top 10 virtual museum tours

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10 of the world’s best virtual museum and art gallery tours

The originals are out of reach for now, but you can still see world-class art – without the queues or ticket prices – with an online tour of these famous museums

A rt lovers can view thousands of paintings, sculptures, installations and new work online – many in minute detail – as well as explore the museums themselves. There are various platforms: from interactive, 360-degree videos and full “walk-around” tours with voiceover descriptions to slideshows with zoomable photos of the world’s greatest artworks. And many allow viewers to get closer to the art than they could do in real life.

So, take a break from the news, enter full-screen mode and start your art adventure in sunny California …

J Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

With more than 6,000 years worth of creative treasures, the Getty is one of the best places for art on the west coast of the US. Go from neolithic clay figures to Van Gogh’s Irises and Renoir’s La Promenade – just two of many artworks that feature in the virtual tour . As with several of our selection, Google Arts and Culture offers a “ museum view ” tool to look inside gallery spaces, with clickable artworks presenting further information. The Getty’s sunny sculpture plaza and garden terrace are worth adding to your digital trip, via another viewing platform, Xplorit . getty.edu

Vatican Museums, Rome

Soaring vaulted ceilings, intricate murals and tapestries, the Vatican’s museums are creatively rich sites. Don’t forget to look up when exploring the seven spaces in the museum’s virtual tour, to gawp at a series of 360-degree images, including the Sistine Chapel. Wander around the rest of Vatican City with a You Visit tour that takes in Saint Peter’s Basilica and Square, complete with a tour guide narrating each interactive space. museivaticani.va

Guggenheim, Bilbao

Frank Gehry’s sculptured titanium and steel building, on the banks of the Nervión River, is one of the world’s most distinctive art spaces. The interactive tour takes viewers around its collection of postwar American and European painting and sculpture – Rothko, Holzer, Koons, Kapoor – and even down between the weathered curves of Serra’s Matter of Time (turn left at the entrance). guggenheim-bilbao.eus

Natural History Museum, London

From the diplodocus to the dodo, botany to butterflies, giant crystals to specimens in jars … the Natural History Museum’s vast collection has long been a favourite of both Londoners and tourists. Get lost in the corridors and gallery spaces – one treat is Dippy the dino, who despite recently going on tour still makes an appearance in the entrance hall in this interactive online guide . nhm.ac.uk

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

This grand museum has a vast collection of art and historical objects across 80 galleries. A 10-year renovation project was completed in 2013, transforming the space and combining elements of 19th-century grandeur with modern lighting and a new glass-roofed atrium. The interactive tour helps viewers get up close to every brush stroke by Vermeer, Rembrandt and other Dutch masters while exploring the Great Hall and beyond. rijksmuseum.nl

National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, South Korea

There are several sites making up this museum: the main gallery in Gwacheon and branches in Deoksugung, Seoul and Cheongju. The virtual tours explore an inspiring mix of print, design, sculpture, photography, new media and other large-scale installations. From Joseph Beuys to Warhol and Nam June Paik, the collection includes an international lineup of established artists, contemporary Korean artworks and emerging names. mmca.go.kr

Musée d’Orsay, Paris

In the former Gare d’Orsay, a Paris railway station and hotel, the musée is home to Cézanne, Monet and other French masters. Under a 138m-long curved glass roof, sits the largest collection of impressionist and post-Impressionist works in the world. The virtual tour also includes an online exhibition charting the history of the building. And over on Tourist Tube there’s a 360-degree view of the magnificent exterior. m.musee-orsay.fr

British Museum, London

There are 3,212 panes of glass in the domed ceiling of the British Museum’s Great Court, and no two are the same – and the 360-degree view in this virtual tour lets viewers examine each and every one. Beyond this magnificent space, viewers can find the Rosetta Stone, Egyptian mummies and other ancient wonders. The museum’s interactive infographic platform, History Connected , goes into further depth of various objects with curators, along a timeline. britishmuseum.org

MASP, São Paulo, Brazil

The Museu de Arte de São Paulo has one of the broadest historical collections available to view via its virtual gallery platform , spanning from the 14th to 20th centuries. Paintings appear suspended in the air around the open-plan space, on glass panels or “crystal easels” as the museum calls them. There’s also a temporary retrospective exhibition by Brazilian pop artist Teresinha Soares beside the building’s statement red staircase. The glass and red-beam structure, built in 1968, is worth a look from the outside too, via Google Street View . masp.org.br

National Gallery, London

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The 13 best virtual museum tours in the world

By Jo Ascherl

Hands up – who is missing art ? While in early 2021 we can only dream of visiting exhibitions in far-flung destinations, we can experience the next closest thing: being transported to world-class museums and galleries, via European courtyards and faraway sculpture gardens, and lose ourselves in virtual tours and talks. Google Arts and Culture has also collaborated with a whole load of venues to place viewers right at the heart of the action. Here are the 13 virtual museum tours to take now.

LOUVRE, PARIS

Initially hesitant to take part in the Covid-induced digitisation that many galleries around the world have launched over the past year, the Louvre has finally succumbed to demand. While not technically offering a virtual tour, the world’s biggest museum has put almost its entire collection online – that’s more than 480,000 works of art. They're available to view for free on the new platform, Louvre Collections, which is updated on a daily basis. Explore by collection and filter to discover some of the world’s most precious paintings, as well as sculptures, inscriptions, objects, textiles and artists until we are able to travel to France and re-experience the museum in all its 4D glory. collections.louvre.fr

Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museums, Rome

It may just be that you had always intended to go to Rome and marvel at Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling masterpiece, instead of seeing it endlessly replicated in the media, but you somehow never got round to it. Here you can place yourself in the chapel, which is inside the pope’s official palace residence, and get a more complete impression of how it would be for real. You can even take a tour guide option to wander around the Vatican City and really ramp up the virtual experience. museivaticani.va

NASA, Washington DC

Who isn’t fascinated by NASA and space? Short of getting on a plane to Washington DC (which you can’t do even if you wanted to), this experience gives a glimpse into how the US government agency that deals with National Aeronautics and Space Administration operates. There’s some incredible video footage on it’s website’s Galleries page of test-firing launch systems and missions to the moon, plus you can see a number of exhibitions online via Google Arts and Culture. artsandculture.google.com

Natural History Museum, London

There’s pretty much something for everyone at the Natural History Museum: a 360-degree tour of the Fantastic Beasts exhibition, a gallery full of extraordinary Photographer of the Year images, as well as an up-close experience with Hope the blue whale – with audio guides by the reassuringly knowledgeable Sir David Attenborough . Our top tip: every Tuesday at 3pm you can spend time with a scientist online, and take part in interactive discussions. nhm.ac.uk

The National Gallery, London

If you missed the much-talked-about Titian: Love, Desire, Death exhibition when the National Gallery reopened its doors after the first lockdown in 2020, now is your chance to see the glorious works of the Italian Renaissance painter. There are also video highlights from the gallery’s considerable British collection with The Wonderful Everyday tour. While you’re there, sign up for the family half-term Zoom session (Monday 15 February 2021) on decoding paintings with the help of clues. nationalgallery.org.uk

The Frida Kahlo Museum, Mexico City

Frida Kahlo’s eventful life has been well documented – along with her eyebrows – but so have her unmistakable colourful masterpieces, from brilliant self portraits to original clothing designs. There is no place more fitting to view her work than in the house where she spent most of her years: La Casa Azul (the Blue House), which was set up as a museum after her death, as she wished. Through this virtual tour, which will transport you straight to Mexico , its possible to explore the house and gardens , as well as view a selection of Kahlo’s art. museofridakahlo.org.mx

Picasso Museum, Barcelona

A very uplifting way to bring a piece of Spain into your living room. Picasso was born in Málaga, but he spent many of his formative years in Barcelona , so many of his most important pieces are housed in this museum. A heady virtual stroll takes in works from his Blue and Rose periods, as well as his series of insightful reinterpretations of Velázquez’s Las Meninas . There are separate tours of the place’s pretty, plant-strewn courtyard and the various places where Picasso lived and worked. bcn.cat

Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, USA

Big, bold flowers will forever be associated with O’Keeffe, along with her other distinctive American modernist works including paintings, sculptures and objects, in this collection entirely dedicated to the artist. You can take a virtual tour, and there are also some excellent online lectures and classes, such as drawing with colour, which is suitable for ages 12+, but make sure to book in advance. okeeffemuseum.org

The British Museum, London

No stone (literally) has been left unturned when it comes to exploring the British Museum from home, with a staggering 60-plus galleries to visit via Google Street View. Virtual collections on the museum site cover Oceania, with art and artefacts from the South Pacific islands , and a large selection of prints and drawings. Special online shows worth seeing, meanwhile, include the recent Arctic: Culture and Climate exhibition. artsandculture.google.com

Becky Lucas

Olivia Morelli

Anna Prendergast

Monisha Rajesh

Guggenheim Bilbao Museum, Spain

So in early 2021 you can't hop over to San Sebastián for some pintxos on a trip to Bilbao , but you will can see this brilliantly designed Frank Gehry museum with an interactive tour that shows a mesmerising video of a photographer catching a free runner scaling the outside of the building before exploring its outstanding modern art collection, with paintings by greats from Mark Rothko and Yves Klein to Willem de Kooning and Anselm Kiefer. artsandculture.google.com

Uffizi Gallery, Florence

This powerhouse of a gallery is home to too many Renaissance greats to mention, but its selection of curated tours goes some way to conjuring up the magic of the Uffizi experience – and the upside is you don’t have to queue behind hordes of visitors to see Leonardo da Vinci’s Annunciation or Botticelli’s The Birth Of Venus . You can look up paintings or take a virtual stroll through various parts of the museum, and there are also video stories on lesser-known artists and educational projects. uffizi.it

The Vasa Museum, Stockholm

The behemoth Vasa ship, seen on entering this museum in Stockholm in real life, is one of the most striking pieces of history in the city, and it remains the best preserved example of a 17th-century vessel worldwide – retrieved after it sank in harbour waters in 1628. The audio guides online go through the history of the ship, along with realistic background sounds of the moment it sank, as well as up-close images and a historical timeline of events. stockholm360.net

Anne Frank House, Amsterdam

Anne Frank’s name is indelibly inked in history books as a result of her evocative World War II diaries, published after her death. This is a fascinating, if unsettling, tour around the museum dedicated to her attic hiding place, where she stayed to escape from the Nazis – something she managed until she was found and transported to a concentration camp, aged just 15. The site also has photographic footage of her childhood, along with extracts from her diaries. annefrank.org

MOMA, New York

Manhattan ’s awe-inspiring museum of modern art has a huge online display of work, from paintings and design to sculpture, architecture and film, including virtual views of Van Gogh’s Starry Night , the Surrealist Women exhibition and the gallery's Sculpture Garden. The New York, Open City video is a must for an immersive and historic NY experience. If you sign up to MOMA’s newsletter you can be updated on specific virtual events and live Q&As. moma.org

Now watch a tour around Milan's Fondazione Prada:

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Top 10 Best Virtual Museum Tours & Online Art Gallery

The world's most popular museums are now just a mouse click away thanks to incredible free virtual tours powered by google street view technology..

• Art, Artifacts

• Italian Renaissance Art

• Art, Design, History+

• Dutch Golden Age Art

• Post-Impressionist Art

A virtual museum tour is an online experience that allows you to explore a museum's exhibits and collections from the comfort of your own home. It typically includes high-quality images or videos of the artwork or artifacts, as well as additional information about the pieces and the history of the museum.

Virtual museum tours can be accessed through a museum's website or through platforms like Google Arts & Culture, which partners with museums and cultural institutions around the world to offer virtual tours of their collections.

Many virtual museum tours are free, although some museums may charge a fee for more in-depth or exclusive tours. Additionally, some platforms like Google Arts & Culture may offer additional paid features or content.

While you may not be able to physically touch or interact with the exhibits during a virtual museum tour, many tours offer features like zooming in on details or rotating images to give you a closer look at the artwork or artifacts.

While nothing can replace the experience of visiting a museum in person, virtual museum tours offer a convenient and accessible way to explore a museum's collections from anywhere in the world. They can be a great way to supplement an in-person visit or to explore museums that may be difficult to visit in person due to distance or other constraints.

We find the 10 best options, so you can make informed decisions on tons of products and services.

Free Virtual Museum Tours: Expand Your Horizons Without Leaving Home

Have you ever wanted to visit the Louvre in Paris or travel to Holland to see the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh?  Is world-class art part of your blood but you are far away from the originals? Now you and your family can take a firsthand look at world masterpieces, ancient artifacts, and myriad educational exhibits without having to brave the lines and, of course, the dangers of the current health crisis.

Virtual Museums: The Finer Strokes 

Within the past several years, more than a thousand museums and cultural institutions worldwide have partnered with Google to make at least part of their collections accessible online. Now you can view thousands of paintings, sculptures, installations and new work online – many in minute detail – as well as explore the museums themselves . 

What is a virtual museum tour?

What should you be looking for in a free virtual museum tour .

• Google Arts & Culture Collection -  Museums have been offering select online collections for many years, but only recently has Google entered the fray, offering a more easily accessible and searchable method of viewing items on exhibit.  Beyond improved search functions, the advantages the Google Arts & Culture portal offers include the ability to enlarge pieces to see extreme detail at a high resolution, information on each item (which is always in English, unlike some of the museum sites that are in different countries), and searches that display results from all of the various museums taking part in the program. You can search by artist, time period, style and even color, or you can search for a specific institution.
• Virtual Museums = 360 Degree Views -  The same technology which powers Google Street View, allowing users to see panoramic views of neighborhoods worldwide, has been taken indoors to some of the world's top museums. However, filming all of the locations and museum pieces from multiple angles is a time-consuming process that requires vast resources, and therefore not every museum offers the same scope of 360 views. Some of the virtual museums will give you just a small look at what their grounds look like, while others offer you to roam freely, giving more of a feeling of what it's actually like to be there.
• Expanded Online Collections - Prior to the advent of the panoramic style virtual tours that Google Arts & Culture offers today, many of the top museums displayed online collections on their own websites. Some of these museums still offer extended online collections to supplement the items they make viewable on Google Arts and Culture. This is a nice addition for those looking to take a deep dive into a particular collection. The pieces are not always displayed at the same quality that Google Arts & Culture offers, but they give you a decent view of the exhibit items.

These 10 Museums Offer Virtual Tours You Can Take on Your Couch

Here’s a look at the 10 most stimulating and beautiful museum tours accessible via your own computer screen:

1. The Louvre

• Must-see piece/exhibit: Pick up some new French words 

The Louvre is one of the most famous and visited art museums on the planet, and while its online offering may not be as robust as some other museums, you can still view quite a few of its pieces from the comfort of your own home. The museum does not display items on Google Arts & Culture, nor can you see panoramic views on the platform from inside the museum. However, you can virtually explore the grounds of the museum where several impressive statues and pieces of artwork reside. For panoramic views of the museum's interior, you'll have to go to the Louvre's own website where there are a few free virtual museum tours available. However, the navigation is not as seamless as Google's navigation. You can also find a number of items displayed on the Louvre site, however many of the descriptions are in French only.

• Join the Virtual Tour : collections.louvre.fr

2. The Museum of Modern Art

• Must-see piece/exhibit: Augmented-reality view of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”

When it opened in Manhattan in 1929, the MoMA was the world's first ever museum devoted to the modern era. The museum has sought to remain on the cutting edge by offering a large amount of its collection for perusal online. The museum's Google Arts & Culture selection is relatively limited, however its own site is quite extensive, displaying tens of thousands of modern art pieces currently on display at the museum or from past exhibits.

