The “cabinet of curiosities” was originally a personal collection fo things of wonder. The important element is it displays an visual information; it owned by private collection who are wealthy and travel around all over the world to buy collections both natural and man-made objects. These cabinets reached the peak of their popularity in the 17th Century. The main function of the cabinet was provoke a sense of curiosity and wonder in the viewer; in many ways they represented a world-view that valued the “wonder” in an artefact much more than the need to analyse and classify the artefact. There were not yet universal systems of scientific classification and each collection sported its own unique organisational struture. The specimens in one corner of the Anatomical Museum in Leiden were grouped by type of defect. These cabinets displayed their owner’s notions of Art, Science and Spirituality in a physical form.
In 18th Century, cabinet of curiosities transformed to another form—the public museum. Many public museums opened during 1750s to 1790s, like the Museo, the first museum in the Vatican Museums complex, was opened in Rome in 1756; the British Museum in London, was founded in 1753 and opened to the public in 1759. the Belvedere Palace of the Habsburg monarchs in Vienna opened with an outstanding collection of art in 1781. These “public” museums, however, were often accessible only by middle and upper classes. It could be difficult to gain entrance. In London for example, prospective visitors to the British Museum had to apply in writing for admission. Even by 1800 it was possible to have to wait for two weeks for an admission ticket. Visitors in small groups were limited to stays of two hours. The first truly public museum was the Louvre Museum in Paris, opened in 1793 during the French Revolution, which enabled for the first time in history free access to the former French royal collections for people of all stations and status. The fabulous art treasures collected by the French monarchy over centuries were accessible to the public three days each “décade” (the 10-day unit which had replaced the week in the French Republican Calendar). The Conservatoire du muséum national des Arts (National Museum of Arts’s Conservatory) was charged with organizing the Louvre as a national public museum and the centerpiece of a planned national museum system. As Napoléon I conquered the great cities of Europe, confiscating art objects as he went, the collections grew and the organizational task became more and more complicated. After Napoleon was defeated in 1815, many of the treasures he had amassed were gradually returned to their owners (and many were not). His plan was never fully realized, but his concept of a museum as an agent of nationalistic fervor had a profound influence throughout Europe.
(to be continued…)
