According to the dictionary a museum is

“a building in which objects of historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural interest are stored and exhibited.”

Museums can be visited by anyone. Some you pay to enter and others are free. Typically it is the larger national or council run museums that have free entry and smaller independent museums that charge. This is because of the difference in funding sources of national museums compared to private ones.

Some museums are themselves an historic site, this could include a castle or an historic house. Other museums are modern buildings which may have been purpose built to contain a collection.

Famous museums

There are some very famous museums across the UK. Some you may have heard of include:

• Natural History Museum
• Victoria and Albert Museum
• National Railway Museum
• National Football Museum
• National Museum of Scotland
• The Royal Armouries
• Beamish (Living History Museum of the North)

Each one of these museums has its own unique collection of objects.