• Join the Virtual Tour : moma.org

3. The British Museum

• Must-see piece/exhibit: The Rosetta Stone from ancient Egypt 

The British Museum displays objects spanning a period of some 2 million years, from the dawn of human culture to the present. The tour of the museum offers 360 views of thousands of objects as they appear in the halls of the museum, as well as prints of the objects, which can be enlarged and viewed in further detail. In addition to the description of each item that appears on Google Arts & Culture, there is a link to the British Museum’s own website with further details on each piece, including curator’s notes and a description of how each piece was acquired. The British Museum also has a separate online collection, “The Museum of the World,” which is a partnership with the Google Cultural Institute that features pieces from across time and includes audio explanations of the items from British Museum curators.

• Join the Virtual Tour : artsandculture.google.com 

4. The Uffizi Gallery

• Must-see piece/exhibit: View Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus” from multiple angles with Google Street View

This Italian gallery’s virtual tour is a dream for aficionados of renaissance art. It is easily navigable and the hallways of the gallery are plush with statues and paintings. The gallery has relatively few items on Google Arts & Culture, but they are among the world’s most famous works, and there is an impressive amount of information on each piece.

• Join the Virtual Tour : virtualuffizi.com

5. The Metropolitan Museum of Art

• Must-see piece/exhibit: The Christian Dior Ball Gowns exhibit 

This venerated New York landmark has a very respectable showing on Google Arts & Culture with a virtual tour that lets you walk through the museum's halls as if you were there, and several hundred items on display - from paintings to historical fashion pieces. Many of the items include audio descriptions available through an external link to the museum's own website, which impressively hosts some 450,000 items.

• Join the Virtual Tour : metmuseum.org

6. The Guggenheim

• Must-see piece/exhibit: Under the Same Sun: Art from Latin America Today 

The Guggenheim doesn't offer a massive number of pieces on Google Arts & Culture, however the pieces it does offer have external links to its own website, where there is an unparalleled amount of information on each. The contemporary artists that are part of the museum's UBS Map Global Art Initiative have contributed video pieces about their art as well. The panoramic views of the museum on Google Arts & Culture give a good representation of what the museum has to offer.

• Join the Virtual Tour : artsandculture.google.com/project/guggenheim-bilbao

7. The Smithsonian

• Must-see piece/exhibit: check out the enormous butterfly exhibit 

A small number of the Smithsonian Institution's dozens of museums are represented with Google Arts & Culture online museum tours, including the National Portrait Gallery, the American Art Museum, the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, the Museum of Natural History and the Freer Sackler Museums of Asian Art. For a 360 panoramic view of the Natural History Museum, you can go directly to the Smithsonian site or Google Arts & Culture. The nature of the Natural History Museum's exhibits is particularly impressive in panoramic view. The American Art Museum is minimally represented on Google Arts & Culture as well, with a minimal 360 tour and only a couple hundred pieces of art. There is a wider number of pieces available on the museum's own website.

• Join the Virtual Tour : naturalhistory.si.edu

8. The Rijksmuseum

• Must-see piece/exhibit: See one of Van Gogh’s self-portraits up close 

Are you interested in the art of the Netherlands, and the Dutch Golden Age? The Rijksmuseum is not only the preeminent source of such art, it is also the most well represented museum of any kind on Google Arts & Culture. With more than 150,000 items on display, including works by Rembrandt and Vermeer, you can get a full education in Dutch art history from your computer. The Street View navigation of the stunning grounds of the museum is also among the most impressive of any museum. No other museum has embraced the possibilities of Google Arts & Culture more so than the Rijksmuseum.

• Join the Virtual Tour : rijksmuseum.nl

9. The Van Gogh Museum

• Must-see piece/exhibit: Vincent Van Gogh’s Love Life 

This Amsterdam museum hosts the largest collection of works from the post-impressionist master. The panoramic views of the museum are good, however the descriptions accompanying the paintings are minimal. The virtual Van Gogh Museum experience is geared more toward those who are familiar with his work than first-timers seeking to learn about his technique and history. There is an external link to the museum’s YouTube page featuring video explanations of some of his most famous works.

• Join the Virtual Tour : vangoghmuseum.nl

10. The Getty Museum

• Must-see piece/exhibit: Pride at the Getty, a collaborative tribute to the colors of the Pride flag

The virtual exploration of this Los Angeles museum is seemingly endless. Not only are there more than 15,000 items to peruse, the descriptions of the pieces are among the best, and for several items also include audio explanations. The interior 360 degree views of the exhibits are beautiful and expansive. The only complaint you could make is that the panoramic views don't extend outside to the museum's gardens and unparalleled views of the City of Angels.

• Join the Virtual Tour : getty.edu

3 Extra virtual museum tours to continue your art adventure (because it's fun, no?)

Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museums, Rome It may just be that you had always intended to go to Rome and marvel at Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling masterpiece, instead of seeing it endlessly replicated in the media, but you somehow never got round to it. Here you can place yourself in the chapel, which is inside the pope’s official palace residence, and get a more complete impression of how it would be for real. You can even take a tour guide option to wander around the Vatican City and really ramp up the virtual experience.  Join the Virtual Tour: museivaticani.va

Picasso Museum, Barcelona A very uplifting way to bring a piece of Spain into your living room. Picasso was born in Málaga, but he spent many of his formative years in Barcelona, so many of his most important pieces are housed in this museum. A heady virtual stroll takes in works from his Blue and Rose periods, as well as his series of insightful reinterpretations of Velázquez’s Las Meninas. There are separate tours of the place’s pretty, plant-strewn courtyard and the various places where Picasso lived and worked.  Join the Virtual Tour : bcn.cat

National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul One of Korea's popular museums can be accessed from anywhere around the world. Google's virtual tour takes you through six floors of contemporary art from Korea and all over the globe.  Join the Virtual Tour : national-museum-of-modern-and-contemporary-art-korea

To see more of Google Arts & Culture's collection of museums, visit its website . There are thousands of museum Street Views on Google as well. Google Arts & Culture also has an online experience for exploring famous historic and cultural heritage sites .

Click Your Way Through the Canon

In recent years, we’ve been forced to tackle accessibility head-on and create new avenues for reaching the outside world. Whether it’s money, time, or health that has kept you from scouting out the world’s most vaunted museums, today’s technology lets you explore the great masterpieces of the world--for free. 

So grab your kids, your partner, or your sketchbook and beret, and click on one of the sites above to enjoy the fruits of thousands of years of human creativity, all from the comforts of your home.

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The 75 Best Virtual Museum Tours Around the World [Art, History, Science, and Technology]

Jarrod West

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Google Arts and Culture

1. the albertina museum (vienna, austria), 2. art institute of chicago (chicago, illinois), 3. benaki museum (athens, greece), 4. the broad (los angeles, california), 5. centre pompidou (paris, france), 6. the dalí theatre-museum (figueres, spain), 7. detroit institute of arts (detroit, michigan), 8. frick collection (new york city, new york), 9. galleria dell’accademia (florence, italy), 10. georgia o’keeffe museum (sante fe, new mexico), 11. grand palais (paris, france), 12. hermitage museum (saint petersburg, russia), 13. high museum of art (atlanta, georgia), 14. the j. paul getty museum (los angeles, california), 15. kunsthaus zürich (zürich, switzerland), 16. la galleria nazionale (rome, italy), 17. los angeles county museum of art (lacma) (los angeles, california), 18. mauritshuis (the hague, netherlands), 19. the metropolitan museum of art (new york city, new york), 20. musée du louvre (paris, france), 21. musée d’orsay (paris, france), 22. museo nacional del prado (madrid, spain), 23. museo frida kahlo (mexico city, mexico), 24. museo nacional centro de arte reina sofía (madrid, spain), 25. museu de arte de são paulo (são paulo, brazil), 26. museum of broken relationships (los angeles, california and zagreb, croatia), 27. museum of fine arts, boston (boston, massachusetts), 28. museum of fine arts, houston (houston, texas), 29. the museum of modern art (moma) (new york city, new york), 30. national gallery (london, england), 31. national gallery of art (washington, d.c.), 32. national gallery of victoria (victoria, melbourne, australia), 33. national museum of china (beijing, china), 34. national museum of korea (seoul, south korea), 35. national museum, new delhi (new delhi, india), 36. national museum of modern and contemporary art (seoul, south korea), 37. national palace museum (taipei, taiwan), 38. national portrait gallery (washington, d.c.), 39. pergamonmuseum (berlin, germany), 40. picasso museum (barcelona, spain), 41. rijksmuseum (amsterdam, netherlands), 42. san francisco museum of modern art (san francisco, california), 43. sistine chapel at the vatican museums (vatican city), 44. solomon r. guggenheim museum (new york city, new york), 45. tate modern (london, england), 46. thyssen-bornemisza museum (madrid, spain), 47. tokyo national museum (tokyo, japan), 48. uffizi gallery (florence, italy), 49. van gogh museum (amsterdam, netherlands), 50. victoria and albert museum (london, england), 1. american museum of natural history (new york city, new york), 2. the british museum (london, england), 3. national museum of anthropology (mexico city, mexico), 4. national museum of natural history (washington, d.c.), 5. natural history museum (london, england), 1. london science museum (london, england), 2. museo galileo (florence, italy), 3. the museum of flight (seattle, washington), 4. the museum of natural sciences of belgium (brussels, belgium), 5. museum of science, boston (boston, massachusetts), 6. national aeronautics and space administration (nasa) (washington, d.c.), 7. national air and space museum (washington, d.c.), 8. national museum of computing (bletchley park, england), 9. national museum of the united states air force (riverside, ohio), 10. oxford university’s history of science museum (oxford, england), 1. acropolis museum (athens, greece), 2. american battlefield trust virtual battlefield tours, 3. anne frank house (amsterdam, netherlands), 4. franklin d. roosevelt presidential library and museum (hyde park, new york), 5. national museum of african american history and culture (washington, d.c.), 6. national museum of american history (washington, d.c.), 7. national museum of scotland (edinburgh, scotland), 8. national women’s history museum (alexandria, virginia), 9. terra cotta warriors of xi’an at emperor qinshihuang’s mausoleum site museum (xi’an, china), 10. u.s. holocaust memorial museum (washington, d.c.), final thoughts.

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You can now access collections from many of the world’s top museums without ever leaving home! We’ve put together an ultimate list of 75 world-class museums that offer virtual tours you can visit from the comfort of your couch.

Many of the virtual tours include exhibit walk-throughs and the ability to examine some of the world’s best paintings, sculptures, and other pieces up close and personal. These virtual tours are jam-packed with enough details to make you feel like you’re really visiting the museum. The experiences are sure to entertain the whole family, an art or history buff, or even those who want to imagine the joys of travel!

We’ve broken our list into 4 easy-to-review sections, including art, natural history, science and technology, and history museums. So whether you prefer to take in a painting at the Van Gogh Museum, check out an SR-71 Blackbird at the Museum of Flight, or gaze upon the Rosetta Stone, this list has it all!

Many of the virtual exhibits in this article are offered through a collaboration with Google Arts and Culture. If you’re not familiar, Google Arts and Culture is an online platform that showcases high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from more than 2,000 museums throughout the world. You can zoom in and out of images in great detail and view some of the best pieces of artwork ever created without leaving your couch.

The platform is available in 18 languages and has been praised internationally for increasing access to art to those who may have not had the opportunity otherwise. It’s available for web , iOS , and Android .

50 Art Museums With Virtual Tours

Year Opened:  1805

The Albertina Museum features one of the most important European collections of international modern art and houses one of the largest and most important print rooms in the world with approximately 65,000 drawings and 1 million old master prints. Hundreds of the works housed in the museum, like “Study for the Last Supper” by Da Vinci and “The Water Lily Pond” by Monet, can be viewed online thanks to a partnership with Google Arts and Culture.

To view the online exhibits, click here .

Year Opened: 1879

The Art Institute of Chicago is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the U.S., hosting approximately 1.5 million people annually. Its collection features more than 5,000 years of human expression from cultures around the world and contains more than 300,000 works of art in 11 curatorial departments.

The online tour allows you to view major pieces from the museum’s collection, such as “American Gothic,” “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte,” and “Nighthawks.” The site also offers projects to get creative at home, educator resources, and JourneyMaker, a digital tool that allows visitors to create unique, personalized tours of the museum.

To view the online tour, click here .

Year Opened: 1930

Established in 1930 by Antonis Benakis in memory of his father Emmanuel Benakis, the Benaki Museum houses Greek works of art from prehistoric to modern times and an extensive collection of Asian art. It also hosts periodic exhibitions and maintains a state-of-the-art restoration and conservation workshop.

The entire museum can be viewed virtually in great detail.

To view the online virtual tour, click here .

Year Opened: 2015

The Broad is a contemporary art museum named for philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad. The Broad houses a nearly 2,000-piece collection of contemporary art, featuring 200 artists including works by Cindy Sherman, Jeff Koons, Ed Ruscha, Roy Lichtenstein, and Andy Warhol. Notable installations include Yayoi Kusama’s “Infinity Mirrored Room” (pictured above) and Ragnar Kjartansson’s expansive 9-screen video “The Visitors.”

The Broad has put together a series of YouTube videos to give you a first-hand look at the museum.

Year Opened : 1977

The Centre Pompidou, named after the president of France from 1969 to 1974, is the largest museum for modern and contemporary art in Europe and the second-largest in the world. The museum has more than 12,000 pieces of artwork on display, including works by Kandinsky, Dalí, and Valadon.

The Centre has dozens of videos available on its YouTube channel that provide walk-throughs of the museum and explanations of its most important works.

To view the video tours, click here .

Year Opened : 1974

Dedicated to the life and work of the surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, the Dalí Theatre-Museum displays the single largest and most diverse collection of works by the artist. In addition to Dalí paintings from all decades of his career, there are Dalí sculptures, 3-dimensional collages, mechanical devices, and other curiosities from Dalí’s imagination. Through the website, guests can take a virtual tour in 360-degree of the entire museum.

To view the virtual tour, click here .

Year Opened: 1885

With more than 100 galleries covering over 658,000 square feet, the Detroit Institute of Arts has one of the largest and most significant art collections in the U.S. Its collection features works spanning from ancient Egypt and Europe all the way to modern contemporary art.

The museum has put together “ At Home With DIA ” to offer school field trips from home, weekly film screenings, senior resources, and home projects. DIA also has a partnership with Google Arts and Culture to provide online exhibits including:

• Frida Kahlo in Detroit
• Ordinary People by Extraordinary Artists
• Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry
• Self Portrait on the Borderline between Mexico and the United States

Year Opened: 1935

Located in the Henry Clay Frick House, the Frick Collection houses the art collection of industrialist Henry Clay Frick. The collection features some of the best-known paintings by major European artists, including Bellini, Rembrandt, and Vermeer, as well as numerous works of sculpture and porcelain.

The entire museum can be viewed virtually.

Year Opened : 1784

The Galleria dell’Accademia, while small compared to other museums featured, is still the second most visited museum in Italy. Its command of visitors is in large part due to its display of perhaps the most famous sculpture in history — Michaelangelo’s statue of David.

You can view a short, video-guided tour of the museum, which includes 360-degree viewing, allowing you to get a close look at the museum’s offerings.

To view the video tour, click here .

Year Opened: 1997

The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum is dedicated to the artistic legacy of Georgia O’Keeffe and her contributions to American Modernism. The museum’s collection includes many of O’Keeffe’s key works, ranging from her innovative abstractions to her iconic large-format flower, skull, and landscape paintings, to paintings of architectural forms, rocks, shells, and trees. Initially, the collection was made of 140 O’Keeffe paintings, watercolors, pastels, and sculptures, but now includes nearly 1,200 objects.

The museum website offers creative activities, stories, and education about Georgia O’Keeffe’s life, along with several virtual exhibits available through Google Arts and Culture, including:

• Georgia O’Keeffe
• American Modernism
• United States

Year Opened : 1900

The Grand Palais is a large historic site, exhibition hall, and museum dedicated to the organization of exhibitions, publishing books, art workshops, photographic agency, and hosting major fairs and events. The museum receives 2.5 million visitors each year. The partnership with Google Arts and Culture brings extensive online exhibits to life, from the construction of the building to the masterpieces that lie within it.

