LONDON'S MUSEUMS

WHAT´S A MUSEUM?

A museum is a non-profit, permanent institution public or private that it´s used to acquire, conserve, research, communicate and exhibit the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment. –Definition by ICOM, International Council of Museums-

Museum goes to the Greek  language “Μουσείον”, and the Latin language “museum”.

The first museums were in the old Greece. They were temples that which  kept cult objects. These objects were showed to the rest of the people by the priest once or twice  a year, but the museums like we  know today come from the Renaissance, but all  oldest museum at the present  have been built in the 18th century.

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BRITISH MUSEUM

The British Museum was founded  as a public institution in 1753, and it is one of the first and older European museums. The origin was a private collection of Sir Hans Sloane, a doctor and naturalist. This collection had over 40,000 books, 70,000 manuscripts, Durero pictures, and Roman Greek Egiptian and medium Orient vestiges.

The British all by 20,000 pounds and to obtain this money the British Government did a public lottery.

The British museum opened his doors to the public on 15th January of 1753, in the Montagu house. So due to the growth of the collections the managers made a decision , move the museum to another building ,the actual headquarter,and destroy the older in 1845.

At the beginning , every person who wanted to see it, had the obligation of writing a letter to obtain a special permission to visit it. When they obtain the entrance, they only had two hours to look everything. Today you can visit the museum from Monday to Friday every week of the year with a free entrance.

From its opening up to now, the museum  had been only closed  twice, during the two World Wars, and the works were just moved to avoid the air raids over London in the WW II, in fact a bomb destroyed the Duveen room, where it was the Partenon collection. This room was  restored in 1962 and you can  visit it today.

As well,  due to the great volume of natural works,   they were moved to another place in 1887, and this BM branch became an independent museum, Natural History Museum in 1963.  Also it happened with the British Library, by the same reason.  

More than 7 million objects from around the World  held in the museum, most of them are holding there to be studied or restored. In fact not all the works are shown to the people, they are in  underground rooms because the museum  has not enough  room to exhibit them.

Sources:

http://todomuseos.blogspot.com.es/2009/09/museos.html

http://es.wikipedia.org

 
This is a list of  the London's museums. We are going to ask you some questions about your knowledge of it.

If you need, you can investigate in these links to get familiar with them.

British Museum
Science Museum
Tate Gallery
Victoria & Albert Museum
National Gallery
Imperial War Museum
Natural History Museum
National Maritime Museum
London Transport Museum
Museum of London

1

In which museum do you think is located this picture?
a)British Museum
b)Natural History Museum
c)Museum of London

This picture is like a family photograph in older times. What are the differences between this picture and a portrait of a family nowadays?

2

Where can you find this stone?
a)British Museum
b)Natural History Museum
c)National Gallery
Why is this stone so important?

3

Where could you find this device?
a) Science museum

b) Tate Modern

c) Victoria & Albert Museum.

Can you guess the use of this device? Give your ideas.

4

Where is located this machine?

a) Victoria & Albert Museum.
b)  Museum of London
c) Science Museum
Do you know what the appliance is for? A clue, you use it in household tasks.

5

Where are located these items?
a) Imperial War Museum
b)  Museum of London
c) Science Museum
What are they for?

6

Where are located these pieces ?
a) Victoria & Albert Museum.
b)  Museum of London
c) Tate Gallery
And now, can you make a guess about their usage?

7

Where could it be located? Give your reasons
a) Tate Gallery
b)  Science Museum
c) British Museum
What is your opinion about this well-known masterpiece?