In the past museums often changed the meaning of icons or statues of deities from sacred to aesthetic or used them to declare the superiority of western society or simply as cultural and historical evidence the last generation has seen faith groups demanding to control their objects and curators recognising that objects can only be understood within their original religious context. Private lives and public duties by crispin paine see larger image published 03 28 2013 format paperback edition 1st extent 192 isbn 9781847887733 imprint bloomsbury academic illustrations 25 bw illus dimensions 6 1 8 x 9 1 4 list price 3695 online price 2586 saving save 1108 30 qty please note there is a 2 4 week delivery period for this title free us delivery on . Click on the article title to read more. The full text of this article hosted at iucrorg is unavailable due to technical difficulties. In the past museums often changed the meaning of icons or statues of deities from sacred to aesthetic or used them to declare the superiority of western society or simply as cultural and historical evidence the last generation has seen faith groups demanding to control their objects and curators recognising that objects can only be understood within their original religious context in