Although the museum as a building dedicated to the exhibition of works of art—generally under public administration—is a modern concept, collections of works of art have been recorded since ancient times. Many ancient religious temples housed works of art, either as decoration or as offerings to divinity, so to a certain extent they acted as museums. In the Hellenistic period, some of the first art collections appeared that were close to the modern sense of collecting works for conservation: thus, Attalus I of Pergamon stored in the acropolis of his city various works of art from the temple of Aphaia in Aegina and other places; Ptolemy I of Egypt founded the Museum of Alexandria (Museion), the first of that name, in honor of the Muses. Collecting passed to Rome, where the patricians liked to treasure works of art in their villas, sometimes opening them to the public, as Gaius Fabius Pictor and Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa did.[6].
In the Middle Ages, works of art were kept mainly in churches, where parishioners could contemplate them, but for a didactic and communicative purpose, far from aesthetic contemplation. Collecting revived during the Renaissance, especially in Italy, where the nobles and princes of Italian cities opted for art as a means of social prestige. Lorenzo de' Medici again adopted the name Museum for his collection in Florence, and from then on the term made a fortune and spread everywhere.[6] At this time it was common for patrons to acquire works of art for their private collections: Philip II of Spain was one of the greatest collectors of his time, with a special interest in the work of Titian and Hieronymus Bosch; His nephew, Emperor Rudolph II, was not far behind, and assembled a large collection of works of art and objects of all kinds. This desire for patronage and collecting extended to the decorative arts, which led to an increase in the production of tapestries, jewelry, glassware, metalwork, porcelain, furniture and other objects.[10] Numerous aristocrats and ecclesiastical hierarchs collected works of ancient art that they placed in galleries of their palaces or in their gardens: a good example was the Garden of Statues made by Bramante for Julius II in the Patio del Belvedere (1506), which included works such as the Laocoon or the Apollo del Belvedere; or the Casa de Pilatos "Casa de Pilatos (Sevilla)") in Seville, made largely by donations from Pope Pius V. On the other hand, in Sabbioneta the first structure specifically designed to display collectibles, in this case antiques, was built in Sabbioneta between 1583 and 1590.[11].
During the Baroque, the desire to accumulate works of art, as well as objects of all kinds, increased: in the Kircheriano Museum, founded by Athanasius Kircher in 1651, both works of art and stuffed animals, scientific objects, musical instruments, Egyptian and Roman antiquities, and other objects were preserved. The same thing happened with the collection of Elias Ashmole, origin of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford (1683), which brought together art with samples of animal, plant and mineral species. Baroque patronage increased the magnificent nature of the commissions, generally from royalty. Monarchs such as Philip IV of Spain or Louis
Over the centuries, numerous aristocrats had galleries built in their palaces for the collection of works of art, which, although private, were usually shown to a small public.[13] The Enlightenment had a notable influence on the concept of public culture and urged numerous monarchs to make their art collections accessible to the public. A significant event was the French Revolution, which promoted the installation of the royal collection and numerous works of art confiscated from aristocrats and religious people in the Louvre palace, which thus became the first public museum under state administration. Opened in 1793, the neoclassical painter Jacques-Louis David was appointed as its first director. Along with this, a collection of French paintings was created in the palace of Versailles - the Louvre was initially dedicated to Italian -, as well as the Museum of French Monuments, which remained until 1815. Toulouse.[15].
In , Napoleon Bonaparte practiced an intense policy of patronizing the arts thanks to the numerous works confiscated during his conquests, especially those obtained thanks to the suppression of monastic orders in Italy. Most of these works ended up in the Louvre, called the Napoleon Museum between 1803 and 1815.[14] Napoleon also promoted the founding of museums in the conquered countries, such as the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (1806) and the Brera Pinacoteca in Milan (1809).[16] With the Restoration of the Bourbon dynasty, museum sponsorship by the monarchs: Louis XVIII founded the Luxembourg Museum in 1818, now the Museum of Modern Art. Charles X, Louis Philippe I and Napoleon III successively enlarged the Louvre.[14].
The French example spread to numerous countries, even without revolutionary processes. By the end of the 19th century, several museums had been opened thanks to royal patronage, such as the Uffizi Gallery in Florence (1765) and the Habsburg collection in Belvedere Castle (1778), the origin of the current Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. In Rome, the popes promoted the establishment of their collections as museums: Capitoline Museums (1734), Pinacoteca Vaticana (1750), Museo Pío-Clementino (1773-1787).[11] But it was with the Napoleonic Wars that the concept of public museums expanded, thanks especially to the national promotion provided by these institutions. Thus were created the Gallery of the Academy in Venice (1817), the Prado Museum in Madrid (1819), the Altes Museum in Berlin (1830), the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (1836), the National Gallery in London (1838), the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg (1849) and others.[17] In this century the first buildings explicitly intended for public museums began to be built, generally in the style neoclassical fashionable at the time.[13].
