13 Museum

Museums are in reality temples of the Muses; they are buildings consecrated to the preservation and exhibition of valuable and interesting objects of art in its widest sense. Museums admit of a twofold classification. They may embrace practically every branch of study or they may be highly specialised. For instance, the British Museum, which belongs to the first category is one of the worlds biggest treasurehouse of books, manuscripts and specimens of art; on the one hand, there are millions of books on all conceivable subjects, from painting to hunting, from philosophy to angling and on the other hand, whole sections are reserved for the specimens of Egyptian Babylonian and Assyrian, Greek and Roman, Sino-Japanese and Art. Again, the Shakespeare Museum at Stratford exhibits every nianuscript and document, relating to Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, 51f we look at Museums from another point of view, we may classify them otherwise. First, there are the National Museums of which the British Museum and the national Museum of Washington

are the worlds most notable examples. Conceived and planned on a wide scale, they preserve and exhibit art-treasures of every variety and cater for the needs of the nation at large. The provincial Museums, on the other hand, cater more or less for the local needs; less expensive and more modesty planned, they are collections of those specimens of literature and relics of art which develop interest in local antiquities and parochial traditions. In Europe, there are, besides the great National Museums, numerous provincial museums as well as highly specialised museums. This is possibly due to the fact that the European peoples in general have a deeper and more living historic sense. An Englishman or an American, a Frenchman or a German or an Italian would not easily forget the past; he would rather cling to it with the tenacity of an antiquarian and love, in moments of leisure, to recall the past and derive strength and inspiration from it. Sometimes, therefore, this deep historic sense, coupled with the instinct for preservation of the relics of the past, has inspired the growth of several clubs and societies where lovers and admirers of a particular author, say, Emerson or Carlyle, Browning, Goethe or Dante, assemble and discuss the details of their life and works; the Browning Society, the Emerson Society and the Goethe Club all sprang up in the nineteenth century in response to this urge. Even the Russians in the days of revolutionary excesses of 1917 did not demolish the house and library of Prince Kropotkin, the socialist writer and thinker; they preserved them as a mark of respect to his memory. There is one fundamental difference between the our mind and the European. While we easily forget the past and turns a new leaf, the European hugs it and even guards it against the ravages of time. And yet we are generally more conservative than the Europeans. This is no doubt an interesting study in race psychology. But in spite of our lack of historical sense and understanding, we have museums of provincial importance such as the Lahore Museum. The Museum, of course, while preserving objects of general interest, have more or less a local appeal. The Lahore Museum is far and away the best; it attracts alike the scholar and the layman. Lahore Museum provides facilities for antiquarian and historical research as well as caters for all manner of people. In Russia, nothing remains the close preserve for the few; everything is made to serve all and sundry, museums also in Russia are extensively used for the education of the masses. Dr. Fowler urges that our Museums should be used as an instrument of mass education. Therefore, instead of establishing museums at fixed places such as Lahore or elsewhere, there should be, as in America, travelling museums in charge of competent itinerant lecturers; they should march throughout the length and breadth of our country, answering questions put by the public and

dispelling the darkness and ignorance and fighting heroic battles against our appalling illiteracy.