Encyclopedic museum

Encyclopedic museums are large, mostly national, institutions where objects from all over the world, representing different cultures are kept in one building or a complex of buildings. They offer visitors an abundance of information on a variety of subjects that tell both local and global stories. The aim of encyclopedic museums is to provide examples of each classification available for a field of knowledge. Some scholars note the importance of encyclopedic museums in building civil society, especially given the significant number of people living outside their country of birth. They argue that these institutions benefit society by exposing visitors to a wide variety of cultures, fostering a sense of shared human history. However, other scholars and archaeologists critique encyclopedic museums, contending that they remove cultural objects from their original settings, thus losing their context