Museology: The Art of Collecting Objects

During the course, students will explore the history of collecting objects, and through museum visits in Florence, they will learn that most of the artwork displayed in public museums once belonged to private collectors and were not produced to be seen by the general public. The course will start with the review of the sacred collections of Classical temples and will then move to the libraries of Medieval monasteries and the ideas of the Abbot Suger. The course will also explore the growth of European National Museums of the nineteenth century (such as the Louvre, British Museum, and Museums Island in Berlin) as symbols of national pride, and it will highlight how the Florentine private collections were transformed in foundations like the Bardini and Horne Museums. An in-depth study will be done from the late 16th century to the present day, and students will investigate the role of museums in the contemporary world while conducting personal research of the visitors of Florence's main museums.