In an ideal world, museums across the world would be able to open to the public to peruse as they will, free of charge. Museums are a place to learn of our heritage, to understand different cultures and to showcase incredible research on all subjects from specific areas of our biology to rocks. However, to keep a museum open, it requires a lot of upkeep and a lot of money. Cleaners are needed, security is needed (for example to ensure valuable artefacts or artwork remain in the museum) and we need those in the know to write information sheets with different translations. That's aside from any utility bills. If we do not charge for entry to museums, this money needed to keep the museums open would have to come from somewhere. If visitors don't pay, the likley fall back would be to governments - and with the vast amount of museums there are, this would be a hefty bill to balance alongside the likes of healthcare.

Recently some German guests of mine expressed their surprise and delight that many museums of London are free. Being jaded, I answered that the permanent displays are free, but that you soon get bored of them as they seldom alter. However, the temporary (3-6 months) exhibitions are really expensive - up to £20 a ticket in some cases. But the parts that are free really are great and contain some stunning artworks and artefacts of historical interest, curated in interesting ways that capture the imagination. I certainly agree that national museums in other countries should contain free displays too. The Victoria and Albert Museum was founded in Victorian times on these very principles - good design should be available to view for free by anyone. In their case the idea was that craftspeople should have good design to inspire them, but I think that even if you are not an artisan, craftsperson or maker yourself it is always wonderful to see beautiful things, no matter what your income.

In the UK many major London museums are free and, since several contain artefacts from around the world, the fact that a global tourist destination like London gives free access to such things to the world populace is undoubtedly the right thing to do, if possible. However, museums are expensive. The cost of preserving and protecting not just the exhibits but the 80-90% of the collections that most museums hold that are not available to the public is considerable. And this cost must becovred, if not by visitors, then either by charitable donations or by the state. In the US a tradition of philanthropic giving by the rich to the arts and museums, plus ample tax breaks for donations, creates a good source of income for many large museums. In the UK national lottery grants and state grants tend to underpin the large free museums. However many smaller museums are forced to find income though charging for access, which then also makes them less appealing to visit.

Underpinning all of this is not simply the desirability of getting more people to visit museums but also the vital importance of preserving the material culture of human history. Museums play a similar role to zoos in natural history, in that they are not just a place to see and to learn but also have a role in preserving. Without museums actively maintaining precious artefacts from history many would decay or perish and be lost for ever. Keeping these items available for future generations (who may, with new technologies and techniques, be able to learn new things about our histor from them) is vital for us to understand our shared history. As such it's something that really should be paid for. Once a historical artefact is lost it's lost forever.

Free museums can encourage a positive attitude from the [ublic towards learning about, and ths preserving, our history. Also relying on charging the public, when this may discourage visitors, means that a museums ability to protect the artefacts that it is its duty to preserve, wil depend on its free market ability to sell itself, possibly not the best way to choose which, if any, of the artefacts of our shared hisory on the Earth should be preserved.