Year Opened : 1764

The Hermitage Museum is the second-largest and eighth-most visited art museum in the world. The Hermitage has more than 60,000 pieces of artwork on display, including the “Peacock Clock” by James Cox, “Madonna Litta” by Leonardo Da Vinci, and works by Rembrandt, Michelangelo, and Antonio Canova.

The online tour is extremely comprehensive and allows you to virtually walk through all 6 buildings in the main complex, treasure gallery, and several exhibition projects.

Year Opened : 1905

The High Museum of Art offers over 15,000 works of art in its collection and is the leading art museum in the southeastern U.S. The museum focuses on 19th- and 20th-century American art, historic and contemporary decorative arts and design, European paintings, modern and contemporary art, photography, folk and self-taught art, and African art.

The museum’s partnership with Google Arts and Culture also offers online exhibits for viewing including:

• Bill Traylor’s Drawings of People, Animals, and Events
• How Iris van Herpen Transformed Fashion
• Incredible, Innovative, and Unexpected Contemporary Furniture Designs
• Photos From the Civil Rights Movement

Year Opened: 1953

The J. Paul Getty Museum is made up of 2 campuses — the Getty Center and Getty Villa — that receive more than 2 million visitors per year. The Getty Center features pre-20th-century European paintings, drawings, illuminated manuscripts, sculpture, and decorative arts and photographs from the 1830s through present-day from all over the world. The Getty Villa displays art from Ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria.

The museum has put together online resources like art books, online exhibitions, podcasts, and videos, all viewable on its website .

It has also partnered with Google Arts and Culture to showcase online exhibits including:

• 18th Century Pastel Portraits
• The Art of Three Faiths: Torah, Bible, Qur’an
• Eat, Drink, and Be Merry
• Getty Museum Acquisitions 2019
• Heaven, Hell, and Dying Well

To view the online galleries, click here .

Year Opened : 1910

The Kunsthaus Zürich features one of Switzerland’s most important art collections from the 13th century to the present day. While the museum places an emphasis on Swiss artists, including Alberto Giacometti, you’ll also find work from the likes of Monet, Picasso, and Warhol.

The museum’s partnership with Google Arts and Culture has digitized several of the museum’s best collections for viewing.

Year Opened: 1883

La Galleria Nazionale displays about 1,100 paintings and sculptures from the 19th and 20th centuries — the largest collection in Italy. It features work from famous Italian artists including Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni, Alberto Burri, and foreign artists including Cézanne, Monet, Pollock, Rodin, and Van Gogh.

It has teamed up with Google to offer 16 virtual exhibits for online viewing.

Year Opened: 1910

LACMA is the largest art museum in the western U.S., attracts nearly a million visitors annually, and holds more than 150,000 works spanning the history of art from ancient times to the present.

The website (click LACMA @ Home ) includes exhibition walkthroughs, soundtracks and live recordings, online teaching resources, and courses.

To view the LACMA’s online virtual tour from Google Arts & Culture, click here .

Year Opened : 1822

The Mauritshuis is home to some of the best Dutch paintings from the Golden Age of Art. The museum consists of 854 works by artists like Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt Van Rijn, and Jan Steen. Famous works include “Girl with a Pearl Earring” (pictured above) and “View of Delft” by Vermeer, and “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp” by Rembrandt.

The museum has partnered with Google Arts and Culture to bring several of its best works to life for virtual viewing.

To view the Mauritshuis’ online exhibits, click here .

Year Opened: 1870

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, also known as “The Met,” is the largest art museum in the U.S. and the fourth most visited museum in the world with more than 6 million visitors each year. The permanent collection contains more than 2 million works from classical antiquity and ancient Egypt, paintings and sculptures from nearly all of the European masters (including Monet’s Water Lillies), and an extensive collection of American and modern art. It also has extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine, and Islamic art.

The museum has extensive different online exhibits available for viewing through Google and its own Art at Home website .

Year Opened:  1793

The Louvre Palace, which houses the museum, began as a fortress under Philip II in the 12th century to protect the city from English soldiers that were in Normandy. It wasn’t repurposed as a museum until 1793. Now, the Louvre is easily one of the most historic art museums in the world. Not only is the Louvre the largest art museum in the world at 782,910 square feet (72,735 square meters), but it also had 9.6 million visitors in 2019, making it the most visited museum in the world as well. Featured masterpieces include “Mona Lisa,” “Winged Victory of Samothrace,” “Venus de Milo,” and “Hammurabi’s Code.”

The Louvre has several virtual galleries on display, including:

• The Advent of the Artist, including works from Delacroix, Rembrandt, and Tintoretto
• Egyptian Antiquities, featuring collections from the Pharaonic period
• Remains of the Louvre’s Moat — visitors can walk around the original perimeter moat and view the piers that supported the drawbridge dating back to 1190
• Galerie d’Apollon, destroyed by fire in 1661 and recently rebuilt for viewing

To view the Louvre’s virtual tour page, click here .

Year Opened: 1986

The Musée d’Orsay is housed in the former Gare d’Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1914, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and photography. It is one of the largest art museums in Europe and had more than 3.6 million visitors in 2019. It houses the largest collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces in the world, including works by Cézanne, Degas, Gauguin, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Seurat, Sisley, and Van Gogh.

The museum allows you to virtually walk through one of its popular galleries, featuring hundreds of paintings from French artists.

To view the Musée d’Orsay online gallery, click here .

Year Opened : 1819

The Museo Nacional del Prado is considered to have one of the greatest collections of European art in the world and offers guests the single largest collection of Spanish art. The collection currently comprises around 8,200 drawings, 7,600 paintings, 4,800 prints, and 1,000 sculptures. Well-known works include “Las Meninas” by Diego Velázquez, “The Third of May 1808” by Francisco De Goya, and “The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymus Bosch.

The museum’s online gallery allows you to get a close look at over 10,000 different pieces of art. The Prado also offers a 1-hour live show on Instagram every morning at 4 a.m. EST.

To view the online gallery, click here .

Year Opened: 1958

The Frida Kahlo Museum, also known as the Blue House due to its blue walls, is a historic museum dedicated to the life and work of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. The building was Kahlo’s birthplace, the home where she grew up, lived with her husband Diego Rivera for many years, and where she later died in a room on the upper floor. The museum contains a collection of artwork by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and other artists, along with the couple’s Mexican folk art, pre-Hispanic artifacts, photographs, memorabilia, personal items, and more. Find out more in our guide to the best museums in Mexico City .

Year Opened: 1990

The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, also called the Museo Reina Sofía, is one of the most popular art museums in the world. The museum includes large collections of Spain’s 2 most popular artists, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí. Famous works on display include “Guernica” and “Woman in Blue” by Picasso and “Cubist Self Portrait” by Dalí.

You can view collections of artwork at the Reina Sofía through its partnership with Google Arts and Culture.

Year Opened: 1947

The Museu de Arte de São Paulo is Brazil’s first modern art museum. The museum is internationally recognized for its collection of European art, as it’s considered the finest museum in Latin America and all of the Southern Hemisphere. The museum primarily features Brazilian art, prints, and drawings, as well as smaller collections of African and Asian art, antiquities, decorative arts, and others, amounting to more than 8,000 pieces. MASP also has one of the largest art libraries in the country.

You can now take a virtual tour of online galleries the museum has to offer, including:

• Art from Brazil until 1900
• Art from Italy: Rafael to Titian
• Art from France: from Delacroix to Cézanne
• Art in Fashion
• Histories of Madness: The Drawings of Juquery
• Picture Gallery in Transformation

Year Opened: 2010

The Museum of Broken Relationships is dedicated to failed love relationships. Its exhibits include personal objects left over from former lovers, accompanied by brief descriptions. The museum was founded by 2 Zagreb-based artists, film producer Olinka Vištica and sculptor Dražen Grubišić, after their 4-year relationship came to an end.

The virtual tour includes a close-up collection of dozens of the museum’s most interesting pieces.

The 17th largest art museum in the world, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) hosts one of the most extensive art collections in the U.S. It houses over 8,000 paintings, surpassed only by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and exceeds 1 million visitors each year. Pieces by world-renowned artists like Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Monet are featured alongside sculptures, mummies, ceramics, and other artifacts from ancient civilizations.

There are currently 16 online exhibits available for viewing.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) is one of the largest museums in the U.S., and its collection features over 64,000 works from 6 continents. The collection places emphasis on pre-Columbian and African gold, Renaissance and Baroque painting and sculpture, 19th- and 20th-century art, photography, and Latin American art. Read our guide to the best museums in Houston for more information.

The museum has 14 online exhibits available for viewing in collaboration with Google Arts and Culture.

Year Opened: 1929

Regarded as one of the largest and most influential museums of modern art in the world, MoMA’s art collection features an overview of modern and contemporary art, including works of architecture and design, drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, prints, illustrated books, and artist’s books, film, and electronic media. MoMA’s holdings include more than 150,000 individual pieces including Andy Warhol’s “Campbell’s Soup Cans” and Van Gogh’s “Starry Night,” in addition to approximately 22,000 films and 4 million film stills.

MoMA’s website offers 86,000 works of art that can be viewed online, along with a partnership with Google Arts and Culture to create a virtual display of its Sophie Taeber-Arp exhibit.

To view the website’s collection, click here . To view the Google exhibit, click here .

Year Opened : 1824

The National Gallery features more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900, including works such as “Sunflowers” by Van Gogh, “The Virgin on the Rocks” by Da Vinci, and “The Arnolfini Portrait” by Jan Van Eyck.

Its website offers a few virtual tours, showcasing many rooms in the museum, the Sainsbury Wing, and a Google Virtual tour.

Year Opened: 1937

The National Gallery of Art and its attached Sculpture Garden are located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. and are open to the public free of charge. The museum was privately established in 1937 for the American people by a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress.

The National Gallery is widely considered to be one of the greatest museums in the U.S. It ranks second in total visitors of all American museums, 10th in the world, and features incredible pieces including Jackson Pollock’s “Number 1,” Leonardo da Vinci’s “Ginevra de’ Benci,” and Degas’ “Little Dancer Aged 14.”

The museum has put together a collection of educational resources on its website for teachers, families, and children. It also features online exhibits through Google Arts and Culture including:

• American Fashion — highlights from 1740 to 1895
• Johannes Vermeer — Dutch Baroque painter

To view the National Gallery of Art online collection page, click here .

Year Opened: 1861

The National Gallery of Victoria is Australia’s oldest, largest, and most visited art museum. The museum offers a wide variety of international and Australian art in its collection, including paintings, drawings, photography, and sculptures.

The online tour includes walk-throughs of exhibits, including highlights from the NGV Triennial 2020 and Chinese Collection, as well as exhibits featuring Goya and KAWS.

Year Opened : 2003

The National Museum of China covers Chinese history from 1.7 million years ago to the end of the Qing Dynasty in 1911. Notable works include the “Houmuwu” Rectangle Ding, a rectangular bronze sacrificial vessel made in the late Shang Dynasty, the heaviest piece of ancient bronze ware in the world, and a Han Dynasty jade burial suit laced with gold thread. It is one of the largest museums in the world, and the second most visited art museum in the world, just after the Louvre.

The museum has virtual exhibits available for 360-degree viewing including:

• Resplendence of the Tang Dynasty
• Sunken Silver

Year Opened : 1909

The National Museum of Korea is the top museum of Korean history and art and has been committed to various studies and research activities in the fields of archaeology, history, and art, continuously developing a variety of exhibitions and education programs.

The museum’s virtual tour provides a 3D walk-through of exhibits, including 1,000 years of Korean design and 500 years of the Joseon Dynasty.

Year Opened: 1949

The National Museum, New Delhi is one of the largest museums in India. The museum has around 200,000 works of art, both of Indian and foreign origin, including paintings, sculptures, jewelry, ancient texts, armor, and decorative arts ranging from the pre-historic era to modern works — covering over 5,000 years.

The museum has partnered with Google to bring its online exhibits to life, including:

• Art of Caligraphy
• Cadence and Counterpoint
• Indian Bronzes
• Nauras: The Many Arts of the Deccan
• Pottery from Ancient Peru
• Treasures of National Museum, India
• Radha and Krishna in the Boat of Love

Year Opened: 1969

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art was first established in 1969 as the only national art museum in South Korea, accommodating modern and contemporary art of Korea and international art of different time periods. The museum features over 7,000 pieces of artwork, including works of contemporary Korean artists such as Go Hui-dong, Ku Bon-ung, Park Su-geun, and Kim Whan-ki.

Google’s virtual tour takes you through 6 floors of contemporary art from Korea and all over the globe.

Year Opened : 1965

The National Palace Museum has a collection of nearly 700,000 pieces of ancient Chinese imperial artifacts and artworks. The collection encompasses 8,000 years of history of Chinese art, including jade, paintings, bronzes, and porcelain that were formerly held in the Forbidden City of Peking.

The museum offers 360-degree virtual tours of many different exhibits.

To view the virtual tours, click here .

Year Opened : 1962

The National Portrait Gallery has a collection of over 21,000 works of art. The collection focuses on images of famous Americans and how they’ve shaped U.S. culture. A major attraction of the National Portrait Gallery’s collection is the Hall of Presidents, which contains portraits of nearly all American presidents. It is the largest and most complete collection in the world, except for the White House collection itself.

The museum has several collections featured on Google Arts and Culture, but also offers digital workshops, and distance learning resources for children and teachers.

To view the online resources, click here .

The Pergamonmuseum houses monumental buildings, such as the Pergamon Altar, the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, and the Market Gate of Miletus reconstructed from the ruins found in Anatolia, as well as the Mshatta Facade. The museum is subdivided into the antiquity collection, the Middle East museum, and the museum of Islamic art. It is visited by over 1 million people every year.

The museum has dozens of structures and other artifacts that can be viewed online.

Year Opened: 1963

The Picasso Museum, located in the heart of Barcelona’s Latin Quarter, is visited by millions every year. They come to marvel at the best works of Picasso, perhaps the most famous painter of all, but stay to marvel at the best-preserved medieval architecture in Barcelona. With 4,251 works by the painter exhibited, the museum has one of the most complete permanent collections of his works.

The online tour offers a large selection of Picasso’s finest works, as well as virtual tours of the museum’s beautiful courtyards.

Year Opened: 1798

The Rijksmuseum was founded in The Hague in 1798 and moved to Amsterdam in 1808, where it was first located in the Royal Palace. The current main building was designed by Pierre Cuypers and first opened in 1885. The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history from the years 1200 to 2000, and a total collection of 1 million objects. The museum features masterpieces including Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch” and “The Jewish Bride,” plus works by Frans Hals and Johannes Vermeer, who are known to have been major contributors to the Golden Age of Dutch art.

Google offers a street view tour of some excellent art pieces located in the museum, and the museum has put together an entire virtual tour of all of the museum’s masterpieces viewable on its website.

To view the Google street view tour, click here . You can also view the museum’s From Home microsite and masterpieces tour .

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is composed of over 33,000 works of art spread throughout 7 gallery floors and 45,000 square feet of space. Following a 3-year closure for expansion, the museum reopened in 2016 and is now one of San Francisco’s must-see destinations.

SFMOMA’s website is updated regularly with videos and articles regarding current exhibits, projects, and artist showcases and provides behind-the-scenes looks of the museum. 

To view the museum’s multimedia features, click here .

Read our guide to the best museums in San Francisco to find out more.

Year Opened: 1483

The Sistine Chapel, located inside of the Apostolic Palace (the official residence of the pope in Vatican City), is easily the most popular chapel in the world. The chapel is famous for its magnificent ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, and is considered to be one of the best artworks to come out of the Italian Renaissance. The primary panels of the ceiling showcase 9 scenes from the Book of Genesis, of which “The Creation of Adam” (pictured above) is the best known and most recognized.

Its website offers a virtual tour of the chapel’s most stunning sites, including the ability to marvel at Michelangelo’s ceiling from the comfort of your couch.

