Museumization theory
Introduction
Museology (from the Greek μουσειόν = museión 'museum', place of the muses and λόγος = logos, reasoning, argumentation, speech) is a branch of the humanities that deals with museums, their history, their influence on society and conservation and cataloging techniques.
The first museums, called "Cabinets of Curiosities", emerged at the end of the century or during the Middle Ages, were piles of objects disconnected from each other, without classifying or indicating, that filled the entire space, causing a visual excess that practically did not bring with it information.
The concept of a museum, defined by Guillermo Budé in his Lexicon-Graeco-Latinum of 1554, as "a place dedicated to the muses and study, where each of the noble disciplines is concerned."
It will be at the end of the century when the Natural History Museum in London exhibits its objects scientifically organized, thanks to the classifications of Carlos Linnaeus.
Throughout the century, exhibition techniques incorporated advances in communication, until today, when museums can be considered multimedia.
Currently, the museologist works alongside communication and computer sciences. This written information must be short, journalistic style, but with scientific content. Television and computers have been incorporated to transmit content in a fun and effective way. The manipulation of objects became practically an essential condition of many museums, as well as the inclusion of technology that was for a time exclusive to amusement parks (dinosaurs to ride on, trains to travel through replicas of mines, etc.).
This, without a doubt, generates controversy, since not all museologists accept the inclusion of elements considered "mass culture" to bring the results of scientific research to the public, but the number of visits to museums that have accepted the incorporation of new technologies shows that this is the way to reconcile knowledge (previously considered) "erudite" with new ways of understanding.
Creation of Museums
The idea of creating museums as spaces open to the general public dates back to classical times, but publicly funded foundations and institutions only date back a few hundred years.
The cabinets of curiosities of the 2nd centuries would be the precursors of museums, based on private collections that were mostly dispersed, arbitrary and unclassified. After the enlightened movement of the s. The classic idea of bringing the work of compiling and studying the collections closer to the general public, not just the elites or privileged, will be taken up so that they could be viewed as a whole and in an orderly manner. This new conception would open the study of Art, inventions, History, objects, uses and traditions that are reflected in the material culture of the collections and would focus on the collection as the main element of the museum so that the visitor has an experience of learning and understanding through contemplation and discovery. Definitively opening knowledge to society.