Museums
A museum is an institution that protects, keeps, studies and shows historical monuments to the public. Museums arose from people’s wish to gather valued objects and leave them to later generations; at first valuable objects were kept in temples; in Europe collections grew from the Renaissance onwards, and many museums were later opened on their basis. Objects put on show are exhibits, and their ordered set is a collection. Famous world museums include the Louvre in Paris (once a royal palace), the Hermitage in St Petersburg, the British Museum in London and the Uffizi in Florence. In Uzbekistan there are the State Museum of the History of Uzbekistan (Tashkent; its collection holds hundreds of thousands of items), the State Museum of the History of the Temurids, opened in 1996, and museums of art and of the culture of peoples. In the Temurids Museum Amir Temur’s motto “Rosti-rusti” (“Truth is salvation”) is written. Many museums are united in the International Council of Museums (ICOM), which works with UNESCO. In a museum we must not touch exhibits and must keep order.
“Class museum”: each pupil brings one safe family keepsake (an old photo, a book), writes a label, builds a collection and gives a “tour”.