Nothing can beat the joy and experience of witnessing a piece of art or history in front of your eyes in a museum. However, visiting each and every museum present on this earth individually might demand traveling the world for almost the whole of your life. However, you are not required to do the same anymore to get that experience. Almost all the major museums present around the world are coming up with their virtual tours that allow people to witness the unique collections through virtual means.
North America is famous for its rich culture, history, artists, as well as an indomitable collection of legendary museums. Here is a list of top 10 museums of North America that you can experience through virtual tours from the comfort of your home. If you are an art lover or love to explore through the unique findings of history, you must not miss out on either one of them.
1) Guggenheim Museum, New York: Millions of people visit this great museum every year to explore its unique collections. Famous for its building structure, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, the museum has an endless array of conceptual, post-modern and installation arts. And all thanks to Google Street View, you can wander around the museum’s halls, sitting at the comfort of your couch. You can also explore the virtual tour’s homepage to get a detailed glimpse into the database of all the installations present in the museum.
3) J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles: This unique museum exhibits European artworks from as early as the 8th Century. The good part is that even if you are unable to plan a visit to the beautiful city of Los Angeles, you can still explore the museum virtually. The Google Arts and Culture site and app provides its users with a virtual street view tour of the museum. This amazing street view tour allows you to explore the museum’s unique collection of photographs, sculptures, drawings, paintings, and manuscripts. The tour also allows you to witness the current exhibits of the museum including the “Eat, Drink, and Be Merry: Food in the Middle Ages and Renaissance” exhibit.
4) National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City: Constructed in 1964, the National Museum of Anthropology perfectly showcases Mexico’s pre-Hispanic heritage through its archaeological and other historical exhibits. The museum has 23 exhibition halls showcasing historical artifacts, including some from the Mayan civilization. The Google Art and Culture Site allows its visitors to explore through all the 23 halls of the museum and witness its ancient collections.
5) The Broad, Los Angeles: The Broad is majorly dedicated to exhibiting the contemporary form of art from as back as the 1950s to the present day. There are a number of unique and world-renowned artifacts as well as interactive pieces of art that showcase themselves at the Broad. When one visits the museum he/she gets approximately 45 seconds to admire the beautiful “Infinite Mirrored Room” by Yayoi Kusama. However, you can now enjoy the same, sitting at your couch for as long as you wish, virtually at least! An initiate by the museum itself, “Broad from Home” allows art lovers from around the world to take a virtual tour of all the contemporary art installations present within the museum.
6) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City: The Metropolitan Museum of Art has released a virtual tour under its “The Met 360 Project”, which covers 6 of the museum’s most famous and important attractions/spaces. It majorly includes the Neo Classic Grand Hall, the Temple of Dendur, and Gothic Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park. You can check out the 360 videos on Youtube with your smartphone, computer, or a VR headset which will provide you with a realistic virtual tour. The specialized videos allow the viewers to shift their point of view with their controls to make the virtual experience more wholesome.
7) National Women’s History Museum, Alexandria, Virginia: We obviously cannot imagine this world without the sacrifices that women make on a daily basis. More so, now there is a whole museum dedicated to the hard work of women. This museum was specifically built to honor the importance of women in history and the culture of the United States. If you wish to get inspired and experience the exhibits of this one of a kind museum, you need not go all the way to Virginia. You can check out their online exhibits along with the digital classrooms which allow its users to learn about the sacrifices and suffrages of women throughout American history, including World War II.
8) Museum of Modern Art, NYC: Famous for holding the precious Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night, MoMA is another addition to the list of museums in New York that you can experience virtually. However, currently, the museum is currently running only one exhibit online which features the works of an underrated artist and architect, Sophie Taeuber-Arp. You can experience the same with the help of Google’s Art and Culture site.
9) Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington DC: It is one of the most visited museums throughout the world. The official website of the museum allows the visitors to have a peek into the treasures of the museum. The virtual tour offered by the museum allows the viewers to have a room-by-room 360-degree tour of the entire museum including the Hall of Mammals, Dinasours, Insect Zoo and the Hall of Paleobiology.
10) Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas: An abode for all the art lovers around the world, this very museum is one of the most popular museums of fine arts around the world. The cherry on the cake, the museum features numerous online exhibits for art lovers from all around the world. Some of the most popular online exhibits by the museum include “Space city”, and “Latino Experience in the USA”. Any space enthusiasts out there must not miss out on the “Space City”. “Latino Experience the USA” is a close to home exhibit which showcases the works of several Latino artists.
The digitalization of the museums from around the world has essentially allowed art lovers and information seekers to make effective use of their free time and save out on their travel expenses. Apart from the above mentioned top 10 museums in North America that are offering virtual tours right now, there are a number of other famous museums around the world which you can experience virtually.
