Key Concepts of Museology - ICOM

I NTRODUCTION
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The museum world has evolved a great deal over the years, both
in terms of its functions and through its materiality and the main
elements upon which its work is built. In practical terms, museums
work with objects which form their collections. The human element
is obviously fundamental to understanding the way museums work,
as much for the staff working within the museum – the professionals,
and their relation to ethics – as for the public for whom the museum
is intended. What are the functions of museums? They carry out
an activity that can be described as a process of musealisation and
visualisation. More generally, we speak of museal functions, which
have been described in different ways over time. We have based our
research on one of the best known models, crafted at the end of the
1980s by the Reinwardt Academie in Amsterdam, which recognises
three functions: preservation (which includes the acquisition, conservation
and management of collections), research and communication.
Communication itself includes education and exhibition, undoubtedly
the two most visible functions of museums. In this regard it seemed to
us that the educational function had grown suffi ciently over the past
few decades for the term mediation to be added to it. One of the major
differences that struck us between earlier museum work and today is
the growth in the importance attached to notions of management, so
we thought that because of its specifi cities, it should be treated as a
museum function. The same is probably true for museum architecture,
which has also grown in importance to the point where it sometimes
upsets the balance between other museum functions.
How does one defi ne a museum? By a conceptual approach
(museum, heritage, institution, society, ethics, museal), by theoretical
and practical considerations (museology, museography), by its functions
(object, collection, musealisation), through its players (professionals,
public), or by the activities which ensue from it (preservation, research,
communication, education, exhibition, mediation, management,
architecture)? There are many possible points of view which have to
be compared to better understand the museum phenomenon, which is
rapidly developing, the recent evolutions of which cannot leave anyone
indifferent.