Tracing the development of the museum concept from the opening of The Louvre to the launch of Tate Modern, this accessible and succinct publication explores the museum’s role and evolution within society. Encompassing curatorial, scholarly, political and cultural spheres, this volume addresses the concept of the museum from a variety of influences. In the first section, Schubert looks at the complex history of the museum in specific cities during critical moments; for instance, New York between 1930–50 as the Metropolitan Museum expanded and the Museum of Modern Art was founded. The second section focuses on the success and unprecedented development of the museum in the 1980s and 1990s in Europe and the United States, highlighting the need for cities and institutions to revise their programs in response to a surge of interest in the arts. The newly completed final section looks at the museum’s current predicament ten years after The Curator’s Egg was originally published in 2000, exploring the museum's evolution in a post 9/11 environment.