This course will familiarize students with museum history and museum studies. Museums as we know them are relatively young institutions that emerged during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. We will trace the history of collecting and collections from the 16th to the 21st century in order to discuss how practices of collecting, functions of collections and target audiences changed over time. Secondly, we will analyse different types of museums, from history museums to science museums. Finally, the course will introduce methodological approaches in museum studies as theoretical and practical tools to explore with the history of material culture.