Introduzione

Museums and Contexts, the first volume in the series The Ages of the Museum, presents sixteen contributions divided into four thematic sections. The first, dedicated to the role of museums in the construction of cultural and national identities, explores the relationship between institutions, civic memory and identity-building processes. The second explores the contribution of private collecting to local memories and the formation of museum collections, highlighting networks, transfer dynamics and cultural sedimentation that have often remained on the margins of historiography. The third section addresses historicised displays and re-displays, demonstrating how exhibitions and museums have contributed to shaping critical and historiographical narratives and how exhibition and presentation choices influence the perception of material data. Finally, the fourth section focuses on museums, communities and cultural policies, questioning the most recent transformations of the museum institution in light of the challenges posed by participation, inclusion and the redefinition of its social role. These four distinct paths converge in demonstrating how the history of the museum is not only the history of buildings, collections or exhibition devices, but also the history of the narratives and meanings that the museum produces, transmits and negotiates over time.