Virtual Museam Tours
Virtual museum tours can be a great way to experience a variety of collections without leaving your home. Granted I will admit it isn’t the same experience and in many cases of the tours I have linked you cannot get as close to some of the artifacts as you can in real life (visually speaking) so if you are looking for artistic inspiration looking at online collections as well as the tours will be important. But while we are all cooped up in our homes for the time being what better way that experience a little culture, for free! I do need to state before we get started here that the pictures only relate to the blog post in that they are of a similar theme to the groups I have pulled together. In many cases the museums I have physically been to do not offer online tours. If you want specifics on particular pictures let me know I can tell you where to find more details.
Virtual Museum Tours – Natural History
The National Museum of National History which is a part of the Smithsonian Institute what appears to be an extensive collection of current, permanent and past exhibits raging from African Violets to the Sculpture Gardens outdoors. So no matter the flavor of your interests or inspirations the museum provides amble resources.
Virtual Museum Tours – Art
The British Museum in London offers not only access to works for art, but google maps walking tours of the inside and outside of the building.
Right now you can visit three exhibits from the Louvre in Paris. The Egyptian Antiquities wing, which physically resides in the Sully wing of the iconic Parisian Museum can be toured as well as the medieval moat of the palaces and the Galarie D’Appollon. The site does require flash player, so make sure you are equipped to fully view the galleries.
The Guggenheim offers both virtual tours of Frank Lloyd Wrights famous building as well as collections of art works held within. The New York city museum also offers live feed’s of the museum galleries from the same link. If you would rather visit the MET you are in luck! You can check out both their online galleries through the MetCollects and virtual tours through the MET 360 Project here.
The Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam provides online access to not only Van Goghs works for art but additional galleries highlighting his own collection and interests.
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has made their collection available online and also offers virtual tours of several of their galleries. Through the same program the Uffizi Gallery in Italy has their collection available here. And like wise the Getty Museum in LA offers their collection and a tour of galleries here.
Virtual Museum Tours – History
The National Women’s History museum has a lot of resources online here ranging from fighting for the right to vote all the way through women in the military.
Virtual Museum Tours – Religious Artifacts
Looking for more religious inspiration you can view the Sistine Chapel here, which is empty and glorious easy to view (neither of which is true if you were to visit in person). The Vatican also provides crowd free access to a variety of other building on their campus here.
Virtual Museum Tours – Science and Engineering
Less into religion and more into science? You can find inspiration from NASA who provides virtual access to both Langley Research Center as well as a variety of tours of various exhibits.
The United States Air force provides both virtual tours of their museum as well as pictures of their galleries.
Engand’s National Museum of Computing has a 3d rendered model of their building that you can tour online here.
That is about all I could find for a round up of virtual museum tours. I hope these find you well and helped you feel a tad less isolated.
