Discussion: From the Cabinet of Art and Curiosities to the Architectural Museum. Architectural Collections as a Reflection of Their Times

There is no record that building models or drawings were ever collectors’ items in antiquity. The earliest surviving three-dimensional representations of architecture are in the form of small sculptures that also include depictions of buildings. In the Middle Ages, ecclesiastical and secular princes were the only people who possessed cabinets in which objects of art and curiosities were preserved; and...