Park; its building (1938) incorporates parts of medieval monasteries and churches
National Maritime Museum: a museum in Greenwich, South London, with models and pictures of British ships, and things relating to the sea, sailing, and famous seamen
Natural History Museum: a) a museum in West London which contains objects and information about the history of plants, animals, and minerals, and is famous for its collection of dinosaur bones b) a similar museum in New York City
Prado Museum: Spain's national art museum, housing the world's greatest collection of Spanish painting as well as other European works. Founded in Madrid in 1818 by Ferdinand VII, it was opened to the public in 1819 as the Royal Museum of Painting. Its holdings were formed over three centuries from the various royal collections of the Habsburg and Bourbon monarchs in Spain. In 1868 it became the National Museum of the Prado after the exile of Isabella II. In 1872 it acquired many notable paintings formerly owned by Spanish convents and monasteries. It owns the outstanding collections of the works of El Greco, Diego Velázquez, and Francisco de Goya and numerous works by other Spanish masters such as José de Ribera and Francisco Zurbarán. Among its other holdings are collections of Greco-Roman statuary and many Flemish and Italian masterpieces
Rockefeller Museum: archaeological museum located in East Jerusalem (Israel)
Science Museum: a large museum in London containing many important scientific objects, which show the history and development of science and technology
Solomon R Guggenheim Museum: modern art museum established in New York City by the philanthropist Solomon R. Guggenheim
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum: Museum in New York City housing the Solomon R. Guggenheim collection of modern art. An example of the "organic architecture" of Frank Lloyd Wright, the building (constructed 1956-59) represents a radical departure from traditional museum design, spiraling upward and outward in a smooth coil of massive, unadorned white concrete. The exhibition space, which has been criticized for upstaging the artwork displayed, consists of a six-story-high spiral ramp encircling an open centre volume lighted by a dome of glass supported by stainless steel. The museum has a comprehensive collection of European painting from throughout the 20th century and of American painting from the second half of the century
Tel Aviv museum: Municipal Museum of Tel Aviv
The National Museum of Science Planning & Technology: museum in Haifa (Israel) that displays technological and scientific advancements throughout the ages
Victoria and Albert Museum: a museum in central London that has valuable decorative objects of all styles and periods and from all over the world, such as paintings, glass, clothes, and jewellery. Museum of decorative arts in London. It was conceived by Prince Albert as a way to improve the standards of British design by making the finest models available for study. The core collection, consisting of objects purchased at the 1851 Crystal Palace exhibition, was originally called the Museum of Ornamental Art and was opened by Queen Victoria in 1857. A new building was later designed by Sir Aston Webb, and the museum was renamed when Victoria laid the cornerstone in 1899; it was opened to the public by Edward VII in 1909. It houses vast collections of European sculpture, ceramics, furniture, metalwork, jewelry, textiles, and musical instruments from medieval times to the present; remarkable Chinese ceramics, jade, and sculpture; the premier collection of Italian Renaissance sculpture outside Italy; and the outstanding national collection of British watercolours, miniatures, prints, and drawings. It is regarded as the world's greatest decorative-arts museum. Its branch museums include the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood, the Theatre Museum, and the Wellington Museum
archeological museum: museum which displays artifacts found during archaeological digs
maritime museum: museum featuring issues concerning the sea and navigation
museums: plural of museum
open-air museum: {i} museum that exhibits and displays its collections outside
science museum: a museum that collects and displays objects having scientific interest
the British Museum: national museum in London which contains the world's largest collection of antiques
the National Museum of Science: museum in the Israeli port-city of Haifa which displays technological and scientific developments throughout the ages
the national museum: museum that belongs to the entire nation and is thus the largest and most comprehensive one, museum containing artifacts of a nation's history
wax museum: museum which exhibits wax figures of famous people
wax museum: A place where life-size wax figures, usually of famous people, are exhibited