220041 Curating the Past: A Global History of Museums from Antiquity to the Present (S) (WiSe 2026/2027)

This course offers a comprehensive historical overview of museums as institutions, tracing their development from ancient collections and early modern cabinets of curiosity to contemporary, globally interconnected museum landscapes. It introduces students to key moments in the formation and transformation of museums, examining how their functions, audiences, and epistemological frameworks have evolved over time.

By situating museums within broader political, cultural and intellectual histories, the seminar highlights their role as sites of knowledge production, representation, and authority. It also invites critical reflection on museums as historically contingent institutions shaped by empire, nation-building, and shifting regimes of value, as well as by current debates on inclusion, restitution, and the ethics of display.