The passage below is adapted from an essay about the history of museums:
Line Passage
1 In the mid-nineteenth century, public museums underwent a significant
2 transformation in how they displayed their collections. Previously, these
3 institutions functioned primarily as "cabinets of curiosities," where private
4 collectors crammed unrelated artifacts, fossils, and artwork into single rooms
5 with little order. However, as public funding increased, curators began to
6 organize objects chronologically and by geographic origin. This shift was
7 intended to educate the general public rather than merely entertain wealthy
8 patrons, turning museums into structured spaces of learning.
9
10 A key figure in this transformation was Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, who
11 organized the Royal Museum of Nordic Antiquities in Copenhagen. By dividing
12 artifacts into the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages, Thomsen established the
13 three-age system of archaeology. This system was not just a convenient storage
14 method; it provided a visual timeline of human technological progress, allowing
15 visitors to comprehend historical evolution at a glance. Thomsen's method was
16 soon adopted across Europe, permanently altering the field of public museum
17 exhibitions.
Based on the passage, which of the following statements best describes the main idea of Paragraph 2 (lines 10-17)?
- AIt outlines the mid-nineteenth-century shift in public museums from private entertainment spaces to public educational institutions.
- It explains how Christian Jürgensen Thomsen's three-age system transformed museum exhibitions by visually representing human progress.Answer
- CIt states that Christian Jürgensen Thomsen organized the Royal Museum of Nordic Antiquities in Copenhagen.
- DIt argues that archaeological artifacts from the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages are the most valuable items in European museum collections.