A museum is a "permanent institution in the service of society and of its development， open to the public， which acquires， conserves， researches， communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment， for the purposes of education， study， and enjoyment"， as defined by the International Council of M[1] The UK Museums Association definition (adopted 1998)[2] is:“ Museums enable people to explore collections for inspiration， learning and They are institutions that collect， safeguard and make accessible artifacts and specimens， which they hold in trust for ”There are tens of thousands of museums all over the For a relatively short list， see the List of The museums of ancient times， such as the Musaeum of Alexandria， would be equivalent to a modern graduate The modern meaning of the word can be traced to the Museum of Pergamon in Anatolia， which displayed he design of museums has evolved throughout Interpretive museums， as opposed to art museums， have missions reflecting curatorial guidance through the subject matter which now include content in the form of images， audio and visual effects， and interactive Some of these experiences have very few or no artifacts and do not necessarily call themselves museums; the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia， being notable examples where there are few artifacts， but strong， memorable stories are told or information is In contrast， the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC uses many artifacts in their memorable Notably， despite their varying styles， the latter two were designed by Ralph Appelbaum AMost mid-size and large museums employ design staff for graphic and environmental design projects， including In addition to traditional 2-D and 3-D designers and architects， these staff departments may include audio-visual specialists， software designers， audience research and evaluation specialists， writers， editors， and preparators or art These staff specialists may also be charged with supervising contract design or production Notable commercial exhibition design firms include Ralph Appelbaum Associates， C&G Partners， ESI Design， Burdick Group， André & Associates Interpretation & Design Ltd， Metaphor Limited， and At Large Museum and Exhibition D
