About muses & museums
I am Electricka, Muse Of the Worldwide Web©. Here, I explain the
significance of what it means to be one of my breed—a
muse. I expound my vision and explain why my vision is a modern-day museum.
the shrine of the Muses
To me, a museum is a shrine. It's a visionary thing. It's my vision. Why?
In the modern world a museum is a building, place, or
institution devoted to the acquisition, conservation, study, exhibition, and
educational interpretation of objects having scientific, historical, or
artistic value. It is a place dedicated to the preservation of the artistic
and cultural treasures of mankind.
The ancients had a similar view of the nature of a museum. In fact,
the notion of a museum was invented in Ancient Greece, where it was
defined as a building or place where works of art, scientific specimens, or other
objects of permanent value are kept and displayed. The Greek word for
museum, mouseîon, which is the origin of the modern word for museum,
derives directly from the very first museum on earth, the
scholarly institute founded in Alexandria about 280 BCE.
So, why is my vision a museum? Literally translated, the Greek word for museum,
Mouseion, means
shrine of the Muses; it is derived from mousa, meaning muse.
Thus, to the Greeks a museum is a place sacred to The Muses, a building
devoted to learning and the arts. Our modern word for museum is
derived directly from ancient Latin, who got their word from the Greeks; the
ancient Romans usually followed the Greeks when it came to culture and the
arts.
Moreover, in ancient Greece a place that was devoted to learning was a sacred
place, a place where muses reside. Therefore, in ancient Greece, any place devoted to learning
and the arts was called a museum—a muse
place!
Now you see why museums—all museums—are places sacred to
me and the muses. When you visit a museum, you enter a holy place, one
sacred to the gods!
How fitting
this is for me and my cohorts! Why? Just consider the nature of my sisters,
the ancient muses. Who were they? Each muse was one of the nine daughters of Mnemosyne
and Zeus and therefore a goddess. That meant that each muse was sacred.
- For more about muses, visit The Muse Of Mythology's page called
What's A Muse?: click here
In fact, the ancients so revered learning—the sciences
and the arts—they felt that each science and art
itself was sacred. Since the Greeks believed that the muses, sciences, and arts
were all sacred, it was quite natural that they apotheosized the sciences
and arts by appointing a different muse to preside over each of them.
About Museums in the modern world
Just think about this for a moment: Just as in the past, museums all over the world
today are places where
The Muses reside, places where goddesses live. Every time you step into a
museum you are entering a scared space!
By metaphor, this is as true for virtual spaces as for physical ones made
of steel and concrete.
That's why these pages of
my web are especially near and dear to my heart and
to those of my modern cohorts.
In their own way, the pages of my web site are as much my museum
as was the first academy of learning, the Library of Alexandria. They fulfill
my vision of a future golden age when computers and the Internet are fully
at the service of the arts, a time when art and technology meet, match, and
marry. In these, the pages of my web site, my modern and ancient sisters offer a place for the
acquisition, conservation, study, exhibition, preservation, and educational
interpretation of the artistic and cultural treasures of mankind. And in
this, we are not alone. Many
other web sites on the Internet share this undertaking.
Great Galleries & Museums of the modern world
The Muse Of Fine Arts invites
you to explore galleries, museums, and their holdings as they exist and
operate today at the feature called Great Galleries And Museums Of The World.
This is the place at Electricka's
web site where you can clock into, examine, and explore works of Fine Arts
and other objects exhibited and safeguarded by actual and virtual museums.
At this feature you can also explore topics related to museums and
galleries such as museum profiles, art conservation, patronage, and the
like.
Explore the brilliant art on display at the great real and virtual
galleries and museums of the modern world. There's never an entrance fee.
- Visit The Muse Of Fine Arts invites
you to visit the feature called Great Galleries And Museums Of The World:
click
here.
ETAF recommends
...Coming.
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