The best world-class museums to explore from home with its virtual tours and online collections
Travel from home is partially possible. In these difficult times of Coronavirus quarantine, it is important to keep calm at home!!
I present you these 10 museums to visit for FREE at home with virtual tours and online collections to park the Netflix and do other things! Nevertheless, if you like movies, you can check my 15 best inspiring travel films 🙂
In this increasingly digitized world, traditional museums are modernizing and now offer their artwork online and for free!
Here I present some of the most significant in the world for you to spend your quarantine doing something different!
1- Louvre Museum
This famous French museum currently has 3 virtual tours, where you can move around the corridors, in the purest google street view style. Here you can see the Mona Lisa or the well-known collection of Egyptian relics (plundered during the last century in the fight alongside Italy, Germany and England to empty Egypt and its tombs).
The navigation and interface is not very friendly, comparing it with other museums… requires you to have flash installed!
Go to the virtual tour
2- National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian)
The Museum of Natural History in New York offers the possibility of visiting all its collections moving room by room, even past collections and other exclusive materials.
I was struck by the exhibition of “Wet specimens“, where your curiosity can be lost among formaldehyde boats watching all kinds of weird “stuff“, from monkey brains, snakes, insects, lizards, etc.
Go to the virtual tour
3- Hermitage Museum
This great Hermitage museum in Saint Petersburg, is a total of 5 buildings together and houses more than 2.5 million cultural and artistic objects from the peoples of Europe and the Orient of all times…
Wooow and I was quite surprised by this museum. Especially the organization and flow of the virtual tour, the navigation and information are great!
Go to the online tour
4- Google Street View in Historical Places
Yeah, google has gone all the way into the kitchen. Now it offers a variety of incredible places to visit virtually and tour places like the Pergamon Museum (Berlin), The Roman Coliseum, Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam), the Pyramids of Giza or even the very island of Alcatraz among many others…
Go to the website
5- Vatican Museums
Without a doubt the place where more works of art are conserved in the world. The Vatican museums have the Sistine Chapel as their flagship. I already visited this museum some years ago and I wrote here a guide on how to get the tickets and plan your visit, etc. But now it’s time to see the collection from home…
Although your visit online, is not very pleasant, I would say that it is more for art lovers or researchers …
Go to the online collection
6- Archaeological Museum of Athens
This museum, perhaps not so internationally known and recognized, gathers the largest collection of archaeological objects found in ancient Greece (from prehistory to antiquity).
The online visit, although not a “virtual tour”, the digital collection is quite dynamic and easy to navigate.
Go to the virtual collection
7- The Prado Museum in Madrid
From the web version of the Prado Museum, you can access its entire collection, but as a “database” with images, explanations, etc., but without a virtual tour and without being able to “move” through the rooms of this famous Madrid museum.
Go to the collection
8- Pinacoteca di Brera
This picture gallery in Milan is not so well known, it keeps one of the most important art collections in Europe, although it does not have paintings with a first-class reputation. If you like art, don’t forget to visit this online gallery!
It’s an online collection
9- British Museum
This great British museum contains, among others, the well-known Rosetta stone (which helped decipher the thousands of Egyptian hieroglyphs that were mute for more than 2,500 years).
Go to the online gallery
10- Uffizi Gallery
This great museum in Florence has one of the best collections of Renaissance art, such as paintings by Michelangelo, Botticelli (“The Spring” or “The Venus” are sure to ring a bell…), or Leonardo da Vinci himself.
Everything can be seen in the form of a photo gallery, almost like a Facebook type gallery, where the margin explains things to you (only in English or Italian). Or if you prefer you can access the Street View virtual tour.
Go to the Virtual Gallery or Virtual Tour
Share this publication with someone who is also confined and would like to get out…
And if you know any other site, tell me in the comments and we will complete the post to help more people 🙂
Hello! I am Alberto, a tireless traveller. I am moving around Europe and the world as much as I can.
With this blog I aim to encourage and help you to go out and travel the world!
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