The word "Museum" can be traced back to ancient Greece, and its roots in the Greek word "Μουσεον" are related to a word we are all familiar with, that is, "muse". In ancient Greek mythology, the Muse was the goddess of youth who was in charge of the arts and sciences such as painting, music, and poetry.
Around the third century B.C., a museum named "Μουσεον" (Temple of the Muses) was erected on the land of ancient Egypt. It was built primarily to preserve and restore the countless precious works of art that were "displaced" during the war by King Alexander of Macedon during the conquest of Egypt.
During the Medici family's reign in Florence, the Medici family also generously sponsored artists and acquired a large number of private art treasures and antique books, accumulating countless curiosities. To display these collections, Cosimo (the second generation of the Medici family) transformed the first floor of the new Palazzo Pitti into an "antiquities house" dedicated to the display of large sculptures, and at the same time commissioned the famous architect Vasari to design and build an administrative office, the Uffizi, with a corridor running through the two places. In 1581, this monumental project was officially completed and became known as the Uffizi Gallery.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the English aristocrat Ashmolean was one of the outstanding representatives. He donated his life's collection of currency, badges, weapons, costumes, artworks, archaeological excavations, ethnic and folk relics, and various animal and plant mineral specimens to the University of Oxford, and asked the university to establish a "museum" to preserve and display the collection. In 1683, the Ashmolean Museum was opened to the public and had a ticket-buying system for entry.
The Ashmolean Museum is recognized as the world's first public museum, the first museum of modern significance, and the largest and most extensive university museum in the world.
In China, in 1905, the famous educator Zhang Jian established the Nantong Museum on the banks of the Hao River. He used his personal assets to build the museum near the Nantong Normal School he founded, and extensively collected the things of Chinese and foreign animal and plant miners, the gold and stone in the township, and the writing of the Ancestors.