History of Interaction between Museums and the State

The article explores the origins and evolution of museums as social institutions, their functions in society and interaction with the state, starting from antiquity and ending with modernity. The author emphasizes that the need to preserve important information arose among mankind long before the appearance of languages and writing, and the first artifacts representing meaningful signs of communication date back to the IX millennium B.C. The article focuses on the fact that in different historical periods, states acted mainly as keepers of histori-cal artifacts, without showing active interest in their understanding and dissemination of information about them. However, over time and the development of science as an activity, the function of museums began to transform from a simple accumulation of information into knowledge bases. With the transition to post-industrial societies, museums are increasingly given the role of not only storing and demonstrating, but also actively producing knowledge. The article emphasizes that a modern museum should act as a “knowledge base”, which, in turn, requires active interaction with the state and society in order to fully perform these func-tions.