LOCKDOWN: Five international museums to visit online
If you enjoy museums, now is the time to visit museums across the world who have virtual tours.
Without leaving the comfort of your own home, you can view some of the most famous, and interesting, museums for no more that the cost of your data.
While there are a number of museums offering the tours, here are five that we think you may enjoy.
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
This one tops the list if you have children who love animals and natural history.
The museum is administered by the the Smithsonian Institution and located on the National Mall in Washington, DC, USA.
It is one of the most visited museums in the world.
The museum opened in 1910 and the building was specifically designed to house the Smithsonian’s national collections and research facilities.
The museum’s collections contain about 145 million specimens of plants, animals, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, human remains, and human cultural artifacts, which makes it one of, if not the, largest natural history collection in the world.
There are also over 180 professional natural history scientists’ work on the ground floor studying natural and cultural history from around the world.
Take a tour, which is also offered in VR if you have the correct browse / mobile device and headset, of the Hall of Mammals, Insect Zoo, Dinosaurs and Hall of Paleobiology to name a few.
The virtual tour allows you to visit the entire museum to see all the exhibits with a map at the top right of your screen keeping track of your progress around the museum.
You can either use this map to navigate the museum by clicking on one of the blue dots, or if you prefer to collapse the map you can use the arrows on the floor to walk from room to room.
Visit the Smithsonian here.
The Louvre
The Louvre, which is billed by art critics and travel sites alike as the most visited museum in the world, has opened four of its collections up for virtual tours.
According to its website: “The Louvre is the world’s largest museum and houses one of the most impressive art collections in history.
“The magnificent, baroque-style palace and museum sits along the banks of the Seine River in Paris.”
The Louvre was originally built as a fortress in 1190, but was reconstructed in the 16th century to serve as a royal palace.
Each monarch living in the palace expanded it and today it covers an area of 60 600 square metres, although not all of that space is dedicated to the art museum.
“In 1682, Louis XIV moved the royal residence to Versailles, and the Louvre became home to various art academies, offering regular exhibitions of its members’ works,” the website states.
“The National Assembly opened the Louvre as a museum in August 1793 with a collection of 537 paintings.
“The museum closed in 1796 because of structural problems with the building and Napoleon reopened the museum and expanded the collection in 1801.”
You have a choice of reading all the interesting information about the works on display in English so fear not if you don’t speak French.
• Exhibition: The Advent of the Artist can be found in the Petite Galerie and showcases the works of Delacroix, Rembrandt or Tintoretto.
• Egyptian Antiquities: Collections from the Pharaonic period are displayed on the east side of the Sully wing, on the ground floor and 1st floor.
• Remains of the Louvre’s Moat can be found in the Medieval Louvre. The Louvre was originally a fortress built by the French king Philippe Auguste. It was intended to reinforce the defenses that the king had ordered to be built in 1190 to protect Paris from attack via the Seine. Today, visitors can walk around the original perimeter moat and view the piers that supported the drawbridge.
• Galerie d’Apollon can be found in the Decorative Arts section.
The Galerie d’Apollon, situated above the Petite Galerie, was destroyed by fire in 1661 and rebuilt by Le Vau.
The ceiling, begun by Le Brun, is a homage to the Sun King, Louis XIV.
The central panel, Apollo Slaying the Serpent Python, is by Delacroix (1851).
• To navigate between all four of the collections visit the landing page which offers all four tours.
The Solomon R Guggenheim Museum
The museum, which is housed in building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, has opened a number of its collections for online viewing.
The “Collection Online” allows you to view art and learn more about each piece.
You can scroll down the landing page to take a look at a number of collections including the Solomon R Guggenheim Founding Collection, the Thannhauser Collection, Karl Nierendorf Estate and Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation Gift to name a few.
Once you have selected a collection you will be taken to that collection’s landing page where you will be able to view each piece and find out more about it.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, according to its website (www.guggenheim.org) “was founded in 1937, and its first New York–based venue for the display of art, the Museum of Non-Objective Painting, opened in 1939.
“Committed to innovation, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation collects, preserves, and interprets modern and contemporary art, and initiatives and collaborations.
“With its constellation of architecturally and culturally distinct museums, exhibitions, publications, and digital platforms, the foundation engages both local and global audiences.”
The foundation has four museums – the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum in New York, USA; the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, Italy; Guggenheim Museum, Bilboa, Spain and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
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