Changes

The two oldest continuous museums are found in Rome, the Capitoline and Vatican Museums. The former was essentially a collection of Roman sculptures gifted by Pope Sixtus IV. Discovery of sculptures also inspired the Vatican museum, as Pope Julius II was inspired by the discovery to preserve the pieces in the Vatican's collections. This interest spawns an interest in the Classics in general and a rebirth of ideas and focus on the pre-Christian past. Soon, objects began to be collected not just by officials or religious figures but by wealth individuals. By the 16th century, a new era began, where large collections of artefacts were now collected for their sake, as interest in the past continued. In Europe, the so-called cabinets of curiosities began to be made, which were sometimes large private collections of ancient artifacts, fossils, or other remains that sparked interest in the past.