museum (n.)
A museum keeps and studies objects and makes them available to visitors. Its name goes back to the Greek Mouseion, a place connected with the Muses.12
In antiquity, such a place could be a shrine. The name could also belong to a school or a place of study. The Museum at Alexandria housed scholars who worked and discussed ideas there. They had a common dining hall and places to walk and talk. The Museum was separate from the city’s famous library.2
The modern museum still studies what it holds. Displaying objects is only one part of its work.
The museum has a collection of old maps.