Year Opened: 1939

The Guggenheim Museum was established by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in 1939. It is the permanent home of a continuously expanding collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early modern, and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions throughout the year.

Google’s  Street View feature lets you tour the Guggenheim’s famous spiral staircase and some of its art pieces. It also offers a handful of online collections on its website .

Year Opened: 2000

Tate Modern is one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art in the world, consisting of art dating from 1900 until today. The gallery receives over 5 million visitors a year, making it the sixth most visited art museum in the world and the most visited in the U.K.

The Tate Modern has published dozens of videos on its YouTube channel that give you an in-depth look at many of its exhibits, including the Andy Warhol exhibit and the Aubrey Beardsley exhibit.

To view the Tate Modern’s YouTube channel, click here .

Year Opened: 1992

Located in Madrid, the Thyssen has over 1,600 paintings inside its walls and was once the second-largest private collection in the world after the British Royal Collection. It includes works from the Italian primitives, the English, Dutch, and German schools, Impressionists, Expressionists, and European and American paintings from the 20th century. It also features pieces from the continent’s most celebrated artists including Rembrandt and Dalí.

The virtual tour includes a detailed look at the permanent collection, along with exhibits including the Rembrandt and Impressionist galleries.

Year Opened : 1872

The Tokyo National Museum is the oldest and largest art museum in Japan, and one of the largest art museums in the world. At the museum, you’ll find a collection of artwork and cultural objects from Asia, ancient and medieval Japanese art, and Asian art along the Silk Road.

The museum has teamed up with Google’s Arts and Culture to provide an inside look at what the museum has to offer.

Year Opened: 1581

The Uffizi was designed by Giorgio Vasari for Cosimo I de’ Medici, whose family members were by far the largest patrons of art in Renaissance Italy. The museum now spans over 139,000 square feet with 101 different rooms that house its art pieces, including famous pieces such as “The Birth of Venus.” Over 2 million people visit the Uffizi each year, making it the most viewed art museum in Italy.

The museum has teamed up with Google to showcase online galleries including:

• Piero di Cosimo, Perseus Freeing Andromeda
• The Santa Trinita Maestà, Cimabue
• The Creative Process Behind Federico Barocci’s Drawings
• Drawings by Amico Aspertini and other Bolognese artists

Year Opened: 1973

The Van Gogh Museum is dedicated to perhaps one of the most famous artists of all time — Vincent Van Gogh. The museum contains the largest collection of Van Gogh’s paintings and drawings in the world, including over 200 paintings, 500 drawings, and over 750 personal letters. The museum has over 2 million visitors each year and is the 23rd most visited art museum in the world. Find out more in our review to the best museums in Amsterdam .

The museum has teamed up with Google to create online exhibits on Vincent Van Gogh’s love life and the books he loved to read. You can also visit the museum’s website for a selection of things to do for young children, including school lessons and coloring pages.

Year Opened : 1852

The Victoria and Albert Museum collection spans 5,000 years of art from Europe, North America, Asia, and North Africa. The collection of ceramics, glass, textiles, costumes, silver, ironwork, jewelry, furniture, medieval objects, sculpture, prints and printmaking, drawings, and photographs is among the largest and most comprehensive in the world.

The virtual tour, in partnership with Google Arts and Culture, offers several online exhibits ranging from fashion to surrealism.

5 Natural History Museums With Virtual Tours

Year Opened : 1869

One of the largest natural history museums in the world, the American Museum of Natural History contains 34 million specimens of plants, animals, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, human remains, and human cultural artifacts.

The museum’s 360-degree virtual tours offer an up-close look at permanent exhibits, current exhibits, past exhibits, and research stations.

Year Opened: 1759

The British Museum is one of the largest in the world and houses over 8 million works within its walls. Established in 1759, it was the first public national museum in the world. Visitors can tour the great court and view some of the most famous objects in history, like the Elgin Marbles of Greece and the Rosetta Stone of Egypt.

The Museum is the world’s largest indoor space on Google Street View and you can go on a virtual visit to more than 60 galleries.

The British Museum also has virtual galleries on display, including:

• Prints and Drawings

To visit the British Museum’s virtual tour page, click here .

Year Opened: 1964

The National Museum of Anthropology is the largest and most visited museum in all of Mexico. The museum contains significant archaeological and anthropological artifacts from Mexico’s pre-Columbian heritage, such as the Stone of the Sun (or the Aztec calendar stone) and the Aztec Xochipilli statue.

The museum has made more than 100 items available for Google visitors to explore from home.

To view the museum’s online collection, click here .

Located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History is the 11th most visited museum in the world and the most visited natural history museum in the world. With over 325,000 square feet of exhibition space, the museum’s collections contain over 145 million specimens of plants, animals, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, human remains, and human cultural artifacts — the largest natural history collection in the world. Highlights of the collection include the Hope Diamond and the Star of Asia Sapphire.

You can view all of these specimens from the comfort of your home as the museum has dozens of different online exhibits that can all be accessed on its website.

To view the museum’s virtual tour, click here .

Year Opened: 1881

Undoubtably one of the best Museums in London , the Natural History Museum in London showcases 80 million life and earth science specimens of great historical and scientific value, even housing pieces collected by Charles Darwin. There are 5 categories within the museum: botany , entomology , mineralogy , paleontology , and zoology . Over 5 million people visit this museum each year, making it the most visited natural history museum in Europe.

One of the museum’s most prominent displays is the skeleton of an 82-foot long blue whale named Hope, which you can learn more about through a self-guided virtual tour, along with several other galleries. 

10 Science and Technology Museums With Virtual Tours

Year Opened : 1857

The London Science Museum holds a collection of over 300,000 items, including famous items such as Stephenson’s Rocket, Puffing Billy (the oldest surviving steam locomotive), the first jet engine, some of the earliest remaining steam engines, and documentation of the first typewriter.

Thanks to Google Street View, guests can take a virtual tour of the entire museum, or watch curator gallery guides on the museum’s YouTube channel.

To view the virtual tour or videos, click here .

Dedicated to the scientist and astronomer Galileo Galilei, the Museo Galilei is housed in an 11th-century palace known as the Palazzo Castellini. The museum has a collection of over 5,000 ancient scientific instruments dating back to the 13th century, and among its most notable items is the telescope Galileo used to discover the satellites of Jupiter.

Visitors from around the world have the opportunity to explore the inside of the museum and can access more than 1,000 permanent exhibition objects through the online catalog.

Year Opened: 1965

The Museum of Flight is the largest private air and space museum in the world and attracts over 500,000 visitors every year. The museum has more than 150 aircraft in its collection, including the Lockheed Model 10-E Electra (the aircraft Amelia Earhart was piloting when she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean), Boeing 747s, and the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird (pictured above).

The museum offers 360-degree tours that let you step inside dozens of these iconic aircraft.

Year Opened: 1846

The Museum of Natural Sciences of Belgium is dedicated to natural history and is part of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. The dinosaur hall of the museum is the world’s largest museum hall completely dedicated to dinosaurs, and its most important pieces are 30 fossilized Iguanodon skeletons, which were discovered in 1878 in Bernissart.

It has partnered with Google to set up virtual exhibits for viewing, including:

• 360-degree guided tour
• The Bernissart Iguanodons
• From Salehanthropus to Homo Sapiens
• Over 250 Years of Natural Sciences
• Past, Present, Future: The Marvels of Evolution

To view the museum’s online exhibits, click here .

Year Opened: 1830

The Museum of Science, Boston, receiving over 1.5 million visitors annually, is a museum and indoor zoo with more than 700 interactive exhibits and over 100 animals, many of which have been rescued and rehabilitated.

The museum offers a phenomenal virtual tour full of digital exhibits, videos, and audio presentations.

NASA, founded in 1958, was created by the federal government to develop the civilian space program, as well as to conduct aeronautics, space, and astrophysics research. Since its inception, NASA has been responsible for historic space missions including the Apollo moon-landing missions, the Skylab space station, and the space shuttle.

NASA has partnered with Google Arts and Culture to bring many online exhibits to life to showcase the beauty of space exploration.

Year Opened : 1946

The National Air and Space Museum is a center for the history and science of aviation, spaceflight, planetary science, terrestrial geology, and geophysics. It is the fifth most visited museum in the world (the second most visited in the U.S.), and contains the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia, the Friendship 7 capsule, the Wright brothers’ Wright Flyer airplane, and Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis.

The virtual tour offers a 360-degree walk-through of the entire museum.

Year Opened: 2007

The National Museum of Computing is dedicated to collecting and restoring historic computer systems. The museum is home to the world’s largest collection of working historic computers dating back to the 1940s, including a rebuilt Mark 2 Colossus computer, alongside an exhibition of the most complex code-cracking activities performed at the Park.

In the 3D virtual tour, viewers can move around the galleries looking at the machines and their descriptions with the added bonus of hyperlinks to video and text explanations providing further detail and history of the exhibits.

Year Opened: 1923

Located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Riverside, Ohio, the National Museum of the United States Air Force is the oldest and largest military aviation museum in the world, with more than 360 aircraft and missiles on display.

The virtual tour allows visitors to take a virtual, 360-degree, self-guided tour of the entire museum by navigating from gallery to gallery.

Year Opened: 1683

Oxford’s History of Science Museum holds a leading collection of scientific instruments from the Middle Ages to the 19th century.

The museum, ever ahead of the times, has offered virtual tours since 1995. You’ll get to explore the fantastic exhibits and artifacts of some of the most important scientific discoveries in science history.

10 History Museums With Virtual Tours

Year Opened : 2009

The Acropolis Museum is centered around the archaeological findings at the site of Athens’ most important structure — the Acropolis. The museum was built to house every artifact found on the rock and surrounding slopes, from the Greek Bronze Age to Roman and Byzantine Greece.

The museum has partnered with Google Arts and Culture to bring the museum to life virtually. Now you can view rock, marble, and sculptures certificates, all of which are thousands of years old, all from the comfort of your couch!

The American Battlefield Trust Virtual Battlefield Tours offers the incredible opportunity to experience 360-degree virtual tours of more than 20 American Revolution and Civil War battlefields. You can explore Gettysburg, with 15 different stops, each of which features icons that discuss in great detail the history and significance of the battle.

Year Opened: 1957

What was once the house where Anne Frank went into hiding during WWII is now a museum dedicated to increasing awareness of Anne’s story and life in the attic. The Anne Frank House was established in cooperation with Anne Frank’s father, Otto Frank, and now welcomes over 1 million visitors from around the world each year.

The museum’s website offers a virtual reality tour of the annex, along with other educational resources about Anne’s life.

Year Opened: 1941

The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum holds the records of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd U.S. president (1933 to 1945). The museum showcases the history behind FDR’s story, his presidency, New Deal policies, assassination attempt, and wartime decisions.

The 360-degree online tour gives you a close look at original documents, artifacts, and videos from FDR’s life.

Year Opened: 2003

The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture is the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African-American life, history, and culture. It was established by an Act of Congress in 2003, following decades of efforts to promote and highlight the contributions of African-Americans. To date, the Museum has collected more than 36,000 artifacts.

The museum website offers more than 15 different online exhibits covering African American history and culture.

Check out its online virtual tour  and digital resources guide .

The Smithsonian National Museum of American History has more than 1.8 million objects that highlight the history of the U.S — including the original Star-Spangled Banner, Julia Child’s kitchen, Abraham Lincoln’s top hat, Indiana Jones’ fedora and whip, and more!

The museum offers about 100 online exhibits from its encyclopedic collections, each with a mix of photos, video, graphics, and text on topics ranging through the nation’s entire history.

Year Opened : 1866

The National Museum of Scotland is dedicated to Scottish antiquities, culture, and history. The museum contains artifacts from around the world, encompassing geology, archaeology, natural history, science, technology, art, and world cultures. Popular items from the collections include Dolly the Sheep, the Arthur’s Seat coffins, and the Cramond Lioness sculpture.

The Museum’s galleries have been captured digitally in partnership with Google Arts & Culture, along with a virtual walk-through thanks to Google Street View.

Year Opened: 1996

Founded in 1996 by Karen Staser, the National Women’s History Museum researches, collects, and exhibits the contributions of women to the social, cultural, economic, and political life of our nation in the context of world history.

Its website currently features 29 different online exhibits!

Year Opened: 1974 (created third century B.C.)

The Terracotta Army at Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210 to 209 B.C. to protect the emperor in his afterlife. The sculptures include warriors, chariots, and horses. Estimates from 2007 were that the 3 pits containing the Terracotta Army held more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which remained buried in the pits near Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum.

The online experience allows you to get up close and personal with the sculptures in a full 360-degree experience!

To view the online virtual experience, click here .

Year Opened: 1980

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is the country’s official memorial to the Holocaust. It is located on the National Mall alongside other monuments dedicated to freedom. Each year, the museum encourages its 1.6 million visitors to promote human dignity, confront hatred, prevent genocide, and strengthen democratic values. The museum’s collection includes millions of archival documents, artifacts, photographs, footage, and a list of over 200,000 registered survivors and their families, among other historical items.

Its website offers a wide selection of educational resources, including a virtual tour, and is available in 16 languages.

There you have it — 75 amazing #MuseumsAtHome options filled with one-of-a-kind artifacts covering art, science, history, and natural history, all of which can be “visited” virtually while you lounge in your pajamas! So whether you’re a massive fan of art, looking for an educational experience for your children, or simply need a way to keep yourself entertained, you can’t go wrong with a virtual tour of any of these world-class museums.

Frequently Asked Questions

What museums have virtual tours.

There are dozens of museums worldwide offering virtual tours — we have 75 on this list alone! But some of our favorites are the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the British Museum!

How much do virtual tours cost?

Every single virtual tour included on our list is completely free of charge!

What is a virtual museum tour?

A virtual museum tour is, in essence, a simulation of what you might experience when visiting the museum in person. Virtual tours are usually comprised of a collection of videos, still images, 3D walkthroughs, and narration that help you feel as though you’re visiting the museum — without actually doing so!

How do you do a virtual tour?

Doing a virtual tour is easy! Often, the museum will have a dedicated website page allowing you to view all of their virtual resources on 1 page.

In the case of museums that have a 3D walkthrough, you can “walk” yourself through the museum by clicking from artwork to artwork, and exhibit to exhibit, as if you were actually visiting the museum in person!

Are virtual tours worth it?

Absolutely! If you’re currently not able to visit a museum in person, but want to experience all it has to offer, a virtual tour allows you to do just that — all from the comforts of your home!

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These 12 Famous Museums Offer Virtual Tours You Can Take on Your Couch

Experience the best museums — from London to Seoul — from the comfort of your own home.

While there's nothing like setting foot inside an iconic museum and laying eyes on a world-famous sculpture created by a renowned artist centuries ago, it's not always possible to hop on a plane to New York City , Paris , or Florence to tour the gallery halls in person.

But there is a way to get a little culture and education while you're at home, gaining inspiration and intel for future trips as well. Google Arts & Culture has teamed up with more than 1,200 museums and galleries around the world to bring anyone and everyone virtual tours and online exhibits of some of the most famous museums around the world.

You get to "go to the museum" and never have to leave your couch.

Google Arts & Culture's collection includes The British Museum in London, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Guggenheim in New York City, and literally hundreds more places where you can gain knowledge about art, history, and science.

Take a look at just some of Google's top museums that are offering online tours and exhibits. And if you're seeking more thoughtful inspiration from the comfort of your own home, museums around the world are sharing their most zen art on social media . Or, for a dose of nature, you can go "outside" with incredible virtual tours of some of America's best national parks .

The British Museum, London

This iconic museum located in the heart of London allows virtual visitors to tour the Great Court and discover the ancient Rosetta Stone and Egyptian mummies. You can also find hundreds of artifacts on The Museum of the World interactive website, a collaboration between The British Museum and Google Cultural Institute.

Guggenheim, New York

Google's Street View feature lets visitors tour the Guggenheim's famous spiral staircase without ever leaving home. From there, you can discover incredible works of art from the impressionist, post-impressionist, modern, and contemporary eras.

