Widzialne i wyobrażone – historia muzeum jako przedmiot wiedzy. Na marginesie pierwszego tomu Muzeum. Historii światowej Krzysztofa Pomiana
The Visible and the Imaginary – Museum History as an Object of Knowledge. Remarks on the First Volume of “Le Musée, une histoire mondiale” by Krzysztof Pomian

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the recently published Polish translation of the first volume of Le Musée, une histoire mondiale by Krzysztof Pomian, placing it in the context of Pomian’s previous research on human beings’ relationship with time and objects. The essay recalls Pomian’s insights into the influence of material culture on the imagination of societies and his reflections on history as a discipline of knowledge. In this context, Pomian’s main theses on the nature of collecting are discussed, that is, the understanding of a collection as a place where the symbolic meanings of objects are created and multiplied, constituting unique ways of conceptualising and visualising the invisible. The essay also discusses the points in the history of collecting that mark the transition from a private collection to a public, secular museum, namely the history of the Capitoline collection in Rome and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. It emphasises the shift inherent in the transition of collections from the hands of individuals to the ownership by legal entities and thus political bodies, thereby reorienting collections from the past to the present.

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