Stuck at home? Take some virtual tours of famed museums
Marvel at the beauty of the Sistine Chapel
If your first stop when you are in a new city is its museums, then the current lockdown may have dampened your spirits as travel seems a distant dream. But take heart, there are still lots of virtual ways to see the world. Here are a few virtual tours of some the world’s greatest museums you can take – all you need is a stable internet connection.
The Louvre
The world’s largest art museum in Paris is a good place to start. The Louvre, has 7 free online tours that you can take including the ‘Egyptian Antiquities’ that showcases collections from the pharaonic period.
Check out ‘Exhibition: The Advent of the Artist’, where you can view paintings by Delacroix, Rembrandt or Tintoretto. Another virtual tour is called ‘Remains of the Louvre’s Moat’ where you can walk (click) around and examine statues closely. Then there is the ‘Galerie d’Apollo’ where you can experience the restored Galerie d’Apollo, which was destroyed by fire in 1661 and rebuilt by Le Vau. In this tour you scroll across the roof, which is a homage to the Sun King, Louis XIV. Another great virtual tour is called ‘Founding Myths: From Hercules to Darth Vader’ .
To take the tours visit: https://www.louvre.fr/en/visites-en-ligne#tabs
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
The Smithsonian, National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC has a 360 virtual tour of the entire museum. In addition you can also check out past exhibits that no longer exist in reality but have been cemented in the virtual world.
The current exhibits offer a wide variety; a few favourites are the David H. Koch Hall of Fossils – Deep Time, which looks at the mass extinction of dinosaurs, Ice Age extinctions, Evolution of life in the Ocean and Land. In addition, check out the David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins, Eternal Life in Ancient Egypt, the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals, the Kenneth E. Behring Family Hall of Mammals and much more.
For more information and for access to all the tours visit: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour
To experience the permanent exhibit visit: https://naturalhistory2.si.edu/vt3/NMNH/
Van Gogh Museum
This museum in Amsterdam houses the largest collection of works by the Dutch Master and thanks to Google we can take them in at leisure.
Google Arts & Culture is an online platform where you view high resolution images of cultural artifacts and paintings from Google Arts & Culture partners from around the world. Some of the sites such as the Eiffel Tower allow you to browse, almost as if you are walking around yourself.
Other museums to check out if you are an art buff are the National Gallery of Art (Washington DC), the National Gallery (London), British Museum (London), Old Masters Picture Gallery, Dresden State Art Museums (Germany) and Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art.
To visit the Van Gogh Museum: https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/van-gogh-museum
The Vatican Museum
If you are yearning to visit Rome and the Vatican, take a virtual tour of ‘Sala Alessandrina’, ‘Sistine Hall’, ‘Hall of the Papyri’, ‘Profane Museum’, ‘Pio Clementino Museum’, ‘Chiaramonti Museum’, ‘New Wing’, ‘Sistine Chapel’, ‘Raphael’s Rooms’, ‘Niccoline Chapel’ and the ‘Room of the Chiaroscuri’. Marvel at the beauty of the Sistine Chapel and take your time and virtually explore the museum.
To take the virtual tour visit: http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/tour-virtuali-elenco.1.html