The Museum by Owen Hopkins (Quarto Publishing Group) 5 Stars

Publication date 21/11/21 Book 320 Pages

I would like to thank the author, publishers and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book to review.

Synopsis

Visited by millions around the world every year, discover the untold story of The Museum, one of mankind’s most essential creations. Using examples of the greatest cultural institutions to shape the narrative, this book outlines the history of the museum movement, tracking the evolution from princely collections in Europe and the Enlightenment’s classically inspired temples of curiosities, via the public museums of the late nineteenth century, on to today’s global era oficonic buildings designed by the world’s leading architects. Over the course of five chapters filled with stunning imagery that highlights the beauty of these venerated buildings, the origins of key institutions are revealed, including: Louvre Metropolitan Museum of Art British Museum Tate Modern Hermitage Guggenheim Smithsonian Institute Acropolis Museum Also outlined are the motivations of the architects, curators and patrons who have shaped how we experience the modern museum, a cast that includes names such as King George II, Napoleon, Henry Clay Frick, Peggy Guggenheim, Andrew Carnegie, Alfred Barr, Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Courbusier, Frank Gehry, Richard Rogers, Nicholas Serota and Zaha Hadid. By examining how these venues became intrinsic to our shared cultural experience, analysing the changing roles they play in society and questioning what the future holds in a digital age, this book is for anyone who has stood in awe at the spectacle of a museum.

My Review

This book was amazing in every way. You could tell from the start this book was very well researched and packed full of very interesting facts. The author did an epic job of marrying together aspects of architecture, history, photography, art, politics and social interactions. Creating this spectacular book. The layout of the book was brilliant looking at the changing dynamics of museums through time both in the buildings themselves, the collections they hold and the change of social classes using them. What's more I learnt so much while reading this book. You never think while visiting a museum how much work or how many people are actually involved in creating that museum experience its just mind blowing reading about it. I mean there are even court battles over ownership of pieces. I was astonished just how many museums there are in the world and how they have changed across the years. I just loved looking at how the architecture changed as new buildings materials are created and tested. I loved learning about the ownership of museums pieces and how there were many controversial issues. This book was packed full of beautiful photographs and so much wonderful information that I had days of fun reading this book and learning new things you might never of thought about before. This is a brilliant book that would interest so many different types of people, even my 9 year old was showing interest at the photographs in the book saying cool. So much praise goes to the author and publishers for creating such a wonderful experience while reading this book it just blew me away. I really do hope to read more from this author.