The museum is an untranslatable concept, a European idea that has been exported since the 18th century. If we compare the architecture of different European museums, we can see that they are very similar. We can then hypothesize that these museums, while having a strong dimension of national affirmation (National Gallery, British Museum, National Gallery, etc.), were nonetheless part of the same transnational history, since they looked at each other, copied each other, had the same architects, and so on. It is this transnational history of museums in Europe that lies at the heart of this series of lessons. This transnational dimension is all the more relevant as European museums host objects from more or less distant regions, such as Egyptian antiquities or nail figures from present-day Congo.
Five questions will be addressed in each session:
1) The diaspora of objects, i.e. the fragmented presence of objects of similar origin in museums around the world.
2) The migration of ideas and museological models, which circulate as much as works of art, but by other means.
3) The question of modes of acquisition, which have been similar throughout history, but which also constitute "modes" (in the sense of trends), changing habits.
4) Moments of crisis for museums, such as wars, which force museums to react in similar ways - hence a transnational history.
5) The quasi-permanent presence, from the early 19th century onwards, of national rhetoric and transnational practices.
