From "Museology"
The first museums
Ashmolean Building, Oxford, UKThe museum has a long history. The Old Ashmolean Building itself was completed in 1683 as the world's first museum open to the general public, housing the collection of Elias Ashmole (1617-92). As well as Ashmole's collection, the building also encompassed a broad range of activities associated with the pursuit of 'natural knowledge'. 'The Museum' as originally conceived institutionalized a new way of learning about nature that emerged in the seventeenth century, with experimental philosophy being pursued in a chemical laboratory in the basement and lecturing and demonstration taking place in the School of Natural History on the middle floor. Only in 1924 with the gift to the University of the collection of Lewis Evans (1853-1930) did the Museum begin to take on its present role as a Museum of the History of Science, with Robert T. Gunther (1869-1940) as its first curator.
Le Louvre , France
Fondé en 1793 par la République française, le musée du Louvre constitue, avec l'Ashmolean Museum (1683), le musée de Dresde (1744) et le musée du Vatican (1784), l'un des tout premiers musées européens. Le Louvre n'était nullement destiné, à l'origine, à devenir un musée. La "salle des antiques" que Henri IV avait fait aménager au rez-de-chaussée de la Grande Galerie n'était pas accessible au grand public non plus que le Cabinet des dessins du roi, créé en 1671, ou celui des tableaux du roi, réservé à quelques privilégiés. Du jour où, sous Louis XIV, le Louvre se vide de l'essentiel de ses occupants, sa vocation de "palais des arts" paraît s'imposer aux yeux des artistes résidents et des académies. Dès 1747 est émise l'idée d'un palais des Muses, ou "Muséum", où l'on pourrait voir les collections royales. La notion de musée, toute nouvelle alors, appartient au même courant de pensée que l'Encyclopédie et la philosophie des Lumières. A partir de 1779, achats et projets muséographiques montrent l'imminence de la réalisation.
The Dresden State Art Collections
Saxony's electors and kings were passionate art collectors and acquired art treasures of immeasurable value over the centuries. With the royal treasure chamber, Elector August laid the foundation in 1560 for the first Dresden collection, which was already one of the most famous attractions in Europe in the 17th century. The collectors' items grew rapidly in numbers and variety, so that it already became necessary to found specialised museums in the 18th century. The collections have been property of the state since 1924 and today make Dresden one of the most important museum cities in Europe. The best-known museum of the Dresden State Art Collections is almost certainly the Old Masters Art Gallery in the Semper Museum Wing of the Zwinger, whose most famous exhibit is the Sistine Madonna by Raffael. The New Masters Gallery in the Albertinum on the Brühl Terrace presents important works from the Romantic period to the present day. The same museum building currently also houses the Green Vault, the world-renowned, materially most valuable German collection with over 3000 precious artefacts. The subjects of the further 25 Dresden museums range from transport to military History, from technical innovations to books. Needless to say, notable special exhibitions are also held regularly in Dresden.
The Vatican Museums
Very rightly the fine arts, by their very nature, are oriented toward the infinite beauty of God which they attempt in some way to portray by the work of human hands; they achieve their purpose of redounding to God's praise and glory in proportion as they are directed the more exclusively to the single aim of turning men's minds devoutly toward God. SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM , 122
References
Ashmolean Building, Oxford, UK
http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/index.htm
Le Louvre
The Dresden State Art Collections
http://www.dresden.de/rooteng/culture/03/0301.html
The Vatican Museums
http://www.vatican.va/museums/index.htm
http://WWW.0100101110101101.ORG/home/vaticano.org