Museums

Although interest in collecting artworks and historical objects began long before the Renaissance, the collection and display of cultural items took on new meaning in the Renaissance. In the Middle Ages, rulers often displayed gems and other precious objects to show their power and authority. They did not view collecting as a cultural activity. The idea of the museum as a place to house culture and knowledge emerged only in the Renaissance, promoted by the attitudes and values of humanism*.

With their passion for antiquity*, humanists encouraged collectors to seek out coins, statues, manuscripts, and other artifacts* from ancient Greece and Rome. Many early collectors, such as Cosimo de' MEDICI in Florence and Isabella d'ESTE in Mantua, kept their treasures in their libraries. By the mid-1500s the material considered worth collecting had expanded from ancient artifacts to items related to many fields of knowledge. For example, the European discovery of the Americas spurred interest in collecting natural and cultural objects from the New World. The use of the word museum for these Renaissance collections was inspired by the great Museum of Alexandria, which supposedly held all of the knowledge of the ancient world. The word also referred to the nine Muses, mythological guardians of the arts and sciences.

Renaissance collectors saw themselves as inheriting the role of ancient encyclopedists (collectors of knowledge) such as the Greek philosopher ARISTOTLE and the Roman scholar Pliny. Collecting allowed them to see the changes in knowledge that had taken place since ancient times and gave them a more complete view of classical* culture. Eventually these private collections took on a more public and social role. By the 1600s, visiting the most famous museums, known as "cabinets of curiosity," became part of the travels of Europe's educated upper classes.

Despite the popularity of these private collections, few of them survived the death of their creators. Usually, the collector's family sold the pieces and divided the profits. As a result, people began to leave their collections to cities to preserve them. This reflected a growing understanding that museums should be public institutions run by the state.

However, the early state-controlled museums were not necessarily open to the public. For example, in the late 1500s Florence's Uffizi galleries were a set of state office buildings taken over by the grand duke Francesco I as a space for his favorite collectibles. The privilege of viewing the collection was usually limited to family members and diplomats. Only over time did royal collectors and governments see museums as valuable public institutions and open them to all visitors.