In the United States, between the centuries and centuries, numerous museums were created thanks to the interest in creating its own heritage, in a country that did not have its own historical-artistic tradition. The majority were privately founded and were nourished thanks to the donations of wealthy donors who thus satisfied their interest in personal promotion. The majority were works of European origin, but also American and Asian, which constituted some of the best current collections, located in museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (1870), the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (1870), the Art Institute of Chicago (1879), the Detroit Institute of Arts (1885), the Cleveland Museum of Art (1913), the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1929) and the National Gallery of Art in Washington D. C. (1937).[16].
In Germany, after the Altes Museum, a series of museums were promoted in Berlin located on the so-called Museum Island (Museuminsel), located on the island of the Spree: Neues Museum (1855), Nationalgalerie (1876), Kaiser Friedrich Museum (1904), Pergamon Museum (1930). Another notable new building was the Gemäldegalerie in Dresden (1855), the work of Gottfried Semper, also the author of the new building of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (1891).[18]
Throughout the period, museums became increasingly specialized and museums dedicated to various branches of art, such as decorative and applied arts, emerged: the first of this genre was the South Kensington Museum in London (1852), now the Victoria and Albert Museum. These museums acquired notable didactic work, related to schools of arts and crafts. On the other hand, museums dedicated to the major arts (painting and sculpture) became increasingly dissociated from the art academies, which had notably collaborated in their foundation, due to the growing discredit of the latter as they became obsolete due to their defense of classical art and their refusal to accept contemporary art.[18].
Also in this century, local museums appeared, small municipal or regional institutions that promoted works from their geographical areas. This occurred especially in countries like Italy, due to its polycentric character and its late national unification, or Spain, especially thanks to the acquisition of a relevant heritage derived from the confiscation of Mendizábal in 1835. Another type of museums were those of an ecclesiastical nature, promoted by the Church to publicize its art collections. For all these types of new museums, rather than buildings built ex novo, historical buildings that were converted into museums were used, especially in the case of artists' houses museumd after their death (house-museums).[18].
In , avant-garde art questioned the work of the traditional museum, which they saw as an ossified institution, in the face of new forms of art promotion such as temporary exhibitions and art galleries.[18] This promoted the modernization and restructuring of museum collections: museums dedicated exclusively to contemporary art appeared, sometimes in new buildings built according to the guidelines of modern architecture. Along with the permanent exhibitions, there was an increasing tendency to hold temporary exhibitions, and new services were offered, such as library, restoration, conferences, etc.[13] The collections were conceived according to more modern criteria, especially with regard to adequate lighting of the works.[18].
In this century, new museums appeared, some of them designed by the most prestigious architects: Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo (1937-1954), by Henry Van de Velde; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York (1934-1959), by Frank Lloyd Wright; the Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro (1954-1959), by Affonso Eduardo Reidy; the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin (1962-1968), by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe; the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona (1972-1975), by Josep Lluís Sert; the Pompidou Center in Paris (1972-1977), by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers; the High Museum of Art in Atlanta (1983), by Richard Meier; the New State Gallery in Stuttgart (1984), by James Stirling "James Stirling (architect)"); or the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (1997), by Frank Gehry. It is also worth mentioning the remodeling of the Louvre Museum carried out in 1984 by Ieoh Ming Pei.[19].
In recent times, museums have increasingly evolved into a type of multidisciplinary institution aimed at cultural activities, acting more as multipurpose centers than as containers for works of art. They are no longer mere spaces for the conservation and exhibition of works, but are increasingly open to all types of cultural dissemination activities, from temporary exhibitions and conferences to workshops, research work and cultural promotion, publications or experiences related to action art: performances, happenings, environments, "Installation (art)" installations, etc. The trend towards open-air museums has also grown, such as the so-called ecomuseums.[20] On the other hand, new techniques and media have been incorporated such as sound, photography, video, electronic art, computer science and others. All of this has diluted the old idea of the museum with a more open and dynamic concept, to the point of museums created without a collection, with the sole purpose of encouraging creation by the artist and public participation.[21].
However, on the other hand, a tendency has been observed to group museums or cultural spaces in a sense similar to the Enlightenment globalizing idea. Thus, museum areas have been created such as the so-called Madrid "triangle" (Prado, Thyssen and Reina Sofía), the museums on the banks of the Main in Frankfurt or the Museumsquartier in Vienna; or the so-called "museum cities", such as the Parc de la Villette in Paris or the Getty Center in Los Angeles.[22].
Finally, in recent times so-called "virtual museums" have emerged, based on cybernetic or computer graphics technology, such as the Ars Electronica Center in Linz, created in 1980. The last step has been the museum without a physical location, which offers online content through the Internet, such as WebMuseum or Web Gallery of Art.[23].
In 1947, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) was created with the sponsorship of UNESCO, an institution dedicated to the promotion and protection of cultural and natural heritage, present and future, material and intangible.[24].