The original meaning of a museum was a collection of artifacts, but over time it also encompassed the houses and buildings where the objects were displayed.

The first prototype of a modern museum was founded in Alexandria under the name Museion in 290 BC. This building had a huge number of rooms, and one of them was the famous Library of Alexandria, which has not survived to this day. There were also reading rooms, a dining room and other rooms. Gradually the building was expanded and new exhibits were added, such as stuffed animals that were used as visual aids for teaching.

Museums in the ancient ages

In ancient Greece, there were also rooms that housed art and cultural objects captured from other nations during wars, such as sculptures, statues and other works of art.

In the Middle Ages works of art were displayed in temples and monasteries (jewellery, manuscripts). At this time, exhibits seized during wars served, we could say, as payment for ransoms or other expenses.

In the 15th century Lorenzo de Medici (of internationally renowned lineage) commissioned the creation of the so-called Sculpture Garden. It was during these centuries that it became fashionable to build buildings with long corridors, and to place paintings and statues in them. In time, the fashion took over and the so-called ‘cabinets’ – rooms specifically designed to house works of art – began to be created. It quickly spread to Italy, then to Germany and then to the rest of Europe. Alongside cabinets there were also collections of unusual objects (Wunderkammer).

The creation of modern museums

Every modern museum was founded on the basis of private collections. Many famous people donated their collections to enlarge them and make them richer and more public. Such patrons often sponsored art collections, thereby helping to establish museums.

Many small collections were amalgamated into larger ones, and this is how modern museums were created. The very first modern museum is the British Museum in London, which opened in 1753. To visit it, written permission was required. The first public museum, however, was the Louvre, which opened in 1793.

The oldest museums in the world that you can still visit today

Some of the world’s oldest museums are still thriving. From collections of papal art to exhibits on prehistoric beasts, these houses of culture are perfect for exploring.

Museums have long been champions of the preservation of culture, religion and history. They celebrate and document human achievements and help tell the stories of our successes (as well as a rather extensive list of failures). Lately, they’ve also become the perfect places to take stunning Instagram shots and laugh at the overpriced pieces of cake.

Whether you want to soak up the oldest of the old on your next trip or just want to add to your cultural vocabulary, read on to learn about some of the world’s oldest museums.

1) Capitoline Museums, Rome

2) Vatican Museums, Italy.

3) Prado Museum, Spain

4) Ashmole Museum, UK

5) Bezanson Museum of Fine Arts and Archaeology, France

6) Charleston Museum, USA.

7) Duke Anton Ulrich Museum, Germany

The Capitoline Museum is the oldest museum in the world – now that’s an impressive name. Maybe in 5,000 years the New York Ice Cream Museum will be the last surviving cultural institution; its exhibits are perfect for surviving an apocalyptic ice age. For now at least, the historic name of the oldest museum in the world belongs to the Capitoline Museums of Rome, also known as the Capitolini Museum.

Why are the Capitoline Museums so important? Well, of all the cultural halls on earth that provide protection and a platform for antique paintings and fragile artefacts, it is Rome’s vast collection of art that has set a precedent for the famous institutions we know of today.

Going back to the beginning, the museum was made possible by Pope Sixtus IV. When he wasn’t in charge of the Sistine Chapel, founding the Vatican archives or finding a comfortable political job for family members, he carved out time to put together a collection of bronze sculptures and dedicate it to the good people of Rome.

This collection includes the Capitoline She-wolf, a depiction of the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, sucking the mother she-wolf that would become the symbol of the city, and the Colossal Head of Constantine. Both of these ancient objects can still be found in the museum today.

Following Pope Sixtus’ charitable action in 1471, the collection was enriched, as was the museum’s importance in preserving Rome’s history. The Capitoline Museums, housed in two historic buildings, embody classical elegance and attract millions of people to Rome each year.

The post History of museums appeared first on Museo Sarteano.

History

The modern Dante House-Museum is located on the site where the houses of the Alighieri family were once, and the poet himself lived in one of them. After Dante’s death in 1321, his brother Francesco sold part of the house to the Mardolli family, who rebuilt the building to their liking. Subsequently, it changed more than one owner, each of them brought something of their own into the look and interior decoration, until only a group of scattered dwellings remained from the original Dante’s house, the glorious past of which only oral legends circulated. In the 19th century, the capital was moved to Florence, which coincided with the 600th anniversary of the poet. Interest in his extraordinary personality was revived again, and a special commission documented in which house Dante lived. Despite the next transfer of the capital to Rome, the project continues to develop, and in 1911 the Florence City Hall buys the historic building. After destroying the later annexes, a small area is designed here and the original house is built on top.

