Humans have a long history of preserving artifacts of the past. The ancient Greeks coined the term “mouseion” when they first built a temple in honor of “the Muses,” goddesses who watched over the arts and sciences. The Greeks filled their temples with both sculptures and scholars. Subsequently, this tradition was emulated in regal treasure houses, where the spoils of war found their place in the grand halls of palaces and the enclosures of royal menageries.
Some of the oldest public museums in the world opened in Italy during the Renaissance, generally believed to have begun in the country during the 14th century. Tracing its origins all the way back to 1471, when Pope
