One lifetime is too short to visit everywhere and meet everyone. That‘s why we love books with a strong sense of place — they let us travel the world in our imagination. In each episode of our Strong Sense of Place podcast, we explore one destination and talk about what makes that place different from everywhere else. Then we recommend five books that took us to that place on the page. Every other week, we share The Library of Lost Time, a mini-pod that features two new books and our Distraction of the Week. We‘re on a trip around the globe, one great read at a time. Please join us!
All content for Strong Sense of Place | Travel Through Books is the property of Melissa & Dave and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
One lifetime is too short to visit everywhere and meet everyone. That‘s why we love books with a strong sense of place — they let us travel the world in our imagination. In each episode of our Strong Sense of Place podcast, we explore one destination and talk about what makes that place different from everywhere else. Then we recommend five books that took us to that place on the page. Every other week, we share The Library of Lost Time, a mini-pod that features two new books and our Distraction of the Week. We‘re on a trip around the globe, one great read at a time. Please join us!
Museums: A Gathering of Muses, A Clutch of Curators [re-post]
Strong Sense of Place | Travel Through Books
1 hour 9 minutes
2 months ago
Museums: A Gathering of Muses, A Clutch of Curators [re-post]
Museums are where we put our best stuff. An item might belong in a museum if it’s rare, expensive, irreplaceable, or so ordinary and beloved it becomes extraordinary. A self-portrait by Vincent Van Gogh, a can of SPAM, a Romanian mud hut, a narwhal horn, a discarded red stiletto: They can all be found in a museum somewhere in the world.
But exhibitions in museums are more than mere collections of striking items. Museums are vital institutions that take on the tasks of collecting, interpreting, and caring for artifacts so they can be experienced by the general public.
The Ancient Greek word mouseion means ‘seat of Muses.’ In classical antiquity, a museum was a place for contemplation and philosophical debate. When art moved from the open air, larger-than-life statuary of the Greco-Roman era to more intimate, human-scale paintings and objects, the definition of museum changed, too. It became a place to visit to see art — and anything placed in a museum became art.
In this episode, we romp through the delightful hoarding behavior behind Renaissance Wunderkammers, learn about the first museum curator (spoiler: It was a woman!), and celebrate the majesty of the Louvre. Then we recommend books that transported us to museums around the world.
Here are the books we recommend on the show:
A Little History of Art by Charlotte Mullins
A Parisian Cabinet of Curiosities: Deyrolle by Prince Louis Albert de Broglie
Cabinets of Curiosities by Patrick Mauriès
How to Enjoy Art by Ben Street
Metropolitan Stories by Christine Coulson
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith
For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes at http://strongsenseofplace.com/podcasts/2022-07-18-museums
Do you enjoy our show? Do you want access to awesome bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon! Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Strong Sense of Place | Travel Through Books
One lifetime is too short to visit everywhere and meet everyone. That‘s why we love books with a strong sense of place — they let us travel the world in our imagination. In each episode of our Strong Sense of Place podcast, we explore one destination and talk about what makes that place different from everywhere else. Then we recommend five books that took us to that place on the page. Every other week, we share The Library of Lost Time, a mini-pod that features two new books and our Distraction of the Week. We‘re on a trip around the globe, one great read at a time. Please join us!
