International Council of Museums
Encyclopedia
The International Council of Museums (ICOM) is an international organization of museum
s and museum professionals that is committed to the conservation, continuation and communication to society of the world's natural and cultural heritage
, present and future, tangible and intangible.
maintaining formal relations with and having a consultative status with UNESCO
. As a non-profit organization
, ICOM is financed primarily by membership fees and supported by various governmental and other bodies. Museums and individuals who are members are part of a network with newsletters, and free or reduced entry to each others' museums. It carries out part of UNESCO's programme for museums. Based in Paris
, France
, the ICOM Headquarters houses both the ICOM Secretariat and the UNESCO-ICOM Museum Information Centre. ICOM provides the policy basis for the operation of the .museum
("dot-museum") top-level domain.
ICOM comprises international committees that focus on certain types of museums (e.g. art museums, military museums, transport museums, ethnographic museums) and national committees that represent all the member nations. The international committees meet annually, as does the executive committee, while there is a full general conference of ICOM every three years. The first meeting was held in Paris in 1948. In recent years, General Conferences have been held in Seoul
in 2004 (the first meeting in Asia
), in Vienna
in 2007, and in Shanghai
in 2010.
ICOM-CC aims to promote the conservation, investigation and analysis of culturally and historically significant works and to further the goals of the conservation profession.
ICOM-CC is built up of specialist Working Groups (See Specialties within the field under Art conservation), which actively communicate with their members through newsletters, meetings and at the Triennial Congress.
The Triennial Congress brings the membership of ICOM-CC together to report and to review current research. Over a thousand papers have been published in the peer reviewed Congress Pre-prints in the past twenty years.
CIDOC has defined a Conceptual Reference Model (also known as the CIDOC CRM
), which provides
a formal and extensible ontology
for cultural heritage information.
It is currently an ISO International Standard (ISO 21127).
body of the International Council of Museums (ICOM). The purpose of IAMAM is to establish and maintain contact between museums and similar institutions, and to foster the study of
objects within those fields.
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
s and museum professionals that is committed to the conservation, continuation and communication to society of the world's natural and cultural heritage
Cultural heritage
Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...
, present and future, tangible and intangible.
Overview
Created in 1946, ICOM is a non-governmental organizationNon-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
maintaining formal relations with and having a consultative status with UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
. As a non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
, ICOM is financed primarily by membership fees and supported by various governmental and other bodies. Museums and individuals who are members are part of a network with newsletters, and free or reduced entry to each others' museums. It carries out part of UNESCO's programme for museums. Based in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, the ICOM Headquarters houses both the ICOM Secretariat and the UNESCO-ICOM Museum Information Centre. ICOM provides the policy basis for the operation of the .museum
.museum
museum is a sponsored top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet used exclusively by museums, museum associations, and individual members of the museum profession, as these groups are defined by the International Council of Museums .In joint action with the J...
("dot-museum") top-level domain.
ICOM comprises international committees that focus on certain types of museums (e.g. art museums, military museums, transport museums, ethnographic museums) and national committees that represent all the member nations. The international committees meet annually, as does the executive committee, while there is a full general conference of ICOM every three years. The first meeting was held in Paris in 1948. In recent years, General Conferences have been held in Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
in 2004 (the first meeting in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
), in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
in 2007, and in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
in 2010.
Committee for Conservation (ICOM-CC)
ICOM-CC is the largest of the International Committees of ICOM with over 1,500 members worldwide from every branch of the museum and conservation profession.ICOM-CC aims to promote the conservation, investigation and analysis of culturally and historically significant works and to further the goals of the conservation profession.
ICOM-CC is built up of specialist Working Groups (See Specialties within the field under Art conservation), which actively communicate with their members through newsletters, meetings and at the Triennial Congress.
The Triennial Congress brings the membership of ICOM-CC together to report and to review current research. Over a thousand papers have been published in the peer reviewed Congress Pre-prints in the past twenty years.
Committee on Documentation (ICOM-CIDOC)
CIDOC focuses on the documentation requirements and standards of museums, archives, and similar organizations. It has over 750 members in 60 countries.CIDOC has defined a Conceptual Reference Model (also known as the CIDOC CRM
CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model
The CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model provides an extensible ontology for concepts and information in cultural heritage and museum documentation. It is the international standard for the controlled exchange of cultural heritage information...
), which provides
a formal and extensible ontology
Ontology
Ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality as such, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations...
for cultural heritage information.
It is currently an ISO International Standard (ISO 21127).
International Association of Museums of Arms and Military History (IAMAM)
The International Association of Museums of Arms and Military History (IAMAM) is an affiliatedbody of the International Council of Museums (ICOM). The purpose of IAMAM is to establish and maintain contact between museums and similar institutions, and to foster the study of
objects within those fields.