Ship Model as a Museum Object

Ship models are the part of a significant number of collections of domestic and foreign museums. Such objects are the primary sources of knowledge and emotions, true monuments of history and culture, but often belong to the group of reproductions of museum objects, that is, reduced copies of original objects. The article analyzes the questions of the definition of ship models, correlates the definitions of these items in different sources. The author considers the model of the ship from the point of view of the functions and properties of a museum object, asserts their value as originals of significant historical and cultural significance, monuments of science and technology, objects of arts and crafts, ethnographic sources. The novelty of the research lies in the study by the author of the ship model from the point of view of the theory of the museum object. This allows us to consider ship models from other, not generally accepted positions, and consider them full-fledged museum objects, which, along with originals, have the same set of properties, qualities and features. The main conclusions of the study are, firstly, that the models of ships and vessels in the collections of museums are not secondary in relation to other material sources, and secondly, that such objects fully correspond to the concept of "cultural values", are source of knowledge and emotion.