Exploring the world doesn’t have to be totally put on pause. From the comfort of your couch — with a glass of wine in hand, obviously — these world-famous museums let guests take a step inside to wander, discover and explore. Thanks to Google Arts & Culture, each of these museums also offer a lineup of notable things to see, collections, exhibits and more. For the virtual experience, simply visit each museum’s link, scroll down and click explore.
Musée d’Orsay, Paris
Located along the Seine river, this museum is home to collections of art from 1848 to 1914. Housed in the former Orsay railway station, the museum’s building alone serves as something to see. Click here.
National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C.
A more unique take on the typical museum, this gallery tells the history of America through individuals who’ve shaped it. Visual and performing arts, new media and more showcase people from poets and presidents to visionaries, villains, actors and activists. Click here.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
This iconic museum has more than 5,000 years of art collected from around the world and is the largest art museum in the United States. Check out things like the inside of an Egyptian tomb, Japanese armor and Renaissance paintings, among many other impressive items. Click here.
British Museum, London
Iconic and world-famous objects here include things like the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon sculptures and Egyptian mummies. Its collection spans more than two million years of human history and culture and hosts more than six million visitors every year. Click here.
Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C.
Boasting more than 145 million objects, this museum highlights the world’s physical, cultural and biological diversity through curated archives. Click here.
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul
Showcasing the rich culture and history of Korean art, the museum is one of four branches throughout South Korea. The Seoul location focuses on introducing global contemporary art. Click here.
Pergamon Museum, Berlin
As the most visited museum in Germany, there’s plenty to see here. The three-wing complex houses three of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin’s collections: the Antikensammlung, Vorderasiatisches Museum, and the Museum für Islamische Kunst. Click here.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
This museum is home to 80 galleries and 8,000 objects telling the story of 800 years of Dutch art and history. Find world-famous works ranging from the Dutch Golden Age and more. Click here.
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
For fans of the famed artist, this is the place to check out. Housing the largest collection of artworks by Vincent Van Gogh in the world, it features more than 200 paintings, 500 drawings and more than 750 letters. Click here.
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Works of art here range from the eighth through the twenty-first century, all amid beautiful architecture, gardens and stunning views of Los Angeles. Discover European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts, and European, Asian, and American photographs. Click here.
Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Designed by Giorgio Vasari in 1560 for Cosimo I de’Medici to house the Granducal Magistratures of Tuscany, over time it became the home to ancient sculpture, artwork and artifacts from the dynasty. Click here.
National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City
The museum is dedicated to archaeology and history of Mexico’s pre-Hispanic civilizations and was designed by the Mexican architect Pedro Ramírez Vázquez. It contains 23 permanent exhibit halls of the world’s largest collection of ancient Mexican art and ethnographic exhibits about Mexico’s indigenous groups. Click here.
Russia’s State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
Home to more than 3 million exhibits, this museum is one of the largest in the world and dates back to 1764 when Catherine the Great purchased a large collection of Western European paintings. Today, it’s home to 17,000 paintings, 600,000 graphic works, 12,000+ sculptures, 300,000 works of craft, 700,000 archeological and 1 million numismatic findings. Click here.