What to see

The exposition of the House-Museum of Dante Alighieri is located on three floors of the building and illuminates not only the life and work of the poet, but also the historical and cultural environment in which he existed and drew inspiration.

The halls of the first floor of the museum are dedicated to the guild of pharmacists, of which Dante was a member, Florence, its political life and economy in the 14-15th centuries and the Battle of Campaldino in 1289, in which the poet himself took part. Here you should pay attention to dried herbs and medical instruments, landscapes and a model of medieval Florence, as well as goods that formed the basis of its prosperity.

The second floor tells about Dante’s exile, among the interesting exhibits is a copy of the public book of court decisions, in which you can find the verdict on Alighieri. Another room presents what Dante’s bedroom might look like, while the third shows a video about The Divine Comedy with drawings by Gustave Doré.

On the third floor, there are copies of lifetime editions of the poet’s works and costumes of the medieval Florentine nobility – the attire of a noble lady and a notary.

Address: Florence, Via Santa Margherita, 1.

The post House-Museum of Dante Alighieri appeared first on Museo Sarteano.

Адрес: Piazza San Marco 3

The post San Marco Museum appeared first on Museo Sarteano.

What to see

There are 40 mechanisms on display in the main hall, videos on the adjacent screens show them in action. A rowboat, a multi-barreled artillery gun, a bicycle, a car, a tank, a submarine, a helicopter, a parachute, and a programmable drum were destined for the army of Cesare Borgia, where Leonardo served as an engineer. Only the wheel lock for the pistol was introduced into life, which was used until the 19th century.

Da Vinci was particularly interested in levitation and tried several times to build an ornithopter, a hand-operated flight vehicle. The model kept in the museum is very reminiscent of huge bat wings.

The artist and sculptor Leonardo wanted to understand the mechanics of the human body, reproductions of his drawings are exhibited in the Anatomical Hall. Animated images show the interaction of various muscles, bones and tendons. The iconic Vitruvian Man, assembled from LED strips, sets the ideal proportions for human painters.

Copies of the great canvases can be seen in the Hall of Mirrors, another invention of the brilliant Italian. A person who has got here finds himself in a crowd of his own reflections face to face with La Gioconda or Saint Jerome.
In the Da Vinci Laboratory, children and adults are exploring the laws of physics, trying to understand still unsolved drawings and build on them another masterpiece of technical thought. The lesson is incredibly interesting and rewarding.

Address: Florence, Via dei Servi, 66 / 68R.

The post Leonardo da Vinci Museum appeared first on Museo Sarteano.

What to see

The halls of the museum display medical instruments, telescopes, thermometers, globes, astrolabes, maps, various scientific instruments of the 15-19th centuries, as well as multivolume works of Renaissance scientists in physics and mathematics. On the ground floor, there is the Medici collection, which includes things of Galileo Galilei himself, and a number of valuable and rare artifacts from the 15th and 17th centuries, including the famous armillary sphere.

The museum houses two telescopes and an objective lens with which Galileo discovered Jupiter’s moons.
On the second floor, you can see items from the Lorraine era – experimental apparatus, chemical kits, electromagnetic instruments, microscopes, compasses, early mechanics and other intricate inventions of the great minds of the Renaissance. Most of the exhibits are in working order, each of them is a finished work of art – in those days, medical and scientific devices were made with style: inlaid with precious stones, decorated with delicate carvings and engravings.

The museum also has a library and a laboratory for multimedia applications, which translates scientific and historical research into digital.

Address: Florence, Piazza dei Giudici, 1.

The post Galileo Museum appeared first on Museo Sarteano.

The museum is located on the grounds of the church of the former monastery of San Gregorio della Pace, which Bardini turned into a neo-Renaissance palace.

What to see

The collection at the Bardini Museum is presented in terms of color and style rather than subject matter. On the high, bright ground floor, there are antique statues and parts of buildings, portals and plaster bas-reliefs. The walls of the second floor are painted in deep blue, on which old frames, collections of crucifixes and icons “Madonna and Child” from glazed terracotta look great.

Of the artistic canvases, the most outstanding historians call the painting “Archangel Michael” by Antonio del Polaiollo of the 15th century.

Particular attention is drawn to the ancient coffered ceilings, the 4 m high crucifix and the original statue of the famous Florentine Boar. Decorated with skillful painting, chests-shops will show how the medieval Florentine nobility kept wealth, collections of weapons, figurines and musical instruments are no less interesting.

Now the Bardini Museum is not only exhibition halls, but also restoration workshops.

Address: Florence, Via dei Renai, 37.

The post Bardini Museum appeared first on Museo Sarteano.