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

This famous American art museum features two online exhibits through Google. The first is an exhibit of American fashion from 1740 to 1895, including many renderings of clothes from the colonial and Revolutionary eras. The second is a collection of works from Dutch baroque painter Johannes Vermeer.

Musée d’Orsay, Paris

You can virtually walk through this popular gallery that houses dozens of famous works from French artists who worked and lived between 1848 and 1914. Get a peek at artworks from Monet, Cézanne, and Gauguin, among others.

Don Eim/Travel + Leisure

National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul

One of Korea's popular museums can be accessed from anywhere around the world. Google's virtual tour takes you through six floors of contemporary art from Korea and all over the globe.

Pergamon Museum, Berlin

As one of Germany's largest museums, Pergamon has a lot to offer — even if you can't physically be there . This historical museum is home to plenty of ancient artifacts including the Ishtar Gate of Babylon and, of course, the Pergamon Altar.

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Explore masterpieces from the Dutch Golden Age, including works from Vermeer and Rembrandt. Google offers a Street View tour of this iconic museum, so you can feel as if you're actually wandering its halls.

Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Anyone who's a fan of this tragic, ingenious painter can see his works up close (or, almost up close ) by virtually visiting this museum, home to the largest collection of artworks by Vincent van Gogh, including more than 200 paintings, 500 drawings, and 750 personal letters.

The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

European artworks from as far back as the eighth century can be found in this California art museum. Take a Street View tour to discover a huge collection of paintings, drawings, sculptures, manuscripts, and photographs.

Uffizi Gallery, Florence

This less well-known gallery houses the art collection of one of Florence's most famous families, the de' Medicis. The building was designed by Giorgio Vasari in 1560 specifically for Cosimo I de' Medici, but anyone can wander its halls from anywhere in the world .

MASP, São Paulo

The Museu de Arte de São Paulo is a nonprofit and Brazil's first modern museum. Artworks placed on clear, raised frames make it seem like they're hovering in midair. Take a virtual tour to experience the wondrous display for yourself.

National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City

Built in 1964, this museum is dedicated to the archaeology and history of Mexico's pre-Hispanic heritage. There are 22 exhibit rooms filled with ancient artifacts, including some from the Maya civilization.

Not all popular art museums and galleries are included in Google Arts & Culture's collection, but some have taken it upon themselves to offer online visits. For example, the Louvre offers virtual tours on its website .

To see more of Google Arts & Culture's collection of museums, visit its website . There are thousands of museum Street Views on Google as well. Google Arts & Culture also has an online experience for exploring famous historic and cultural heritage sites .

Top 10 virtual tours: see museums and the world without leaving home

Stuck at home? You can still enjoy amazing sights and experiences

Many of the world’s most iconic locations now offer virtual tours, meaning you can visit museums, world heritage sites and other attractions from the comfort of your couch. You don’t need a VR headset , either, although some attractions do support virtual reality for a more immersive experience.

So if you’re looking for things to do at home, and in need of a change of scenery, simply grab your laptop, tablet or phone, and join us on a world tour filled with history, nature and – of course – technology.

1. Machu Picchu, Andes Mountains, Peru

A simply stunning UNESCO World Heritage site, Machu Picchu is a visual wonder that just has to be seen. You no longer need to fly all the way to Peru to see it in all its glory, however, as the virtual tour is comprehensive, immersive, and filled with fascinating insights.

With 360-degree views of the ruins of Inca settlements and lush green landscapes, you can visit every popular vantage point and learn more about the history of the famous site thanks to a helpful voice narrator. OK, you can’t feel the warm breeze around you, but if you turn on the heat and have a handy desk fan set to low, it’s almost as good as the real thing. Almost.

Behold the marvel : Machu Picchu

2. The Louvre Museum, Paris

An attraction visited by millions of tourists in person every year, the Louvre Museum has also created a selection of virtual tours based on its permanent collections. Explore Egyptian antiquities, the Remains of the Louvre’s Moat, and the decorative arts of the Galerie d’Apollon. 

The tour is easy to navigate, with an expandable minimap that lets you highlight exhibits to view with just a couple of clicks. You can also find out more about each room in The Louvre, with detailed descriptions that will probably make the room you’re actually sitting in feel frightfully dull in comparison. 

Take a trip: Louvre Museum

3. The National Museum of Computing, Milton Keynes, UK

The National Museum of Computing contains the world’s largest collection of working historic computers. That means one of them probably runs Microsoft Vista and is still working...

The museum features a fantastic, intuitive, virtual 3D tour. You can zoom in on each exhibit’s details, and find out more about every aspect of computing history, such as the world’s oldest working digital computer. Impressive stuff.

Discover a digital treasure trove: The National Museum of Computing

4. Georgia Aquarium, Georgia, USA

Nothing beats the beauty of nature, so it’s good to know you can still get your daily dose of “aww” from the safety of your sofa. The Georgia Aquarium has over 50 species ranging from sea lions to underwater puffins, with many available to view via webcam. There’s also a daily and weekly livestream that’s aimed at piquing children’s interest in animals, and a great at-home educational tool if you want to entertain the little ones. 

Ever wondered what a Beluga Whale gets up to in its spare time? Just click on the link below and find out. Water-way to have a good time. 

Sea more: Georgia Aquarium

5. A 3-Minute Tour, Tokyo

What if we told you that you could ride in a Tuk Tuk, walk across the famous Shibuya crossing, win a Pikachu from a claw machine, and make friends with a robot… all in under three minutes. That might be physically impossible, but with VR it’s a breeze.

If you’ve ever wanted to take a whistle-stop tour of Japan, the Japan National Tourism Organization has created a 360-degree virtual reality video that lets you do all of the above, and lots more. 

Simply put on a VR headset to experience a surreal thrill ride, where you’ll go from feeding a deer to facing off against a sumo wrestler in a matter of seconds. The video is also viewable in 2D, and well worth a look. 

Check it out below.

6. The British Museum, London

Home to a remarkable collection that spans over two million years of human history and culture, The British Museum has nearly 50 online exhibits to view. From Bonaparte and the Battle of Waterloo to exploring the history of LGBTQ, there’s plenty of informative content to delve into.

For a more interactive experience, check out the Museum of the World tour . You can browse through a large selection of exhibits that are dated by century, continent and category – such as trade and conflict or art and design. Each exhibit offers a detailed description as well as accompanying audio, which helps provide a fascinating backstory to each piece. 

Browse the exhibits: The British Museum

7. The Vatican, Rome

Filled with spectacular architecture and historic monuments, The Vatican is within your virtual reach, with a host of museums providing online tours. Step into the Sistine Chapel and Raphael’s Rooms, which are adorned with simply sensational artwork. 

The tour is compatible with WebVR, so you can pop on a VR headset to get an even closer look at some of mankind’s most memorable creations. It’s truly breathtaking, even when viewed through a screen.  

When in Rome, visit: The Vatican

 8. Musée d’Orsay, Paris

Located in the center of Paris, this historic museum was installed in the former Orsay railway station. It was originally built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900, and displays collections of art from the period 1848 to 1914.

Take a leisurely virtual stroll through the opulent hallways and witness works from dozens of famous French artists, including Monet, Gauguin and Van Gogh. With no other visitors to contend with, you can soak up all the culture on display to your heart’s content – and there’s a lot to soak up. 

Take the tour: Musée d’Orsay

9. Athens Acropolis, Athens

A must-visit destination for history buffs, the Athens Acropolis includes the world-famous Parthenon, and is a cultural hotspot for tourists. Choose between popular sites such as the Theatre of Dionysus and enjoy in-depth videos that provide a fascinating and educational insight into ancient Greece. 

There are plenty of photographs to view and engrossing facts to learn, so don’t be surprised if you become an armchair expert in no time. Now, where’d you put that amphora of wine? 

Get to the Greek: Athens Acropolis

10. The Royal Academy of Arts, London

If you’re amazed by architecture, the Royal Academy of Arts has a virtual tour that will make you go “ooo” and “ahh” for hours. The Sensing Spaces exhibition uses high-quality 360-degree photography to give visitors a taste of its structures and remarkable exhibitions – it really does feel as if you’re actually there. 

Each exhibition is complemented by further information for users to read through, but you’re encouraged to come to your own conclusions, and think about what each space means to you.

Visit the exhibition: Sensing Spaces

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Adam was formerly TRG's Hardware Editor. A law graduate with an exceptional track record in content creation and online engagement, Adam has penned scintillating copy for various technology sites and also established his very own award-nominated video games website. He’s previously worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor and once played Halo 5: Guardians for over 51 hours for charity. He is now an editor at The Shortcut.

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• Design & Culture

The 10 Best Virtual Museum and Art Gallery Tours

Explore thousands of galleries and museums from the comfort and safety of your living room.

By Alex Martin

The ongoing spread of the novel coronavirus Covid-19 has put paid to hundreds of thousands of travel plans across the world. Millions of people are once again being forced or advised to remain inside, and art galleries and museums will close their doors. But thanks to modern technology, you can explore thousands of galleries and museums from the comfort and safety of your living room. Here, we pick some of the best virtual museum and art gallery tours to take during lockdown.

Guggenheim, Bilbao

The Guggenheim is perhaps more famous for the stunning titanium and steel building within which its located. The distinctive structure was designed by Frank Gehry as a tribute to Bilbao’s naval and industrial heritage. But in the absence of visiting this architectural treasure, you can explore its extensive collection of modern art through its interactive tour. Some of the more notable artworks include Untitled by Mark Rothko and Nine Discourses On Commodus by Cy Twombly. Its most iconic piece, Maman by Louise Bourgeois, stands just outside of the museum.

guggenheim-bilbao.eus

Natural History Museum, London

The Natural History Museum in London is beloved by both tourists and locals. Housing hundreds and thousands of treasures, visitors can wander around its storied corridors for hours on end and still not see all it has to offer Although its doors are now closed, you can enjoy much of what it has to offer in its interactive online guide. See the Emperor penguin eggs brought home by some of the first Antarctic expeditions and see some of the oldest human skeletons ever found in the Darwin Center.

J Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

With pieces dating back 6,000 years, the Getty offers one of the most complete collections of artistic treasures in the world. Its most prized pieces, Irises by Vincent van Gogh and La Promenade by Renior, both feature on the virtual tour. A museum view is also available on the Google Arts and Culture tool. From there, you can explore the Getty Center’s many outdoor sculptures as well as its Center of Photographs. The latter is widely regarded as the finest collection of photographs in world, dating from the earliest days of camera technology.

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Vatican museums, rome.

The Sistine Chapel explored through the Vatican’s virtual portal / © museivaticani.va

Italy has been struck hardest by the coronavirus and due to its elderly population, Vatican City was quickly locked down. While it remains closed for the foreseeable future, its treasures remain in place. The website offers a virtual tour of its most stunning sites, which allows you to marvel at Michelangelo’s ceiling inside the Sistine Chapel. Other marvels to visit include The You Visit tour allows you to wander around the world’s smallest country digitally and even has a tour guide option that offers information on each significant site.

museivaticani.va/en/collezioni/musei/

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Van gogh museum, amsterdam.

Amsterdam is one of Europe’s most visited cities and the Van Gogh Museum is one of the most visited sights within the city. Van Gogh’s story of tragedy and genius resonates with millions of people around the world, many of whom come here to marvel at over 200 paintings, 500 drawings and 750 personal letters. The Google Arts & Culture tool now offers access to the entire museum, allowing you to get up close and personal with some of the most treasured artwork in the world.

artsandculture.google.com/van-gogh-museum

Guggenheim Museum, New York

Marvel at one of the most Instagrammable staircases in the world before absorbing a huge collection of art from the Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary eras. A visit to the Guggenheim is a unique experience unlike any offered by a conventional art gallery – architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the museum as a journey, with visitors walking up (or down) a gently sloping spiral. The galleries are divided like membranes in citrus fruit, with self-contained yet interdependent sections. Visitors can view pieces by great artists like Picasso, Kandinsky and Miró at their via Google Arts & Culture.

artsandculture.google.com/solomon-r-guggenheim-museum

Picasso Museum, Barcelona

The Picasso Museum in Barcelona through its virtual portal / ©Picasso Museum

The Picasso Museum, located in the heart of Barcelona’s Latin Quarter, is visited by millions every year. They come to marvel at the best works of perhaps the most famous painter of all, but stay to marvel at the best-preserved Medieval architecture in Barcelona. The online tour offers a large selection of Picasso’s finest works as well as virtual tours of the museum’s beautiful courtyards.

bcn.cat/museupicasso/

Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, New York

You can explore 129 artworks from arguably the most famous museum in the world through the Google Arts & Culture program. That includes some of its most prized assets, such as Van Gogh’s Starry Night and Rousseau’s The Sleeping Gypsy. In total, MoMA boasts a collection of over 150,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, architectural models and drawings, and design objects. Even for the most learned aficionado, there are myriad opportunities to discover and learn something new about modern art.

British Museum, London

The digital tool on offer from the British Museum / ©British Museum

The British Museum was the first national museum in the world. Opened in 1759, it serves the same purpose as it did back then, offering a view of human history with priceless artifacts from every corner of the globe. From a rock tool carved by early humans 1.8m years ago to items made as recently as the 1950s, the British Museum’s virtual tour grants you access to some of its most prized possessions such as the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles.

britishmuseum.withgoogle.com/

Musée d’Orsay, Paris

Musée d’Orsay was originally built as a grand railway station and hotel, but today houses the largest collection of impressionist and post-Impressionist works in the world. Much of this can now be experienced through its own virtual tour, offering a complete history of the impressionist era through the works of Monet and Gauguin amongst many others. There is also an online exhibition on the storied history of the building itself.

artsandculture.google.com/musee-dorsay-paris

National Palace Museum, Taipei

With a permanent collection of almost 700,000 pieces stretching back 8,000 years, the National Palace Museum in Taipei boasts one of the most extensive collections of Chinese artifacts and artworks. Its virtual online platform allows you to explore the huge space and all of its permanent exhibitions. However, with such an extensive collection, you will be best served taking one of the featured tour routes, which allows you to quickly browse the museum’s most treasured items.

tech2.npm.edu.tw

Alex Martin

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10 Virtual History Museums and Experiences to Explore From Home

By: Missy Sullivan

Updated: June 1, 2023 | Original: March 26, 2020

The need for social distancing may have forced museums and historic sites around the world to close their doors for now, but many have made their spaces, exhibits and collections available to anyone with a digital device and a decent web connection. Some offer 360-degree tours, like the one that takes you into every nook and cranny of George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate. Others present virtual exhibits or browsable online archives, such as the dozens on Google Arts & Culture’s site, where partner museums share treasures like the Rosetta Stone and ancient Egyptian artifacts ( The British Museum , London)...iconic 20th century photos (the LIFE Magazine archive)...or troves of sports history (the Olympic Museum , Lausanne, Switzerland). Here are 10 standout virtual history sites worth exploring:

Xi'an Warriors

It was one of the most stunning archaeological finds of the 20th century. In 1974, farmers digging a well stumbled across a life-sized clay figure that, government archaeologists later discovered, belonged to a vast army of terra cotta soldiers created to protect China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, in the afterlife. The massive mausoleum, created around 210 B.C., houses some 8,000 warriors, along with hundreds of chariots and horses—all arranged in battle formation. In 2017, a Chinese company, inspired by Google Street View, created an awe-inspiring virtual experience that lets visitors swoop down into the tomb and “walk” among the soldiers, viewing their unique facial expressions and traces of their original colorful paint at close range. You don’t need to read Chinese to appreciate the enormity of it all.

Click  HERE for the experience.

READ MORE: 5 Things You May Not Know About the Terra Cotta Army

Smithsonian Museum of American History

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History bills itself as the greatest single collection of U.S. history in the world, home to more than 1.8 million objects that each, in some fundamental way, defines the American experience. The museum offers about 100 online exhibits from its encyclopedic collections, each with a mix of photos, video, graphics and text on topics ranging from the life of Abe Lincoln (yep, they’ve got the stovepipe hat) to the development of the first artificial heart to the evolution of voting machines and even an array of vintage lunch boxes. 

