The Human Desire to Collect and Preserve the Extraordinary
The urge to collect rare, beautiful, or historically significant objects is deeply rooted in human nature. From ancient talismanic stones to ornate royal artifacts, sacred or exceptional objects have long held cultural and symbolic importance. Since the opening of the Ashmolean Museum in 1683, the role of museums has evolved dramatically. No longer mere cabinets of curiosity, museums have become powerful educational institutions responsible for the preservation, display, and interpretation of artifacts.
Michel Foucault argues that the museum is a product of the Enlightenment, embodying values such as critique, freedom, and progress, while simultaneously reflecting historical power structures. This study examines the historical trajectory of sacred objects—how they were preserved, venerated, and institutionalized in different cultures—and their transformation within the modern museum context.
Legitimacy and Authority: Weber’s Three Types of Political Power
According to Max Weber, all political systems must justify their power to maintain legitimacy. He identifies three ideal types of authority:
- Charismatic Authority – Based on the personal magnetism of a leader, who is seen as possessing divine insight, heroic abilities, or supernatural power. Followers obey not because of tradition or law, but due to the leader’s extraordinary qualities.
- Traditional Authority – Rooted in heredity and historical continuity. Monarchs and feudal lords claim legitimacy through ancestral rule. This system resists change and innovation.
- Rational-Legal Authority – Established through bureaucratic institutions and codified laws. Power is exercised not by individuals but by legal frameworks, ensuring accountability and efficiency.
These models often overlap in practice, shaping how societies preserve and sanctify objects of power.
The Meaning of Sacredness, Beauty, and Transcendence
The Latin origins of “sacred” (Sacer) denote something set apart, consecrated, or devoted. A sacred object may derive its significance from religion, history, national heritage, institutional protection, or public admiration. However, its sacredness is not inherent; it is constructed through cultural and historical processes.
Émile Durkheim views sacred objects as collective symbols, representing a society’s values and identity. Rudolf Otto describes sacredness as an irrational, non-sensory experience—both awe-inspiring and terrifying. Mircea Eliade expands on this, arguing that sacred experiences define sacred space and time, differentiating them from ordinary existence.
To understand the historical journey of sacred objects, we must examine how different societies have housed and honored them.
Three Historical Spaces for Sacred Objects
- The Temple: Home to Consecrated Objects
Throughout history, charismatic religious leaders have sought to validate their authority through sacred objects and spaces. Temples, shrines, and pilgrimage sites house offerings, relics, and ritual artifacts, often endowed with spiritual potency by worshippers.
Archaeological sites reveal early sanctuaries filled with dedicatory objects, distinct from everyday items. The Göbekli Tepe site in Turkey (11,500 years old) contains massive stone pillars with animal carvings, possibly representing anthropomorphic deities. In Iran, the Sheikhi-Abad site (9,500 years old) contains decorated animal skulls and clay figurines, suggesting early ritual practices.
From bronze ceremonial staffs in Luristan to Buddhist prayer wheels in Tibet, Christian crucifixes, and Shiite mourning standards, diverse cultures have designated objects as sacred through their presence in ritual spaces. These objects may be natural, handcrafted, or masterpieces of fine craftsmanship, but their spiritual value outweighs their material worth.
- The Palace: Repository of Objects of Distinction
As political power stabilized, rulers built grand palaces and fortresses, showcasing artistic, diplomatic, and war treasures. Possession of extravagant collections reinforced dynastic legitimacy and social hierarchy.
One of the earliest recorded royal collections belonged to the Elamite king Shutruk-Nakhunte (12th century BCE), who displayed Babylonian war spoils—including the Victory Stele of Naram-Sin, the Code of Hammurabi, and Kassite inscriptions—in a corridor adjacent to a temple in Susa. This collection, often considered the first museum exhibition, blurred the line between political propaganda and historical preservation.
Royal collections across history—from Troy and Egypt to Versailles and the Forbidden City—combined religious iconography, depictions of conquest, and symbols of elite status. Whether golden goblets, ceremonial thrones, or religious icons, these artifacts functioned to awe visitors and reinforce sovereign power.
- The Museum: Institutionalizing Sacredness
In the 20th century, museum theorists such as Benjamin Gilman argued that museums retain the essence of temples. Many modern museums are built on sacred sites, housed within former religious or royal buildings, or designed to evoke ancient temples. Walter Benjamin noted that even secular museum objects retain an aura of ritual significance.
However, the sacralization of museum artifacts differs fundamentally from religious veneration. In museology, objects gain significance through:
- Curatorial selection – Removing them from their original context to become part of an institutional narrative.
- Scientific preservation – Counteracting natural decay to create an illusion of permanence.
- Framing and display – Positioning objects within controlled environments that encourage focused contemplation.
The Mona Lisa at the Louvre, for example, has become an iconic pilgrimage site, despite lacking any original religious significance. Similarly, visitors at the Museum of Modern Art in New York experience a quasi-spiritual reverence, moving silently through its galleries, immersed in a ritualistic encounter with art.
The Museumization of Modern Art
While historically, religious institutions designated sacred objects, in modern times, the museum dictates what is “worthy” of preservation. This process has led to the elevation of everyday objects through artistic intervention:
- Marcel Duchamp’s Bicycle Wheel
- Man Ray’s altered iron (The Gift)
- Kurt Schwitters’ collaged newspapers
- Picasso’s Bull’s Head, made from a bicycle seat and handlebars
These objects, once mundane or disposable, gain cultural and symbolic prestige after being institutionalized within museum collections. The museum visitor who waits in line, pays an entry fee, and photographs a readymade artwork often perceives it as sacred within the museum, even if it would appear meaningless outside this context.
Conclusion: Museums as the New Temples
Museums have become modern sanctuaries, preserving objects once sacred, now historical. However, they also confer sacredness onto new objects, shaping cultural memory. The experience of encountering a prehistoric artifact, a Renaissance painting, or a conceptual artwork in a museum is inherently subjective and ritualistic, varying based on individual background, knowledge, and emotional engagement.
The modern museum pilgrimage, whether to the Louvre, the Met, or MoMA, echoes ancient spiritual journeys. In a secular world, museums serve as temples of knowledge and aesthetics, elevating objects through institutional recognition and curated reverence.
Sadr al-Din Taheri
For the full text, refer to the book “Entertainment in Public” Project
