Why do museums help teach us about the past?

Answer 1

Museums which contain artifacts from the past can help us to gain insight into the people who lived before us. What is most important about museums is that they allow the objects and artifacts to speak directly to us, which is very different from learning about the past from what other people tell us.

In an art museum, for example, we can look at works that speak directly to us, without someone else's interpretation interfering with the communication. We are allowed to make up our own minds about how we feel, what we think and what the artist might be saying through the work of art. Museums allow us to experience the past for ourselves.