The huge number of museums in the Allier department (the former Bourbonnais province) accounts for the qualitative and quantitative diversity of their collections. Indeed, there is more than one museum in a district or one for less than ten towns. These collections reflect the evolutions that took place all over France: for instance, the gradual development of the collecting phenomenon or the way the collections were exhibited to the public; the history of the museum, that is to say, an institution with a teaching aim, relying on legislative and statutory texts – the last law, “Loi musées”, was ratified in 2002 – and more generally, the notion of heritage and its diversification since the 20th century.