READ MORE: 9 of the Most Collectible School Lunch Boxes, 1935 to Now

The Museum of Flight

War planes. Spy planes. Spacecraft. Gliders. Kit planes. Eccentric contraptions. This sprawling museum, adjacent to the Boeing complex south of Seattle, Washington, is considered one of the world’s largest and best air and space museums, with more than 150 aircraft, 25,000-plus aviation-related artifacts and a huge array of exhibits that collectively chronicle man's quest to take to the skies. Flight geeks could easily get lost in its vast searchable and browsable database of those collections while 360-degree tours let you step inside a dozen iconic aircraft—including the Boeing 747, the Concorde and the museum’s full-scale model of the space shuttle orbiter used for training astronauts.

Click HERE for the experience.

READ MORE: Who Was the First President to Fly on Air Force One?

National Women's History Museum

Come for the deep well of biographies and digital classroom resources , stay for the wide array of virtual exhibits , many of which are enabled by Google Arts & Culture. For two decades, the National Women’s History Museum has been the largest online cultural institution telling the stories of women who helped transform the U.S. Heavy with slide shows and graphics, the virtual exhibits document women making waves in politics, sports, civil rights, science and technology and more. Check out its collection of oral histories from the American Rosie Movement, relaying women's contributions to the nation’s defense production.

READ MORE: Women’s History Milestones: A Timeline

Anne Frank House

Anne Frank ’s diary, chronicling her life in hiding during World War II, remains one of the most powerful testimonies to the horrors of the Holocaust. If a trip to Amsterdam to visit the Anne Frank House isn’t in the cards, AnneFrank.org offers the next best thing. In addition to tons of informative content about the teen, her diary and the war, there are bells and whistles galore: an interactive timeline, videos about her life, a 360-degree tour of the house, a virtual reality tour of the secret annex where she and her family hid for 761 days, and a companion exhibit on Google Arts & Culture.

READ MORE: How Anne Frank’s Private Diary Became an International Sensation

Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum

FDR , America’s only four-term president , presided over the nation during two of its most trying ordeals: the Great Depression and World War II . This online experience walks users room by room through the exhibits in his extensive presidential library and museum in Hyde Park, New York, drawing together a wealth of original documents, artifacts, videos, 360-degree tours and more. Together, they illustrate everything from FDR’s little-known assassination attempt to his New Deal policies and wartime decisions to Eleanor ’s significant role. It’s easy to lose track of time clicking through all the fascinating letters, whether it’s from a constituent exhorting him to “discontinue being a smiling, wasteful and fickle prima donna politician” to one from Albert Einstein strenuously detailing his objections to the atomic bomb.

READ MORE: How FDR Became the First—and Only—President to Serve Four Terms

Calling all space geeks: Report to the NASA site for ultimate fun in the final frontier. Get the full scoop on all the key NASA programs past and present, from the Hubble Telescope to the Mars Rover to the upcoming Parker Solar Probe. Check out the History hub to dive deep into photos, videos and articles about all their historic missions. Enjoy a motherlode of space images with the cache of ultra-high-def videos taken from various missions—like the virtual tour of the moon in 4K, enabled by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Spacecraft. For astronaut wannabes, virtual tours abound of NASA’s various research and training facilities—putting users right inside a supersonic wind tunnel, a zero-gravity lab, flight simulators, a space environments complex and much more.

READ MORE: The Space Race

American Battlefield Trust Virtual Battlefield Tours

Most on-site battlefield tours require a leap of imagination: the ability to walk around a perfectly peaceful open field and overlay a mental movie of smoke and combat and fallen warriors, all the while considering the military strategy and broader political stakes. ABT’s website may not offer the sunshine on your back, but it marries the setting, action and context far more seamlessly, with its 360-degree virtual tours of more than 20 American Revolution and Civil War battlefields. In the Gettysburg tour alone, there are 15 different stops—no walking required—each of which features clickable icons with granular detail about all the whos, whats and whys. And when you’re done touring, be sure to explore the site’s other robust resources, from battle summaries to generals’ biographies.

READ MORE: 7 Important Civil War Battles

National Museum of African American History and Culture

While there are plenty of current and past exhibits to explore online here, the real draw is the collections. In the site’s Collections Stories area, museum staff members share objects that resonate for them historically or culturally, whether it’s Muhammad Ali’s training gear...the dress Carlotta Walls, one of the so-called Little Rock Nine , wore when she walked the gauntlet of angry mobs on her first day integrating Little Rock Central High School ...or shards of stained glass from the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama that killed four little girls. And if you’ve got lots of time to explore, browse the museum’s vast open-source collections, brimming with letters, documents, photos and artifacts. They convey the wide-ranging African American experience—from a slave ship manifest to a poster of Sidney Poitier’s film To Sir, With Love . 

READ MORE: One of the Last Slave Ship Survivors Describes His Ordeal in a 1930s Interview

U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

The Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. presents powerful online exhibits brimming with resources such as videos, timelines, glossaries and image galleries rich with potent original artifacts. Themes include Collaboration & Complicity, Nazi Propaganda, Americans and the Holocaust, Racial Health Policies and more. Elsewhere on the museum’s site: a deep archive of survivor interviews , moving artifacts like a gallery of 600 ID cards of Holocaust victims and a place to browse the museum’s huge, sobering collections.

READ MORE: American Response to the Holocaust

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Check out these virtual tours of museums around the world

Take a trip through some of the world’s greatest collections on these virtual museum and gallery tours, no queuing necessary

While a virtual tour doesn’t quite compare to being able to make your way down Frank Lloyd Wright’s winding curves of the Guggenheim or strolling under the stunningly intricate arch of the Musée d’Orsay, exploring online means art buffs can experience u ninhibited, uninterrupted, intimate views of the artworks. Plus, you can enjoy exhibits from famed artists in renowned museums from across the world – all from the comfort of your sofa, or even bed.

Get ready to feed your cultural fix and indulge in a few armchair travels; here are the best virtual tours across the globe from classical Dutch art and history to Cézanne, Keith Haring to Picasso. Looking for something a little more eccentric? Check out the Museum of Broken Relationships. Afterwards, peruse these street artists who capture the spirit of their city and ‘Faces of Frida,’ which holds over 800 works from 33 museums and art centres. You can never have enough art in your life, after all.

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Virtual museum tours around the world

British Museum, London

The British Museum is the OG national museum. When it opened in 1759, it was the first of its kind to open to the public in the entire world, and they’re still showing us how it’s done today. The graphics on this tour are impressive—think an intergalactic guitar fretboard. Tap through a musical guide to Africa, the Americas, Asia, Oceania, and Europe, and play a little tune along the way.

Virtual tour of the British Museum

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

Thousands visit the Gugg every day just to explore its epic Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building, and thanks to this Google Street View tour, you can wander its halls from your couch in four unique virtual tours. Peruse the museum’s most significant offerings of postmodern, conceptual, and installation art, then head to the homepage for a bumper database of its entire collection, or check out the online exhibits.

Virtual tour of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Over in the Netherlands, the Rijksmuseum is an oasis of classical Dutch art and history, Asian artefacts, and 17th century silver and porcelain spanning 80 galleries. The Street View-style tour is fine (there is eight total), but the online exhibitions are brilliant, like the interactive guide to the master of throwing shade, Rembrandt. You can even get up close and personal with The Night Watch and Vermeer’s Milkmaid .

Virtual tour of the Rijksmuseum

Musée d’Orsay, Paris

Fancy a trip to Paris? Oui oui! This grand museum holds the largest collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works in the world, and you can click your way through the very best among them thanks to interactive galleries featuring van Gogh, Cézanne, Degas, and more. Or, learn more about the architecture of the building in the online exhibit; did you know it was installed in the former Orsay railway station, designed by architect Victor Laloux?

Virtual tour of the Musée d’Orsay

Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia

Philadelphia art collector Albert C. Barnes founded this museum in 1922 to show people how to observe and appreciate art. His collection boasts works from Renoir, Cézanne, and Matisse and features African masks, Native American jewellery, Greek antiquities, and more. Their online collection allows viewers to filter through pieces by colour, lines, light, and space, as inspired by Dr Barnes’ approach to looking at art. 

Virtual Tour of the Barnes Foundation

The Broad, Los Angeles

Forty-five seconds. That’s how long you normally have to bathe in the twinkling, reflective abyss of Yayoi Kusama’s ‘Infinity Mirrored Room’ at the Broad. Currently, the exhibit is closed, so while you won’t be able to snag the ever-popular selfie in the signature exhibit, you can explore her groundbreaking role as an artist a la the #infiniteLA videos. You can also traverse a range of exhibits with a deep dive into artists like Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and Kara Walking via the Up Close series; or enjoy performances, talks and conversations, and workshops. 

Virtual experiences of Broad From Home .

Uffizi Gallery, Florence

You can scroll through more than 300,000 works in the digital archives of the Uffizi, Florence’s treasure chest of Renaissance art. All the big boys are here—Botticelli, Titian, and Canaletto. Click on the HyperVisions tab for thoughtfully curated tours around themes such as angels, epiphany and intercultural vision. Deep. You can even stroll through the Buantalenti Grotti in the Boboli Gardens in a 360 virtual tour, or review the new digital archives .

Virtual tour of the Uffizi Gallery

National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul

Opened in 1969, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) has established itself as the representative institute of Korean art. The MMCA has four different locations, all of which can be viewed on Google for free, that specialize in architecture and design, contemporary art, modern art, and art education. With such a vast and diverse collection, you can spend an entire afternoon marvelling at paintings and sculptures. 

Virtual Tour of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

MASP, São Paulo

The Museu de Arte de São Paulo has a very particular way of displaying artwork in their galleries: paintings are hung on crystal easels that make them look like they’re floating mid-air. Check it out on their virtual gallery, which also features online exhibits of art from Brazil and beyond including Picture Gallery in Transformation; Art in Fashion: MASP's Rhodia Collection; and Art from Italy: from Rafael to Titian.

Virtual tour of MASP

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Like most museums around the world, the National Gallery of Victoria has temporarily closed its doors. But those who missed out on its big-hitting ‘Keith Haring | Jean-Michel Basquiat: Crossing Lines ’ show are in luck: the free multimedia guide is available to listen to, in addition to a wide assortment of virtual self-guided tours ranging from Japanese modernism to the We Change the World exhibit, exploring how art and design can create change.

Virtual tour of the National Gallery of Victoria

Museo Frida Kahlo, Ciudad de Mexico

The Museo de Frida Kahlo is located in La Casa Azul, the home and studio where Kahlo entered and exited this world. It showcases paintings by Kahlo and her husband and artist, Diego Rivero, as well as popular artworks, pre-Columbian sculptures, and personal possessions. Get a real sense of Kahlo’s daily life and the culture she came from by exploring her preserved space. 

Virtual tour of the Museo Frida Kahlo

Picasso Museum, Barcelona

As well as a vast online catalogue of Pablo’s finest with 4,251 works , this temple to all things Picasso offers a 360-degree tour of some of the best-preserved medieval architecture in Barcelona. When you’re done perusing the courtyards, you can tour the Ontology “Picasso 1936 Exhibition” to explore how the event was put together and the artist’s connection with Barcelona, or the houses that Picasso lived and worked in, as well as the places he frequented. 

Virtual tour of Picasso Museum

Museum of Broken Relationships, Zagreb and Los Angeles

This could be a touchy subject for quarantining couples, but the Museum of Broken Relationships takes a nostalgic look at old flames, and it’s really quite beautiful. Each item on display represents the donor’s ex, and the stories behind them range from uplifting to heartbreaking. Who knew an old toaster could be so poignant? Other quirky items include belly button lint, an empty bag of fortune cookies attached to a Starbucks cup, and a 27-year old crust from the wound of first love (each with a powerful story). 

Virtual tour of the Museum of Broken Relationships

More museum tours

Virtual tours of London museums and galleries

It’s good to know that way before everything went crazy, most of London’s museums digitised their collections and even created virtual tours of their spaces. From Tate Modern through to the Natural History Museum, here are our favourite virtual tours of our most beloved London cultural institutions.

Virtual tours of NYC museums

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Available in partnership with Google Arts & Culture, the tours feature images from various collections and, in some cases, walkabouts through parts of the museum via street view.

Virtual tours of L.A. museums

You may not be able to visit L.A.’s best museums right now as they’re all temporarily closed, but you can bring a little piece of them home with you. And no, we’re not encouraging art theft.

Virtual tours of Boston museums

Who among us couldn't use a classy, calming dose of fine art? Boston's museums are up there with the best, and you can explore most of them online for free.

Virtual tours of museums around the USA

While you could spend this time time streaming or navigating social media, you might want to consider using the opportunity to up your cultural game by virtually touring the best online museum experiences in the United States.

Virtual tours of museums and galleries in Spain

In Madrid, Barcelona and beyond, museums and art galleries are contributing to helping us get our art fix by providing online versions of their collections for us to enjoy.

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Bored at Home? Here's a Massive List of Museums, Zoos, and Theme Parks Offering Virtual Tours

You can see Frida Kahlo at MoMA or visit the Shedd Aquarium without leaving the couch.

"Walk" through some of the world's most prestigious cultural institutions, like The Met and The American Museum of Natural History, then go for a "ride" on Disney's new Frozen rollercoaster with the kids. And regardless of your age, we think everyone will enjoy some live footage of pandas playing at the zoo!

• The Louvre: You don't have to book a ticket to Paris to check out some of the famous pieces in the world's largest art museum. The Louvre has free online tours of three famous exhibits, including Egyptian Antiquities.
• Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum: The works of Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian , Jeff Koons, and Franz Marc are just some of the 625 artists whose work are a part of the Guggenheim's Collection Online .
• Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History: Move at your own pace through the 360-degree room-by-room tour of every exhibit in the museum .
• Van Gogh Museum: You can get up close and personal with the impressionist painter's most famous work thanks to Google Arts & Culture .
• Getty Museum: Los Angeles's premiere gallery has two virtual tours , including "Eat, Drink, and Be Merry," which is a closer look at food in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
• The Vatican Museum: The Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, and Raphael's Room, are just some of the sites you can see on the Vatican's virtual tour .
• T hyssen-Bornemisza Museum: Madrid's must-see art museum has the works of some of the continent's most celebrated artists like Rembrandt and Dali available online .
• Georgia O’Keeffe Museum: Six virtual exhibits are available online from this museum named for the "Mother of American modernism."
• National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City: Dive into the pre-Hispanic history of Mexico with 23 exhibit rooms full of Mayan artifacts.
• British Museum, London: The Rosetta Stone and Egyptian mummies are just a couple of things that you're able to see on a virtual tour of the museum.
• N ASA: Both Virginia's Langley Research Center and Ohio's Glenn Research Center offer online tours for free. Also, you can try some "augmented reality experiences" via The Space Center Houston's app .
• National Women's History Museum: Have a late International Women's Day celebration with online exhibits and oral histories from the Virginia museum.
• Metropolitan Museum of Art: Though the Met Gala was cancelled this year, you can still have a peak at the The Costume Institute Conversation Lab, which is one of the institution's 26 online exhibits .
• High Museum of Art, Atlanta: This museum's popular online exhibits include "Civil Rights Photography " — photos that capture moments of social protest like the Freedom Rides and Rosa Park's arrest.
• Detroit Institute of Arts: Mexican art icon Frida Kahlo is the focal point of two of the four available online exhibits .
• Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: The Golden Age of Dutch art is highlighted in this museum which includes the work of Vermeer and Rembrandt .
• National Museum of the United States Air Force: You can't take a ride in Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidential airplane, but you can check it out, in addition to other military weapons and aircraft, online in the Air Force's official museum .
• MoMA ( The Museum of Modern Art): New York's extensive collection is available for view online .
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: The 16 virtual exhibits include a special section on 21st Century Designer Fashion.

