Museums serve to educate the public. They accomplish this by collecting, preserving, interpreting and displaying items of artistic, cultural and scientific importance. Additionally, museums can also be the means of entertainment. A museum community is seen by the leadership as an economic growth tool due to the revenue that museums earn and employment for members of the community. On the other hand, a museum is viewed by professionals as a way of educating the public on history and environmentalism.
Many large museums like the Smithsonian Institution are respected research centres. However, research is not their main purpose currently. Museums focus on the interpretation of artefacts, their protection and preservation for future generations. All artefacts displayed in museums are important to our culture, that is why a lot of expertise, care and expenses are invested towards preserving these artefacts. The purposes of museums vary from one museum to another. While some are for education purpose, others are specifically for preservation. For instance, in the 1970s, the Canada Science and Technology Museum had the sole purpose of preservation of exhibits. They displayed objects as well as their functions. One exhibit featured a historic printing press that a staff member used for visitors to create museum memorabilia.In addition, some museums are different in that they can accommodate larger audiences while other smaller ones like the state museum can only cater for smaller visitors. Museums can be themed depending on the requirements outlined in the mission statement. The fragility of artefacts is the cause for restrictions of having physical contacts with the artefacts in the museum. Tampering with some artefacts may decline their value.
The most visited museums include:
National museum of China in Beijing, China
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, United States
Vatican Museums, Vatican City in Italy, Rome
National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC, United States
Tate Modern Museum in London, United Kingdom
British Museum in London, United Kingdom
National Gallery in London, United Kingdom
Natural History Museum in London, United Kingdom London
American Museum of Natural History, New York City, United States
National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. United States
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. United States
China Science and Technology Museum, Beijing, China
State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Zhejiang Museum, Hangzhou, China
National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C. United States
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom
Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain
National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, China