Observe, touch, measure and describe the relevance of the Museum in the experimental development of Science and History

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Diferents. Revista de museus, núm. 9 (2024)
pdf (Español (España)) epub (Español (España))
Published: Dec 11, 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.6035/diferents.7851
Keywords:
Museums, Material Culture, Science, History

Main Article Content

Gonçalo Amaro
Museu de São Roque y Instituto de História Contemporânea-Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Portugal)
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0075-2117
André Costa
Doctor en Historia Económica por el ISEG-Universidade de Lisboa (Portugal)
https://orcid.org/0009-0000-7794-0285

Abstract

This paper is based on a reflection on the origin and evolution of museums throughout History. It argues that museums do not necessarily result from a linear evolution from Chambers of Wonders to National Museums, but are the result of a broad competition, between different political entities and different epistemological projects. On the one hand, the evolution of science and the development of Christian theology after the Protestant Reformation combined in a fascination for the accumulation and description of objects. On the other hand, the transformation of History and Archaeology itself, as material culture-driven disciplines, fuelled a scientific conception of the Museum. The paper identifies a fundamental line of the rise of the Museum: the protection of objects/relics, not only as a memory of the past, but as a bridge between the past and the future, where the new, the unknown, other cultures, and new artistic creations constantly expanded the conceptual universe of the Humanities.

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How to Cite
Amaro, G., & Costa, A. (2024). Observe, touch, measure and describe: the relevance of the Museum in the experimental development of Science and History. Diferents. Revista De Museus, (9), 46–63. https://doi.org/10.6035/diferents.7851
Issue
No. 9 (2024): Diferents. Revista de museus
Section
Articles
Author Biographies

Gonçalo Amaro, Museu de São Roque y Instituto de História Contemporânea-Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Portugal)

Degree in history and archaeology from the New University of Lisbon and PhD in archaeology from the Autonomous University of Madrid. He is a visiting professor at the Master of Cultural Heritage of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and researcher at the Institute of Contemporary History of the New University of Lisbon. Author of books and articles in scientific journals from various countries on archaeology, heritage, material culture and museums, including the books Pessoas, Objetos e Sentimentos. Ensaios e Reflexões sobre a Construção Social do Património, Edições Colibri, 2015 and La Trama de los Objetos, RiL Editores, 2017. Has worked in various museums in Portugal and Chile. He is a member of the board of ICOM Portugal since 2020.

André Costa, Doctor en Historia Económica por el ISEG-Universidade de Lisboa (Portugal)

Studied history at the University of Évora and at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of the New University of Lisbon. Worked at the Institute of Social Sciences and received a doctorate in economic history from ISEG, University of Lisbon. He has published Os Vícios dos Escritores, 2017 and As Cinco Grandes Revoluções da História de Portugal, 2019 (both in Desassossego). He writes for LER magazine and has a weekly program, Crónicas Portuguesas, on RDP Internacional since 2017. He wrote one of the volumes of the collection Portugal, Uma Retrospectiva, Público/Tinta-da-china, published in 2019. He collaborated in the construction of the Quake-Centro do Terramoto in Lisbon, open since 2022.

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