Zoos and Aquariums

• The Cincinnati Zoo: Check in around 3 p.m., because that's the time the Zoo holds a daily Home Safari on its Facebook Live Feed .
• Atlanta Zoo: The Georgia zoo keeps a " Panda Cam " livestream on its website.
• Georgia Aquarium: S ea-dwellers like African penguins and Beluga Whales are the stars of this aquarium's live cam .
• Houston Zoo: There are plenty of different animals you can check in on with this zoo's live cam , but we highly recommend watching the playful elephants.
• The Shedd Aquarium: This Chicago aquarium shares some pretty adorable behind-the-scenes footage of their residents on Facebook .
• San Diego Zoo: With what may be the most live cam options , this zoo lets you switch between koalas, polar bears, and tigers in one sitting.
• Monterey Bay Aquarium: It can be Shark Week every week thanks to live online footage of Monterey Bay's Habitat exhibit .
• National Aquarium: Walk through tropical waters to the icy tundra in this floor-by-floor tour of the famous, Baltimore-based aquarium.

Theme Parks

• Walt Disney World: Set aside some time, because there's plenty to see here. Virtual tours you can take include Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot, just to name a few. There are also unofficial YouTube videos that feel just like you're on famous rides like the Frozen Ever After ride , It's a Small World , Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! , and Pirates of the Caribbean .
• LEGOLAND Florida Resort: The Great Lego Race and Miniland USA are just two of the attractions you can check out in a virtual tour of the park .

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These 10 Virtual Museum Tours Are Giving Us Life Right Now

Nothing brings on reverse culture shock like being stuck at home, but what if we told you that some of the world’s greatest museums are still open to the public, and you can visit them today—right now!—without ever leaving your living room? Thanks to incredibly high-definition virtual tours, the Louvre’s Egyptian Antiquities, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s Hall of Fossils, and the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel are all just a click away. Happy browsing!

Senior Editor, Jetsetter | @lindseytravels | lindseytravels.com

See recent posts by Lindsey Olander

The Vatican Museums, Rome

Visitors may not be able to attend the liturgies delivered by Pope Francis in Vatican City during Holy Week and Easter this year, but you’ll still be able to enjoy the wonders inside the Vatican Museums. Thanks to 360-degree virtual tours , you can marvel at Raphael’s Rooms, the Chiaramonte Museum (home to over 1,000 ancient sculptures including Roman portrait busts), and Michelangelo’s world-renowned ceiling mural inside the Sistine Chapel without a single camera-toting tourist in your way.

The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, D.C.

Home to a maze of permanent and rotating exhibits on everything from bones to butterflies, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History is one of the most visited museums in the world. Even though you can’t pay a visit in person right now, you’ll still manage to fill hours clicking through one of their many virtual exhibit tours . Admire the African bush elephant currently at home in the Rotunda, get your dinosaur fix in the Hall of Fossils, or tackle one room at a time in their current exhibit titled “African Voices.”

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

It takes days, weeks, even a lifetime to properly take in the more than two million works of art housed inside New York City’s beloved Met. Right now, you have all the time in the world to browse its virtual exhibits . Take a “ walk ” through the museum, where you’ll discover the Temple of Dendur, the Astor Chinese Garden Court, and works by Van Gogh and Pollock.

The State Heritage Museum, Russia

Five hours—that’s how long you’ll be able to dedicate to the second-largest art museum in the world when you settle in to watch this incredible, one-take video experience of St. Petersburg’s State Hermitage Museum. Along the way, you’ll witness Rembrandt masterpieces in the New Hermitage building, walk down the Winter Palace’s imperial Jordan Staircase, and even stand on stage during a ballet performance in the Hermitage Theatre. It’s an incredibly immersive watch, as dancers, musicians, and visual room tours cover 45 galleries and the museum’s most beautiful corners.

The Louvre, Paris

Those who’ve been know: navigating the world’s largest museum is no picnic, especially when you have to contend with massive visiting crowds on the regular. Since the museum shuttered at the end of February, we’ve been “forced” to browse its iconic collections in peace. Fine by us! Take an online tour of its Egyptian antiquities, the Galerie d’Apollon, or the remains of the fortress that the museum now sits on.

The British Museum, London

Only about half of the British Museum’s collection is available for view online —but when you hear that the museum looks after more than 8 million objects, that means you have 4 million items to surf through. Take a closer look at the Parthenon Sculptures, the Rosetta Stone, and other famous antiquities on an individual basis, or find them on your virtual walk-though. (Conveniently, you can explore both inside and outside the iconic museum.)

The National Museum of the United States Air Force, Ohio

Love aviation? The official museum of the U.S. Air Force opens its entire property to the public for online exploration . As you make your way through Dayton’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, keep your eyes peels for the presidential airplane used by JFK and Nixon; decommissioned aircraft from WWII; and even the Apollo 15 Command Module, which orbited the moon.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NYC

The Guggenheim is its own kind of artistic wonder, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and a newly designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. Thanks to Google Street View , you can still descend its spiral rotunda, taking in renowned works of impressionist, post-impressionist, modern, and contemporary art along the way. Looking for something specific? Take a look at its online collection for more on works by Piet Mondrian, Picasso, Jeff Koons, and more.

The Dalí Theatre-Museum, Spain

This museum in Catalonia, Spain, is the self-curated collection of perhaps the greatest surrealist painter of our time. Although the complete collection is not available for view online, you can still get a taste of five of the museum’s best rooms , including the Mae West room, which plays with points of view; its leafy courtyard featuring an installation called The Rainy Cadillac; and a floor-level view from beneath the lobby’s geodesic glass cupola.

Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

The most Van Goghs you’ll find under a single roof—200 paintings, 400 drawings, 700 letters—are appropriately kept in the heart of the artist’s Dutch homeland. This guided tour takes you through the entire museum floor by floor, passing famous works including Sunflowers and Self-portrait .

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Top 10 Virtual Museum Tours: Unreal experiences from home!

Museums all around the world just went virtual. This means that you can now explore the amazing exhibits from the comfort of your own home! But which of the world's best museums are currently offering virtual tours? Explore the amazing virtual museum tours from world-class museums now!

Want to explore the world but are stuck quarantining at home? Sick of staring at the boring walls in your ‘home office?’  From the Mona Lisa to the Pergamon Altar, why not skip the lines and visit these amazing museums with a virtual tour?!

While we may not be able to catch a flight to another country or plan a whole trip or vacation, these museums with virtual tours make it ridiculously easy to appreciate artwork and learn something new from artifacts located at the opposite ends of the earth.

What’s more, a museum with a virtual tour is the best way to avoid pesky travelling related hassles like large crowds, busy traffic and long lines.

You no longer have to peer over a tall bald man’s head to catch a glimpse of a tiny canvas - simply embark on a virtual tour, explore at your own pace and get inspired!

Speaking of getting inspired and exploring new things , why not sign up for our very own Flightdeck newsletter ? It's specifically curated to provide quality and timely travel content that satisfies all your travel needs and inspirations.

Read on for the best places to access the top museum virtual tours, the top reasons to make a virtual visit  and the one thing you just can’t afford to miss at each destination!

10 Best Virtual Museum Tours to Experience!

1. the louvre - paris, france.

The Louvre remains the most visited museum in the world and welcomed a record-breaking 10.2 million visitors in 2018.

Although best known for being home to the Mona Lisa, the Louvre has a lot more to offer and boasts one of the most extensive collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world.  From exhibitions on art and political power to the remains of the Louvre’s moat, explore this famous museum by launching one of its nine main official virtual tours .

Top Reason to Make a Virtual Visit

From Greek and Roman sculptures to crown jewels, you will surely find an area of the museum that speaks to you.

What you don’t want to miss

The Mona Lisa, of course! Apart from the mysterious lady, you can also look out for the Venus de Milo, The Winged Victory of Samothrace and The Coronation of Napoleon.

2. The American Museum of Natural History -Washington D.C, USA

Part of the Smithsonian Institution, this museum has a rich cultural history. The Natural History museum has a variety of permanent exhibits including halls dedicated to dinosaur fossils, amphibians and gemstones. If you are a lover of the natural world then this is definitely one virtual tour that you don’t want to miss!  

This museum currently offers a range of virtual experiences including guided hall tours , online exhibits and interactive virtual field trips .

The museum has numerous live events every month. Like in-person events, you can ask expert Paleontologists and Epidemiologists about topics ranging from fossil excavation to the current pandemic.

Seeing a complete T-Rex skeleton with augmented reality and the exhibits that were featured in the ‘Night at The Museum’ movie through the museum’s own Explorer app .

3. British Museum, London - UK

The British Museum is home to the Rosetta Stone and also has an array of galleries to explore. Some of the the best ways to visit its exhibitions and the Great Court yourself is to head to the museum’s virtual tour in Google Street View or to view its art virtually through Google Arts and Culture .

You get the chance to browse through the museum’s fascinating, 8 million historic objects and artefacts from around the world.

The museum’s accompanying audio tours that give you little snippets of context to enhance your virtual tour. You can listen to these on Apple Music .

4. The Metropolitan Museum of Art - New York, USA

The Met is the largest art museum in the United States and definitely one of the most iconic historical venues. The museum houses classical antiquities including some of the world’s most famous European sculptures. It also has permanent collections of African, Byzantine, Islamic, Asian and Oceanian art. The museum currently offers online exhibitions , an audio tour and virtual events .

From Renaissance pieces to Post-Impressionist works - this museum truly has it all!

There are simply too many famous and notable pieces in The Met to whittle down and just recommend one or two. However, I would strongly suggest you explore this 360 degree video project which gives you a bird’s eye view of the Great Hall, Arms Gallery and the Temple of Dendur.

5.  The National Museum of Anthropology - Mexico City, Mexico

This museum is home to the largest collection of Mexican art and archeology exhibits from the pre-Hispanic period. There are multiple ethnographic exhibits, including several that educate you on present-day indigenous groups  in Mexico. The best way to explore this museum would be through its collaboration with Google Arts and Culture.

It is the best way to learn about Mexico’s rich culture and the many Pre-Columbian civilizations’ way of life in Mesoamerica.

The famous Aztec Calendar Sun Stone which was recovered in 1760 during the construction of the Metropolitan Cathedral.

6. The J. Paul Getty Museum  - Los Angeles, USA

Situated among the Santa Monica Mountains, The J. Paul Getty Museum consists of two separate locations; The Getty Centre and The Getty Villa. Established by oil billionaire Jean Paul Getty, the centre and villa boast an array of antiquities and are home to Getty’s prized collection of Roman, Greek and Etruscan art.

While the museum is currently closed, you can still explore a variety of its art collections virtually on its official website . You can also use Google Arts and Culture to discover and read more about particular paintings. Another option is to see the exterior and interior of the museum’s Sculpture Plaza and Garden Terrace in a fully immersive virtual tour through Xplorit .

The museum’s impressive architecture designed to highlight both nature and culture is sure to wow you even through Xplorit ’s virtual tour.

Vincent van Gogh’s Irises . A stunning still life that the artist created in the year before his death.

7. Rijksmuseum - Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The Rijksmuseum houses the national art collection of The Netherlands, as well as major collections of Western European art and sculptures and Asian art. The museum is famous for capturing historical moments from the Dutch Golden age. It also displays works of Frans Hals, Jan Steen, Vermeer and Rembrandt in its Gallery of Honour.

You can explore the museum through its newly launched #Rijksmuseumfromhome YouTube series, or see many of the museum’s most iconic pieces up close through an engaging virtual tour .  The museum also offers multimedia tours and allows you to search for pieces by artist or keyword through its app .

To learn about the Dutch Golden Age from the most famous paintings, sculptures, ceramics and ornaments.

Rembrandt’s most notable work; The Night Watch . Once you have seen the piece up close through the museum’s virtual tour, you can dive deeper into its history with another one of the museum’s interactive virtual experiences dedicated solely to this piece.

8. The Uffizi Gallery Virtual Tour- Florence, Italy

Located in the heart of Florence, The Uffizi Gallery has the world’s best collection of Italian Renaissance paintings. While the museum was originally designed by Giorgio Vasari for Cosimo I de’Medici, the Duke of Tuscany, as a palace for government offices, today the remodeled museum displays thousands of works in roughly chronological order. Luckily for us, this is another museum with a virtual tour.

True story: you would probably get lost in its labyrinth-like layout in real life! But you can avoid all of that by easily navigating the museum by hall, artwork and artist while embarking on its virtual tour.

The museum houses timeless treasures from Italy’s history and will give you insight into Medici’s rule as you explore the Duke’s old offices. Plus, newer halls and galleries feature other French, Spanish and Flemish works.

Make sure to see some of Sandro Botticelli’s incredible work in the Botticelli Room. This room has two of his most acclaimed pieces - The Birth of Venus and The Primavera.

9. The Pergamon Museum Virtual Tour  - Berlin, Germany

The Pergamon Museum is home to several remarkable artefacts including the Pergamon Altar and the Ishtar Gate of Babylon.  This museum has lots to explore as it is actually separated into three different museums;  The Collection of Classical Antiquities (Antikensammlung), the Museum of the Ancient Near East (Vorderasiatisches Museum), and the Museum of Islamic Art (Museum für Islamische Kunst). The museum is also located on Berlin’s Museum island which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999.

Why not take a virtual walk through the museum with Google Maps? You will definitely enjoy browsing its many sculptures and restorations with Google Arts and Culture .

The Pergamon Museum contains some of the most breathtaking exhibits of Islamic art and Ancient Near Eastern Art. The specific pieces and styles of Babylonian art the museum houses are rare to find in other North American museums.

Be sure to see the Ishtar Gate of Babylon and Pergamon Altar. You can take a closer look at the Ishtar Gate through this video , and at the Altar, here .

10. National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art - Seoul, Korea

This Korean Museum is one of the latest museums to offer a virtual tour.

The museum has four branches; Gwacheon, Deoksugung, Seoul and Cheongju, which are devoted to different artistic domains. Gwacheon focuses on visual arts such as design and architecture while Deoksung showcases modern Korean and international art. Seoul houses global contemporary art and Cheongju promotes the important goal of art conservation. This museum has a lot to offer and now you can experience it all from the comfort of your couch! Take the virtual tour here .

The museum is Korea’s only national museum to actively install modern and contemporary Korean art as well as international art from multiple time periods.

The online exhibition documenting the birth of the museum itself. You can also access this virtual tour through Google Arts and Culture and learn about the construction of the museum through videos and archives from Korea’s most renowned photographers - Suntag Noh and Seung Woo Back.

Plan your trip now!

Visiting the museums virtually might be the only way to see the exhibits for some, but the real deal is always irreplaceable and we, here at pilot, would always advocate visiting these amazing museum exhibits.

When these museums become available for the public, it is definitely worth it to plan a trip there! Speaking of trip planning, if you need a handy app to plan your nature-bound adventures or trips to anywhere on earth, we recommend you try Pilot.

Disclosure : Pilot is supported by our community. We may earn a small commission fee with affiliate links on our website. All reviews and recommendations are independent and do not reflect the official view of Pilot.

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Virtual Museums: 10 Museums you can visit online

Every day we spend indoors is beginning to feel like the point of no return. Rather than wallowing in the sadness of life in isolation, now is a great time to make use of endless resources that will leave you more connected with the world, rather than less. These virtual museums are providing just that: a unique look into the world’s most famous museums. Best of all, you don’t even have to leave home!

Virtual Museums around the world

1. the british museum.

With more than 8 million objects, the British Museum is one of the most fascinating collections. The museum teamed up with Google streetview to offer a virtual experience to museum goers so you can view the collection right from home.

2. The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The MET will forever be among my favourite collection to explore. But the good news is for art lovers, the Metropolitan Museum of Art offers dome really great tours through the museum and its collections without leaving home. Check them out here .

