Most of a Museum is Hidden
When touring a museum, you may think that you have seen every object and room in the building, yet in fact, many museums have many artifacts in storage. It is not uncommon for the number of objects in storage to dwarf the number of objects on display. Especially in museums with larger buildings, there may be significant space set aside for staff work areas, offices and storage for artifacts and other stuff (furniture for events, seasonal decorations, etc.). It is also common for museums to have offsite storage for collections and other equipment. I previously worked at the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, which had lots of non-public spaces, including basement workshops and studios for graphic design and collections care, in addition to offices and storage spaces. These spaces are important for the functioning of a museum, even if visitors may never see them. Many artifacts are kept in storage at museums as it is generally impractical to display them all, partly because of their s...