Key Concepts of Museology - ICOM

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objects. The museum institution,
created and maintained by society,
rests on a collection of standards
and rules (preventive conservation,
forbidden to touch objects or display
substitutes while presenting them
as originals) which are founded on
a value system: preservation of heritage,
presentation of works of art
and unique pieces, the dissemination
of current scientifi c knowledge, etc.
Emphasising the institutional nature
of museum thus means strengthening
its normative role and the authority it
has in science and the fi ne arts, for
example, or the idea that museums
remain “in the service of society and
its development.”
3. In contrast to the English, which
does not precisely differentiate
between them (and in general to the
way they are used in Belgium and in
Canada too), the terms institution and
establishment are not synonymous.
Museum, as an institution, is different
from museum as an establishment,
a specifi c concrete place: “The
museal establishment is a concrete
form of the museal institution”
(Maroević, 2007). One should note
that questioning of the institution,
even purely and simply denying it (as
in the case of Malraux’s imaginary
museum or the fi ctitious museum of
the artist Marcel Broodthaers) does
not mean that it has left the museal
fi eld, in so far as the museal fi eld can
extend beyond the institutional framework.
In its strict sense, the term
virtual museum (existing in essence
but not in fact) takes account of these
museal experiences on the margin of
institutional reality.
This is why in many countries, in
particular in Canada and Belgium,
people use the expression ‘museal
institution’ (institution muséale) to
identify an establishment which
does not have all the characteristics
of a traditional museum. “By museal
institutions, we mean non-profi t establishments,
museums, exhibition and
interpretation centres which, besides
the functions of acquisition, conservation,
research and management of
collections that some may carry out,
have in common that they are places
of education and dissemination
dedicated to the arts, history and the
sciences.” (Société des musées québécois,
Observatoire de la culture et des
communautés du Québec, 2004).
4. Finally, the term ‘museal institution’
can be defi ned, like ‘fi nancial
institution’ (the IMF or the
World Bank) as all the national or
international bodies which govern
museum operations, such as ICOM
or the former Direction des musées
de France.
DERIVATIVES: INSTITUTIONAL, MUSEAL INSTITUTION.
CORRELATED: ESTABLISHMENT, PUBLIC DOMAIN,
PUBLIC OWNERSHIP, PUBLIC TRUST, VIRTUAL MUSEUM.