3. The Vatican Museums

One of the most incredible places I have visited that has exceeded my expectations was the Vatican Museum. It was way back over a decade ago when I first stepped inside the Vatican and after touring the museums online , I find them just as impressive now as I did back then. More importantly you can tour Michelangelo’s ceiling in the Sistine Chapel – a sight to behold!

Along with a tour of the NASA facilities in Virginia and Ohio, NASA also have their own app to tour their facilities. Now I don’t know about you, but I can’t remember the last time I downloaded an app that didn’t make my iPhone photos look better, so I’m guessing you’d be more interested in a tour of the Langley Research Centre .

5. The Louvre, Paris

Not only is the Louvre one of the world’s largest art collections, it is also one of my favourite attractions in Paris . The halls are filled with endless exhibitions to discover and the architecture alone makes it worth visiting. The Louvre is accessible in 360 degrees so you really feel like you’re visiting in person. Visit the free online tour here .

6. The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, South Korea

Opened in 2013, this museum offers a great insight into Korean art. This is one of the most unique displays of modern and contemporary art and in conjunction with Google Arts and Culture, you can now tour the museum virtually .

7. The Anne Frank House

Anyone who has been to Amsterdam will know this is the must visit museum in the city. You can now take a virtual tour of Anne Frank’s secret annex and the house in which she lived by taking a virtual tour .

8. The London National Gallery

You can now tour 18 gallery rooms inside the London National Gallery which houses an impressive 2,300 works of art. My personal highlight is Van Gogh’s Sunflowers.

9. The Guggenheim

The architecture of the Solomon R Guggenheim museum is reason enough to visit but the collection is the cherry on the cake. The museum has made some of its collections and exhibitions available to view online, including works from Franz Marc, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, and Jeff Koons. Visit the Guggenheim museum by virtual tour here .

10. De Young Museum, San Francisco

One of the newest additions on the scene is the De Young Museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The museum houses American art dating from the 17th to 21st centuries. You can step inside select exhibits here .

Brooke Saward founded World of Wanderlust as a place to share inspiration from her travels and to inspire others to see our world. She now divides her time between adventures abroad and adventures in the kitchen, with a particular weakness for French pastries.

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National Museum of Natural History Virtual Tours

Access the tours.

The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History virtual tours allow visitors to take self-guided, room-by-room tours of select exhibits and areas within the museum from their desktop or mobile device. Visitors can also access select collections and research areas at our satellite support and research stations as well as past exhibits no longer on display.

Virtual Tour Tips

• To navigate between adjoining rooms in the tours, click on the blue arrow links on the floor or use the navigation map in the upper right of the presentation screen.
• Look for the camera icon which gives you a close-up view of a particular object or exhibit panel.
• Try zooming in as some of the images are stitched together from individual pictures in order to create very high resolution gigapixel images.

Please note: This tour and these presentations have been tested and should work on all common devices, browsers, and operating systems (using a desktop computer with Windows, Mac, Linux or a mobile device such as an iPhone, iPad, or Android). Functionality and appearance may vary as it will adjust automatically to accommodate the most visitors. While the virtual tour has no advertising, ad blocking software or browser settings that block JavaScript and/or XML may interfere with the functionality of the virtual tour. Please let us know what you think of the tour and how the experience can be improved. Send your feedback to the NMNH Web Team .

Site Credit: Imagery and coding by Loren Ybarrondo

Equipment Used: Professional Nikon digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera bodies and lenses. The photography is typically done using rectilinear lenses with minimized distortion and shooting equirectangular panoramas at 22K pixels on the long side.

Software Used: No authoring software is used. The tours are hand-coded in HTML5 and JavaScript using the krpano graphics library.

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10 best virtual museum tours to take with kids right now

You can take kids on 1000s of virtual museum tours all over the world right now. Because museum doors might be temporarily closed for real, but their creativity’s wide open and every single one is working hard to liven up lockdown for families.

Plus, unlike actual museum visits, virtual tours can be as long or short as kids like; there are plenty of activities to give parent/teachers a bit of a breather, and virtually exploring the art world is a great way for grandparents to spend time with grandkids too. Here are 10 worldwide museums at home we’ve tried and tested and liked a lot:

Art Institute of Chicago

One of the biggest museums in the US, the Art Institute of Chicago’s collection highlights include American Gothic by Grant Wood, Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks and Sunday on La Grand Jatte by Georges Seurat. Virtually visit any time with kids to try anything from activities and art projects to interactively exploring individual artworks.

We recommend:

• Journey Maker – kids custom make their own art adventures round the museum.
• The Wonderground Map – 1914 London Underground map full of interactive surprises.
• Forged in Steel – see how intricate Elizabethan field armour was constructed.
• What To See In An Hour – virtual tour of the museum highlights.

Take a virtual museum tour of the Art Institute of Chicago with kids

Getty, Los Angeles

The Getty Center and Getty Villa in Los Angeles attract millions of visitors each year so no surprise to find Getty’s one of the most exciting virtual visits right now too. Go with kids for specially curated exhibitions and videos, podcasts and access to downloadable art books from the museum library.

• How an Ancient Egyptian was mummified – from the Getty video collection.
• Learn how to draw with charcoal – Getty interactive education videos.
• Art books to download – the Getty virtual library has over 300 books.
• Michelangelo: Mind of the Master – just one of the Getty’s current online exhibitions.

Take a virtual museum tour of the Getty with kids

Musée du Louvre, Paris

The world’s largest museum, and most visited, the Louvre’s an old master at virtual tours and it’s where kids can see the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and Winged Victory of Samothrace – without a sea of adult heads in the way, for a change.

• One Minute in a Museum – Louvre art-explainer cartoons for under 12s.
• A Closer Look: Mona Lisa – magnifying glass tour of the Da Vinci legend.
• Remains of the Louvre’s moat – underground tour of the medieval museum.
• From Hercules to Darth Vader – uncovers the myths behind the art

Take a virtual museum tour of Musée du Louvre with kids

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

The Rijksmuseum has always been big on getting kids involved in its collection and isn’t letting lockdown get in the way of that. Its virtual experiences are incredibly well designed, all available in English and there’s even a range of online art classes for older kids and adults.

• Operation Night Watch – watch Rembrandt’s masterpiece being restored on-site.
• Rijksmuseum from Home – comfort zone art tours with museum experts.
• From Student to Master – basic art technique lessons (regularly updated).
• Masterpieces Up Close – virtual tours of the museum collection.

Take a virtual museum tour of  the Rijksmuseum with kids

Guggenheim Museum, New York

Guggenheim At Large isn’t new but it’s even more dynamic at the moment to make up for the world’s most famous modern art museum being temporarily closed. Kids might not be able to stand in front of an actual Jackson Pollock (how many movies have used that scene?) but the virtual experiences get them pretty close.

• Sketch with Jeff – art lessons (kids can tag their work #sketchwithjeff and share on Instagram).
• Time Together – virtual art projects to do with extended family (perfect for grandparents)
• Guggenheim Family Tours at Home – virtual museum visits just for families.
• Kids’ Art Kits – downloadable art projects to keep kids busy and creative right now.

Take a virtual museum tour of  the Guggenheim Museum New York with kids

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Met’ is another New York art legend actively engaging with young virtual visitors at the moment. #metkids is colourful, interactive and completely absorbing for under 12s and older kids should definitely start their visit with Met Stories.

• Met Stories – meet the couples who met at the Met.
• Explore the Map – #metkids meets Where’s Wally.
• Time Machine – programme a #metkids personal art-world tour.
• How can art tell us about who we are? – one of many #metkids videos.

Take a virtual museum tour of  the  Metropolitan Museum of Art  with kids  

Tate Modern, London

Almost no other museum in the world reaches out to kids like Tate Modern. Its online resources are always excellent, but they’ve gone into overdrive during the past year and become a go-to for everything from craft sessions to seriously good fun homework-help.

• Make a Unicorn Puppet – you have everything you need for this at home, promise.
• Which Arty Sport Should You Play? – one of dozens of online art games and quizzes.
• Who is Marcel Duchamp? – part of the kid-shaped ‘Explore’ series.
• Upload art to Tate Kids – kids create and share on the online gallery.

Take a virtual museum tour of   Tate Modern with kids

Natural History Museum, London

Europe’s most visited natural history museum gives families 14 different ways to explore virtually just now. It might not be exactly like the real thing, but kids will never get this close to the mammoth skeleton of Hope, the Blue Whale, or have David Attenborough give them a personal tour of the legendary Hintze Hall.

• Explore Dippy’s skull – one of several 3D models from the Imaging & Analysis Centre.
• Zoom in on Beetles – a look inside the museum’s creepy and amazing insect drawers.
• Virtual Museum Tour – zoom in on over 300,000 exhibits around the museum.
• Fantastic Beasts – 360° tour of astonishing beasts with games and puzzles.

Take a virtual museum tour of  the Natural History Museum with kids

National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh

Scotland’s national museum might be closed at the moment but kids can still explore its wildly diverse collection online. There’s also interactive learning experiences covering everything from making rosettes for Clydesdale horses to Mexican paper art and drawing penguins.

• Inspired Yoga – learn yoga poses inspired by the museum collection.
• Play & Learn – kids get to know the museum with online games.
• Watch & Explore – add some new skills (like Mandarin) to lockdown learning.
• The Bridgeness Roman Distance Slab – one of a series of 7 minutes reads for older kids.

Take a virtual museum tour of  the National Museum of Scotland with kids

Google Arts and Culture

More than 2000 museums around the world are on the Google Arts and Culture platform and adding to their own virtual experiences with a range of 360° tours, street views and in-depth tools to let kids see some of earth’s greatest art up close and at home.

• Art Filter app – take a picture with Frida Kahlo’s monkey.
• Blob Opera – compose your own tunes.
• World Heritage – tour UNESCO sites like the Taj Mahal from home.
• Art Coloring Book – pick an artwork and turn it into a colouring-in project.

Take a virtual museum tour of  Google Arts and Culture with kids

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Here's why you must visit the Gulag Museum in Moscow

Children who were once labeled "enemies of the people" are now advanced in their years, but they can still recall the most terrible moments of their lives, when people in uniforms came for their parents late at night - the last time they ever saw them. Today, a young woman watches these video interviews in a room at the Gulag Museum. She starts to cry. A group of high school students hang on the guide's every word, dismay written on their faces. It seems they find it difficult to imagine that in the 1930s kids their own age found themselves behind barbed wire. Meanwhile, a group of foreigners sit in the museum cafe, trying to digest what they have just seen and unable to say a word.

In a prisoner's shoes

The Gulag History Museum  used to be based in a tiny building, but it recently moved to new premises and, with its huge archive, it now has a home of its own. The designers tried to make it look like a prison camp: intimidating steel gates, brickwork, dim light and lots of sullen and drab black color. From the very first minute, a visitor is immersed in the atmosphere of the darkest side of Soviet power - the terrible years of the Great Terror and repressions.

In the first room, you're greeted by numerous doors – a door from a camp barracks, a door from a cell in a remand prison in Magadan, a door from one of the Seven Sisters buildings in Moscow, from where people were taken away forever – it is a metaphor of moving to another, terrible world .

In the execution chamber, the floor is strewn with empty casings, while portraits of the murdered are projected onto a brick wall, one replacing another to the sound of cocking the gun. Archival footage shows prisoners working at a logging camp. There are personal items, including those found in mass graves. Once you're surrounded by all this, it is difficult to recover.

A system of reprisals from 1917 to Stalin's death

The purpose of the museum is to trace not only the history of the camps themselves, but of the entire system of political repressions. In order to show how executions without trial and investigation became part of the legal practice of the USSR, the museum displays documents, NKVD resolutions and quotes from leaders of the Revolution .

The Soviet authorities believed that in order to build a new world, it was necessary to exterminate people who, in one way or another, allegedly sabotaged it. The list of these categories of people was forever expanding. “Repression for the attainment of economic ends is a necessary weapon of the socialist dictatorship,” said one of the main ideologists of the revolution, Leon Trotsky .

The first political prisoners in the USSR were put into existing prisons and monasteries, from where monks were being expelled. A separate section of the exhibition is devoted to the Solovki Special-Purpose Camp, the first of its kind. Later, in the 1930s, during the years of the Great Terror, camps were built across the country and convict labor became one of the pillars of the Soviet economy.

For the first time, Gulag is presented through multimedia

The museum also offers audio versions of memoirs of people who went through the camps: the author of The Kolyma Tales , Varlam Shalamov; Alexander Solzhenitsyn (who has a separate room dedicated to his life); Leo Tolstoy’s daughter Alexandra; and many others .

An interactive map of the Gulag shows the chronology, location, number of prisoners and types of camps (corrective labor, special, screening and filtration) throughout the country. It is available online, so you can see it without visiting the museum - gulagmap.ru .

With the help of a VR helmet, you can take a virtual tour with museum director Roman Romanov around what remains of the Butugychag camp in the Russian Far East, where inmates worked in uranium mines without wearing any radiation protection. The museum plans to develop more virtual tours like this .

All information in the museum is translated into English; same as all the audio materials, and the videos have English subtitles. The museum has a documents center, where one can get information about victims of repressions.

In the last room, a voice on the speaker system reads out the names of people who were wrongfully convicted and killed. A young couple, holding hands and motionless, listen to the seemingly endless list. As part of the finale, there are horrifying figures displayed on the black wall: during the Great Terror, more than 20 million people were sent to prison camps; two million died there, and 700,000 were executed.

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Boris Pasternak's museum house

Pasternak’s “important achievement both in contemporary lyrical poetry and in the field of the great Russian epic tradition" was honored with a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958. For many readers outside Russia, Pasternak is known mainly as the author of the touching historical novel Doctor Zhivago written in 1957. The novel as a whole communicates the haphazard, uncertain and chaotic quality of life caused by the Russian Revolution and the heroic case of quiet humanism demonstrated by a single person.

Pasternak’s translations of Georgian poets favored by Joseph Stalin probably saved his life during the purges of the 1930’s. However, the individualistic Pasternak was not suited to the Soviet artistic climate when art was required to have a clear socialism-inspired agenda and so Russian publishers were unwilling to print Pasternak’s novel. In fact, Doctor Zhivago first appeared in Italy in 1957.

Pasternak won his Nobel Prize the following year. Despite Pasternak politely declining his Nobel Prize quoting: “because of the significance given to this award in the society to which I belong”, the award nevertheless spread his fame well beyond Russia. He ended his life in virtual exile in an artist's community in Peredelkino village. His last poems are devoted to love, to freedom and to reconciliation with God.

Pasternak was rehabilitated posthumously in 1987. In 1988, after being banned for three decades, "Doctor Zhivago" was published in the USSR. In 1989 Pasternak's son accepted his father's Nobel medal in Stockholm.

Pastenak loved his house in Peredelkino, the house and surrounding nature featuring in his poetry. The poet considered the cycle of poems "Peredelkino", which he completed in the spring of 1941, to be his best work. The poet spent the first difficult months of the war in Peredelkino; he completed the novel "Doctor Zhivago" here, wrote the Lara poems and translated Shakespeare and Goethe. It was in this house that he learned he was to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature on October 23rd 1958. He died here on May 30 1960.

The house in Peredelkino only acquired the status of a museum in 1990, thirty years after the poet's death and a century after his birth. The museum has fully preserved the environment and atmosphere of the house where Boris Pasternak lived and worked. The director of the museum is Elena Pasternak, grandaughter of Boris Pasternak.

Pasternak’s grave can be found in Peredelkino cemetery which is situated 20 minutes walk from the poet’s house.

Tour duration: 6-7 hours

Tour cost: English -  150 USD, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese - 180 USD

Additional expenses: car - 150 USD, or train - 10 USD

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State Historical Museum Tour

We invite you to join our State Historical Museum tour. Did you know when Orthodox religion came to our country and why? What money did people use in the past and what was the origin of Russian ruble? Who invented medal for drunkenness? Learn interesting facts about our history and  travel through ages  from pre-historian times up to late 19th century.

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