Brighton Property Direct looks at the history of classifications

Brighton Property Direct has been looking at just how important the act of classification in museums is and how throughout the years these classifications can change and the debates that can surround how objects are ordered. Looking throughout history at the classification of objects we can see how the relationship between objects and knowledge develops and how this changes depending what period in time you are looking at
. If you look at Wikipedia it tells us that Taxonomy (classification) is the practise and idea of classification or the result of it and a taxonomy is a particular classification arranged in an hierarchical structure which can then be organised by dividing up the classifications into subsections. The way objects are presented to the visitor is also another form of classification so as you can see why this is an important idea in the museum industry. A good way to look at how people’s opinions of objects from their period in history can determine what objects they would choose to display is to have a look at the Enlightenment Gallery at the British Museum. The British Museum is not far from Brighton being only half an hour train ride and the Enlightenment Gallery shows visitors the museum and its collections and then tries to demonstrate our understanding of the how the world of human achievement and the world of nature has changed over time and it is shown in museums because of this. There are seven separate sections in The Enlightenment Gallery that look at different topics that were important in certain sections of history. Firstly there was Religion and ritual, then Trade and discovery, then the birth of archaeology, Art history, Classification, the decipherment of ancient scripts and Natural history. The word ‘enlightenment’ is important because Enlightenment was the age of learning and reason that flourished across Europe and America between 1680 and 1820. This amazing exhibition holds thousands of objects to show visitors how people in Britain understood their world during this period showing how the thought process in choosing objects and classifications is essential in the museum sector and is always continually developing and changing.