Period room

A period room is a display that represents the interior design and decorative art of a particular historical social setting usually in a museum. Though it may incorporate elements of an individual real room that once existed somewhere, it is usually by its nature a composite and fictional piece.^[1][2] Period rooms at encyclopedic museums may represent different countries and cultures, while those at historic house museums may represent different eras of the same structure.^[3] As with the glamorization of luxury in costume drama, this can be considered as a conservative genre that traditionally privileges Eurocentric elite views.^[4]

Period room entrance hall from the 18th century Van Rensselaer Manor House originally located in Albany, New York - now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection.

Period kitchen in a tenement house museum

In the 21st century, the focus has shifted toward using period rooms in new ways^[5] or in diversifying them.^[6]