A private museum is a collection, usually on a very limited topic and operated by individual enthusiasts, collectors, clubs or companies.

Overview

Unlike a public or governmental

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

, a scientific monitoring and systematic documentation is not always guaranteed. Therefore, a private museum has relevance for historical research only if it complements the national collections. Under certain circumstances, a private museum also receives funding from the state, so that a comparison with

public museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

s is possible. Many, especially smaller, private museums do not meet the requirements of the

International Council of Museums The International Council of Museums (ICOM) is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to museums, maintaining formal relations with UNESCO and having a consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Founded in 1946, I ...

(ICOM). The main reason is that qualified personnel are not sufficiently available or can hardly be financed and therefore often only very limited opening times may be offered. Often private museums focus on entertainment and have a tourism focus. Their collections are on display for the public to enjoy.

References

External links

Private Museums, Local Collections. Research Report
– a report focusing on people who run private museums in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

Types of museums Collecting {{museum-stub