HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM CONCEPT AND CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES: INTRODUCTION INTO THE DEBATE ON THE NEW ICOM MUSEUM DEFINITION

The topic discussed in the paper is the change and evolution the concept of museum (Greek: museion, Latin: musaeum) has been undergoing for over 2500 years, as well as many of its different meanings: from the definition of a spot in space, including a place of worship, up to the name of learning form, research and knowledge centre, collection of texts and poetry, music and theatre festival, synonyms of a dictionary and encyclopaedia, library and a secluded study spot, up to large institutions co-creating culture and educating socially. Once museums had become social institutions, the process of defining their organizational form and their mission limits began. The International Council of Museums (ICOM), as an organization grouping museum employees and museologists, namely both practitioners and theoreticians, ever since its establishment in 1946 has on a number of occasions initiated works on a shared definition of museum. The paper assembles all the ICOM-proposed definitions in 1946–2007 presented both in English and Polish. The latest proposal submitted at the Kyoto ICOM General Conference on 7 September 2019 (Annex 1), however, for the first time aroused a heated debate and was not finally voted on by the ICOM General Assembly; instead, the debate has continued on the proposed phrasing since. The historical overview of the museum concept and the history of the ICOM museum definition presented against the opinions of invited Polish museum professionals is the ‘record of time’, documenting the considerations on the role and tasks of museum in contemporary society.