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A virtual museum is an online website with a collection of objects (real or virtual) or exhibitions, but with no direct counterpart in terms of a real museum. They typically include historical and sometimes artistic content. Examples include the Virtual Museum of Computing and the external links below. Some are produced by enthusiastic individuals; others, like the UK's 24 Hour Museum and the Virtual Museum of Canada, are serious professional endeavours.
An early example an online exhibition with Library of Congress backing was the EXPO Ticket Office with exhibits including a Vatican Exhibit and even a virtual "restaurant" and "post office". This looks very simplistic now, but was novel in 1991.
Another early and notorious example was the WebMuseum, formerly known as the WebLouvre, and founded by Nicolas Pioch in France in 1994, while still a student. Once the real Louvre became aware of its existence, it was forced to change its name. It still provides an excellent resource of good quality art images and information.
The Lin Hsin Hsin Art Museum is an early example of a personal virtual art museum by a digital artist from Singapore, established in 1994. This virtual museum even includes a virtual "toilet"!
The genre of the virtual museum continues to develop. It is now recognized in the .museum domain hierarchy; see an online list from MuseDoma.
- Virtual Library museums pages
Other related archives.museum, 1991, 1994, 24 Hour Museum, France, Library of Congress, Lin Hsin Hsin Art Museum, Louvre, MuseDoma, Singapore, UK, Virtual Library museums pages, Virtual Museum of Canada, Virtual Museum of Computing, WebMuseum,
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Virtual museum", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page |
