Museum reproductions, reproduction museums

Once upon a time, museums proudly displayed reproductions. Galleries of casts were integral to museums' mission of education and enlightenment, allowing visitors who might never have a chance to travel abroad to behold everything from Roman reliefs to canonical masterpieces of Renaissance sculpture. Most museums have long since sold off their casts, but one of the greatest collections is still intact in the Victoria & Albert's Cast Courts.

Far less well known is the Mesopotamian Museum in Chicago, profiled
here. Founded in 1997, its collection mostly consists of 110-year-old casts after objects in the British Museum, which are now on permanent load from Harvard's Semitic Museum.

Posted by David on July 6, 2003 10:42 AM