The 10 Best Virtual Art Collections of the World Are Just a Click Away

The sailing sport suffers massively from the corona virus and not only boat holidays have to be postponed. What remains is the anticipation of the time afterwards. Museums and art galleries are also closed. At the moment it is impossible to travel, and many follow the order to stay at home... Fortunately, we live in the digital age, and modern day curators are now opening the doors of their museums online.

The 10 Best Virtual Art Collections of the World Are Just a Click Away

The 10 museums below invite you to take a virtual tour of the world of art - without harming social isolation.

No use lamenting for your cancelled trips and those places you couldn’t be in, you can actually visit many of the major museums and best art collections of the world. All you need to do is grab your cup of coffee, snug down in your couch and turn on your laptop. Here-are the 10 online museums you can discover for free.

10. The National Gallery of Art Washington, USA

Found in 1937, the National Gallery of Art hosts more than 2,000 sculptures, painting and decorative works of art. Having bought Raphael’s Alba Madonna, Titian’s Venus with A Mirror and Jan van Eyck’s Annunciation from the Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg in 1931 and 1932, the museum also displays works by Cezanne, Caravaggio, Velasquez, Rembrandt, Monet, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Edgar Degas.

9. The Hermitage Museum St. Petersburg, Russia

The Hermitage is one of the greatest and oldest museums on Earth. Found by the Russian Tsaritsa Catherine the Great in 1754, the museum hosts the largest art collection in the world with more than 3 million items, including the infamous Madonna and Child by Leonardo Da Vinci and various paintings of Rembrandt, Raphael and Michelangelo.

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8. The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, USA

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, or ‘the Met’ in short, is among the biggest and most visited museums of the US and the world. Situated in Manhattan’s 5th Avenue, an acclaimed collection of African, Asian, Byzantine, Indian and Islamic art is exhibited in the Met’s main building, which also devotes a large part to modern American art among the more than 2 million items it holds. The ‘Cloisters’ section has Ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman works along with its Medieval Art collection.

7. British Museum London, UK

The British Museum offers a 360-degree view in a virtual tour of its ancient works section, coins and medals section, engravings and drawings collection and the ethnography section, ‘the Museum of Humanity’. Famous for its rich collection on Ancient Egypt, in the British Museum you can see the Egyptian mummies and the Rosetta Stone used in the decrypting of hieroglyphs.

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6. Louvre Museum Paris, France

The biggest art museum of the world, the Louvre is also open to virtual visits. Having a wide collection of art works ranging from the prehistoric times to the 21st century, the Louvre exhibits about 35,000 historical works in an area of 72,000-meter-square. Even when you’re visiting online, the Apollo Gallery, Ancient Egypt Gallery, Greek, Etruscan and Roman works and the Near East Hall will take a long time to see.

5. Prado Museum Madrid, Spain

Prado Museum is formed of a combination of royal collections and it has more than 5,000 drawings, 2,000 engravings, 1,000 coins, medals and many other art works, shedding light to the history of art and that of Spanish Empire. Many important works, such as Diego Velazquez’s Las Meninas (The Maids of Honour) and El Triunfo de Baco (The Triumph of Bacchus), Francisco de Goya’s Saturno Devorando a un Hijo (Saturn Devouring His Son), La Maja Desnuda (The Naked Maja) and La Maja Vestida (The Dressed Maja) await their visitors in the virtual museum.

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4. National Archaeological Museum Athens, Greece

The biggest museum in Greece owns one of the most important collections in the world. Displaying more than 11,000 works, the National Archaeological Museum presents a panorama of the Ancient Greek culture from prehistory to the late antique era. It’s spectacular collection of statues is a summary of the history of Greek sculpture.

3. Musei Vaticani Rome, Italy

In Vatican, the smallest country in the world, you can now visit online the Vatican Museum, the biggest museum of the world. What’s more, you don’t need to wait almost all day long in the queue to get to Vatican! You can now devote as much time as it deserves to the famous Sistine Chapel that host invaluable works, it’s ceiling completely covered by Michelangelo’s art.

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2. Galleria Degli Uffizi Florence, Italy

One of the important actors of Italian Renaissance, the Medici family has owned a wonderful collection of art works that are now displayed in Galleria Degli Uffizi, which is one of the first things coming to our minds when we think of Florence. The gallery’s collaboration with Google now brings the collection to your home. The works are divided to various artistic eras, which makes it easier for the viewer to follow them. Sandro Botticelli is devoted a special hall, where you can see his famous Birth of Venus and la Primavera. The museum also hosts Caravaggio’s Medusa and Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Annunciation.

1. Pinacoteca di Brera Milan, Italy

This museum hosts the works of antique and modern era Italian artists in an area of 24,000-meter-square. Here you can see Cena in Emmaus (Dinner in Emmaus) by Caravaggio, Cristo Morto (The Dead Christ) by Andrea Mantegna, Morte di Cleopatra (Cleopatra’s Death) by Guido Cagnacci and Pietà by Giovanni Bellini, among many other paintings.

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