What is the best way to interpret the history, culture, transition, and development of an era? The most accurate and legible information could be provided only through one place, that’s a museum. It’s because museums are the only place that precisely collects, preserves, interprets and displays artistic, cultural, or scientific significance in a very meticulous. Not only this but these museums also acknowledge people to explore new cultures through their carefully curated collections and outshining exhibitions.
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1. Musée du Louvre, Paris
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Situated right in the centre of the magnificent city of Paris in France, this museum deserves to be at the top of every list. The position of the museum already makes it perfect to travel. Paris entices people of all ages since some of the world’s most stunning and iconic landmarks are situated here. You even get fantabulous and sensational food, with beautiful countryside, lovely people and some of the best ski resorts in the world here. Ah, I apologize for diverting from the topic; you see it’s such an alluring place. Let’s come back to our topic of interest.
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So for facts that are important for you to know, this museum is spread across an area of 72,735 square meters and exhibits over more than 38,000 articles. It’s the world’s largest art museum and even a historic monument, which received over 9.6 million visitors in the year 2019, making it even the most visited museum in the whole world. Wow, that’s amazing and kind of bewildering, right? But this is just the beginning this place has enough surprises and mysteries to keep you thrilled, like for example what you may be incognizant about this museum is that it was originally a castle until it lost its defensive capabilities.
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Why this museum is so popular? Well, you would come to know about it when you explore it with your own eyes, still, I will tell you some exciting and perplexing things about it. This museum holds many of western civilization’s most famous masterpieces ranging from the 6th century BC to the 19th century. Works of many great artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Jacques-Louis David, Eugène Delacroix, Anthony van Dyck, etc. are featured here. So as you see they have a mammoth collection of the masterpiece which you can fathom about.
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This place is enormous that no one can visit it in a single day, therefore it would be great to start from the sully wing (among the three factions named Sully wing to the east, the Richelieu wing to the north, and the Denon wing to the south).
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The Louvre is open every day of the week apart from Tuesdays. Hours for visiting are from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. every day, except for Wednesday and Friday when the museum stays open until 9:45 p.m. This makes Wednesday and Fridays the best days in the week for an excursion as most large groups and school children are nowhere to be seen. You can spend the entire evening browsing and explore away much more comfortably than those who braved the museum earlier in the day.
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Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about the most glorious and brilliant thing about the museum and that serves as the entrance for the museum, it’s called The Louvre Pyramid. What is special about this pyramid, well you will be left star-struck once you catch sight of it, It’s a pyramid entirely made of glass and serves as the cynosure of the museum architecture.
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2. The British Museum, London
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Situated in the Bloomsbury area of London, It was the first national museum to cover the widespread fields of human knowledge, dedicated to human history, art, culture, literature, and many other things. It’s open to visitors from all across the world.
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Why this museum is a must to visit? Well with a collection of around 8 million objects preserving human history, culture, and art with a timeline of almost two million years, the museum is an adventurous place to explore for anyone interested in the history of humankind. And it is the largest museum expanded in an area of 92,000 square meters.
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The thought of 8 million objects sometimes would make you feel a bit sleepy but actually, only 1% of the objects that are eighty thousand objects are only kept for public display.
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The Rosetta Stone, Mummy of Katebet, The Elgin Marbles, Lewis Chessmen, Samurai Armor, Oxus treasure are some of the great artefacts kept exhibiting in the museum.
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One implausible thing about this museum is that it’s older than the USA, making it the world’s oldest national public museum. Founded in 1753, it opened its doors in 1759. Yes!!! You heard it right it’s older than the USA. Yeah, I was also left inarticulate after I came to know about it.
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Tuesday is the best day to visit as you will witness a smaller number of visitors in general during the week. Monday and Wednesday are also good options to consider, as well as Friday night, as the museum has extended opening hours making it perfect to explore.
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3. Vatican Museums
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Wouldn’t it be great to travel to the smallest sovereign country in the world and discover it? It already sounds exhilarating, right? Founded by Pope Julius II in the 16th century and situated in the northern region of this small country it’s a group of 54 museums consisting of a wide series of 1400 rooms, chapels, galleries. The Vatican museum exhibits works from the colossal collection assembled by the Catholic Church throughout the centuries. It incorporates most of the renowned Roman sculptures and a lot of remarkable monumental works of art from the Renaissance period in the world.
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Why it shall be visited? Well, Vatican City is a very spiritual country and is the last absolute monarchy, which even exercises its power on the Catholic Church, therefore it serves as a pilgrimage for many Catholics and Christians, so it is an important place to understand and explore the history. The museums contain around 70,000 art pieces of which around 20,000 are only on display. Sistine Chapel, Laocoön, Niccoline Chapel, Apollo Belvedere, The Maps Hall are some of the popular art pieces amongst them to admire here.
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If you want to go through the history of the art throughout Europe and get exposed to the Catholics, Church, then I will exhort you to visit this museum. This museum will make you live through the transition of art and culture across centuries.
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Museums are open for visitors from 9 am to 6 pm (ticket counter closes at 4 pm) all across the week except on Sundays when it remains closed except the last Sunday of the month. Wednesday is the best day to visit these museums as you could even see the Pope’s general audience to the masses and catch blessing.
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4. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
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Founded in 1870 by a group of businessmen, financiers, artists, and cultural enthusiasts its located at the 1000 Fifth Avenue of New York City, this is the fourth most visited art museum in the world with 6,479,548 visitors in the year 2019 and is the largest art museum in the United States, it has a world-class collection of 2 million art pieces raging from ancient times till the modern era. Visiting this museum will make you feel like doing time travel across the globe. The Metropolitan accentuates the development, differences all across the globe in a single gigantic museum.
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It has 17 curatorial departments, featuring art from classical antiquity and ancient Egypt, paintings, and sculptures from the European masters, and a broad collection of American and modern art. It’s also home to the world’s oldest surviving piano and contains plenty of armour and weaponry within its walls.
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Surrounded by the impressive location of Central Park it’s the best place to learn, explore, discover, understand, and find your peace during leisure. It’s open 7 days a week from 10 am to 5 pm but the best time to visit The Metropolitan Museum of Art is during the weekdays when most residents are working. Visit The Met in the early afternoon to avoid school children but be cognizant to have a good amount of time to explore before closing time.
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5. State Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia
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Located near the banks of Neva River, this is the second-largest museum in the world, which captivated 4,956,524 guests in 2019, ranking it the eighth-most visited art museums in the world. It has a widespread collection of about three million articles of which only a small percentage is kept on display. This gigantic collection is exhibited in 6 different factions, leading with The Winter Palace which was the former residence of Russian emperors.
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The articles kept here are spanning from the Stone Age till the early 20th century. Artists of some of the amazing art pieces displayed here are Rembrandt, Rubens, Tiepolo, Titian, Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo Picasso, Gauguin, Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, and Goya.
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Although being distant from the art centre of the world this museum would not let you down on your expectations and is worth visiting and once in your lifetime to explore.
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The museum is closed on Mondays. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays it is open from 10.30 to 18.00, on Wednesdays and Fridays from 10.30 to 21.00, Ticket offices close an hour before the closure of the museum.
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