Heritage Tours >> Museums

A museum is defined as a permanent institution involved in serving society and helping society in its development. A museum is open to the public and it acquires preserves, investigates, transmits and displays for the purposes of education, study, entertainment, intangible and tangible evidences of people and their surroundings. A museum can also be defined as a place which lets people explore collections for learning, enjoyment and inspiration. Collecting and safeguarding specimens and artifacts is the responsibility of these museums. There are innumerable museums all around the globe.

Museums gather and care for objects of artistic, historical or scientific significance and also avail them for public viewing through displays which may be temporary or permanent. Large museums are situated in major cities across the world and small ones are located in small cities. Most of the museums offer activities and programs for all kinds of audiences which include children, adults, families etc. Public programs comprise of tutorials or lectures by field experts or faculty of museum, dance or musical performances, films, technology presentations etc. as a common practice, museums focus on the culture of host region. New trends in museology have widened the scope of subject matter and have also brought in many interactive displays.

Museums are generally not run with the objective of making profit unlike galleries that involve in the sale of objects. There are non profits or non governmental museums, governmental museums and family or privately owned museums. Museums at present are one of the greatest resources for enhancing one’s knowledge as they provide information on culture, ethics, and other aspects related to a country.

Types of Museums

1. Art Museums An art museum or an art gallery is a place used for the exhibition paintings, sculpture, illustrations and art usually visual art. Collections of applied art consisting of metalwork, ceramics, artist’s books, furniture etc. can also be witnessed over here.

2. History Museums History museums wrap up the history knowledge and its connection to the future and the present. History museums consist of a wide array of objects which comprise of artifacts of all types, documents, archaeological objects and art.

3. Science Museums
Technology centers and science museums focus on scientific wonders and their history. Complicated inventions are explained using a blend of interactive programs, thought provoking media and demonstrations.

4. Maritime Museums
Museums which specialize in presenting objects that are related to ships and travelling on lakes and ships. They may consist of a historic ship but available as a museum ship.
There are many other types of museums which specialize in some way and attract visitors from all around the globe..

Museums In India