# Who invented the museum? Why?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-museum-why/550767>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 19, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-museum-why/550767 "2010-08-19T18:26:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-museum-why/550767/1 "2010-08-19T18:26:54Z")

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Who invented the modern museum? Why?

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**Author:** ![qpw3141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/6bbea6/32.png) [@qpw3141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qpw3141)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-museum-why/550767/2 "2010-08-19T18:37:39Z")

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They were originally private rooms where people would show off their collections of this and that.

The first public museums in the world opened in Europe during the 18th century and the Age of Enlightenment (Wikipedia)

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**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-museum-why/550767/3 "2010-08-19T19:38:25Z")

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Here’s one of the first in the United States:

> **[Peale Museum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peale_Museum)**
>
> The Peale, located in Baltimore, Maryland, is Baltimore's Community Museum. Its mission is to evolve the role of museums in society by providing local creators and storytellers with the space and support the need to realize a complete and accessible cultural legacy for the city of Baltimore. In August 2022, The Peale held a grand re-opening ceremony after the completion of a five-year restoration process.
> The Peale occupies the first building in the Western Hemisphere to be designed and built ...

> **[common-place-archives.org](http://www.common-place-archives.org/vol-04/no-02/semonin/)**
>
> This domain may be for sale!

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**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-museum-why/550767/4 "2010-08-19T20:43:16Z")

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The precursors to museums were [“Cabinets of Curiosities”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wunderkammer). I always liked the German word for them, “Wunderkammer”. As **qpw3141** notes, they were owned by wealthy individuals who wanted to show off their rare objects (acquired at great expense, naturally.)

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**Author:** ![qpw3141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/6bbea6/32.png) [@qpw3141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qpw3141)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-museum-why/550767/5 "2010-08-19T22:34:19Z")

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> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> Here’s one of the first in the United States:
> 
> [Peale Museum - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peale_Museum)  
> [http://www.common-place.org/vol-04/no-02/semonin/](http://www.common-place.org/vol-04/no-02/semonin/)

And [**Here’s**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_museum) an even earlier one in Engerland.