If you’re a dedicated art lover, you likely go to great lengths to visit renowned museums and galleries. But even when you’re not traveling, you can still get a taste of the masterpieces, artifacts, and architecture at many famous institutions — and get inspired for future trips while you’re at it.
Google Arts & Culture teamed up with more than 1,200 museums and galleries around the world to create a collection of online exhibits and virtual tours. Other museums have their own virtual tours, too, such as the Vatican Museums and the Louvre, which features a selection of exhibitions on their websites.
Top 5 Can’t Miss
- View legendary artifacts like the Rosetta Stone on a virtual stroll through the British Museum.
- Gaze up at the Sistine Chapel’s divine ceiling without the crowds at the Vatican Museums.
- The Met’s immersive 360-degree VR videos are arguably the best virtual museum tours.
- Get a glimpse of the four locations of National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, on a Google Street View tour.
- Peruse some of Van Gogh’s most iconic works in the artist’s namesake Amsterdam museum.
The British Museum, London
This iconic museum located in the heart of London allows virtual visitors to tour the Great Court, which was given a striking contemporary redesign in 2000. Move through other galleries to discover ancient artifacts like the Rosetta Stone and Egyptian mummies.
Vatican Museums
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The next best thing to an after-hours tour, the Vatican Museums offers virtual access to more than a dozen of its galleries and richly decorated spaces. Explore the sumptuous murals of Raphael’s Rooms and the Sistine Chapel, where you can zero in on Michelangelo’s famous ceiling.
The Met, New York City
While you can explore highlights of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s encyclopedic collection — including the ancient Egyptian Temple of Dendur — via Google Arts & Culture, the institution offers its own virtual reality tours. The Met 360° Project comprises six videos that can be viewed with a VR headset for an immersive experience, complete with ambient soundtracks.
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea
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One of Korea’s popular museums can be accessed from anywhere around the world. Google’s virtual tour gives you a taste of the museum’s four locations with Street View visits and online exhibits. For a deeper dive, check out the museum’s website for video walk-throughs of select exhibitions, including immersive VR versions.
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 art by Vincent van Gogh. Check out some of his most iconic paintings, including “Sunflowers” and “The Potato Eaters.”
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
This renowned American art museum offers three online exhibits through Google. An overview of American fashion from 1740 to 1895 features watercolors of garments from the colonial and Revolutionary eras. You can also browse through works from Baroque painter Johannes Vermeer and other Dutch genre painters of the period and take an in-depth look at an early work by Leonardo da Vinci.
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
If you can’t get to D.C., take a stroll among the historic planes, rockets, and other craft on display at the country’s top air and space museum. Check out the Wright Brothers’ first bona fide plane, the Wright Flyer, which took to the skies in 1903, and astronaut Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit from the Apollo 11 moon landing.
Guggenheim, New York City
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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.
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.
Musée d’Orsay, Paris
You can virtually walk through this popular museum that houses dozens of famous French works from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Get a peek at paintings and sculptures by Monet, Cézanne, Gauguin, and Rodin, among others.
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 by 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.
Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Housed in a purpose-built 16th-century palace, the Uffizi Gallery showcases the art collection amassed by the wealthy and powerful de’ Medici family. Today, anyone can wander its halls from anywhere in the world to view world-famous works like Sandro Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus.”
MASP, São Paulo
The nonprofit Museu de Arte de São Paulo was 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.
Frida Kahlo Museum, Mexico City
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Enter the world of 20th-century artist Frida Kahlo with a Street View tour of several spaces in Casa Azul, the modest, vivid blue-painted house where she was born, now the Frida Kahlo Museum. You can tour her studio and peek into other personal spaces like the kitchen and lush courtyard garden as well as view works by Kahlo and her husband Diego Rivera.