.museum is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) used exclusively by museums, museum associations, and individual members of the museum profession, as these groups are defined by the International Council of Museums (ICOM). In joint action with the J. Paul Getty Trust, ICOM established the Museum Domain Management Association (MuseDoma) for the purpose of submitting an application to ICANN for the creation of the new gTLD, and to operate it if the application was approved. The .museum domain was entered into the root of Domain Name System on 20 October 2001, and was the first sponsored top-level domain to be instituted through ICANN's action.
The fundamental premise underlying this domain is that Internet users will derive clear benefit from a segment of the TLD namespace being reserved for the use of museums as defined by the museum community, itself. This will enable a user uncertain about how to recognize the digital projection of a bona fide museum, to verify the origin of material on the basis of the domain in which it originates. Conversely, this provides museums with means for conveying trust, intermediate between attributes conveyed in-line with content, and formal third-party certification.
In addition to the eligibility requirements specified in the .museum charter, a number of naming conventions apply to the labeling of subdomains. Extensive support is also being introduced for internationalized domain names, as described at about.museum.
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