Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2016 September 10

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September 10

Museums in European city

what is the European city that have the greatest number of museums?--79.18.192.181 (talk) 10:23, 10 September 2016 (UTC)

According to World Cities Culture Forum, Paris has 26 national museums and 286 other museums (total of 312) plus 1,151 art galleries. [1] London has 13 national museums, 202 other museums, (total of 215) plus 857 art galleries. [2]. Museum figures for Rome are "not available" apparently, but there are 200 art galleries. [3] Nowhere else seems to come close, so it's a gold to Paris and silver to London, which my money was on before I started searching. Alansplodge (talk) 13:30, 10 September 2016 (UTC)

It probably doesn't affect the ranking, but I would guess that many of the large number of "art galleries" in Paris and London are actually art dealers, who often name their shops as galleries. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 07:58, 11 September 2016 (UTC)

See A-Z of London Galleries and Museums lists hundreds; while some are undoubtedly commercial undertakings, many (perhaps a majority) are not. A random sample finds The Aram Gallery which is "an independently curated space that encourages and promotes understanding of contemporary design. We do this by exhibiting the work of designers in their early careers... The Aram Gallery is a non-commercial space". There seem to be masses of similar galleries without any permanent collections, while others are supported by charitable trusts or local authorities and may show works from a single bequest. Alansplodge (talk) 15:32, 11 September 2016 (UTC)

So the two largest urban areas in Europe have the most museums? Who'd'a thunk it? - Cucumber Mike (talk) 06:46, 12 September 2016 (UTC)

That list is for the European Union (London will be excluded sometime soon) but I think Moscow is the biggest by any other measure. Alansplodge (talk) 09:47, 12 September 2016 (UTC)

ru:Музеи Москвы claims there are more than 400 private and state-owned museums in Moscow. The full listing is at www.museums.ru. --Ghirla^-трёп- 07:09, 14 September 2016 (UTC)

Your last link has an advertisement asking if I want to buy the domain name! I suspect that 400 includes art galleries. Alansplodge (talk) 19:46, 14 September 2016 (UTC)

Mall loophole

What legal loophole is this video[4] talking about? Pizza Margherita (talk) 21:45, 10 September 2016 (UTC)

It has to do with the "accelerated depreciation" introduced with the Internal Revenue Code of 1954. Explained in "The Terrazzo Jungle" by Malcolm Gladwell, for instance. ---Sluzzelin talk 22:01, 10 September 2016 (UTC)

Holy shit you're quick. Thanks a lot!!! Pizza Margherita (talk) 22:07, 10 September 2016 (UTC)

And, of course, WHAAOE and all that ... : accelerated depreciation (and holy shit :-) ---Sluzzelin talk 22:09, 10 September 2016 (UTC)

Resolved