ABSTRACT
It is almost 2,500 years since the earliest debates emerged on the phenomena that would later shape the long life of the museum as an educational institution, a place of heritage commemoration, and a platform for public discussion and culture-based therapy. Another topic of debate was to what extent ethics is a product of advanced human civilization or a genetically encoded arrangement of social relations? 1 Two decades ago these questions were joined by a new one: What makes the physical and social space of the museum so special as to elicit such high attendance? The remarkable queues forming outside these often unprofitable, knowledge- and cognition-oriented places are among the most interesting psychological, social and perceptual phenomena about museums.
