50 virtual days out during coronavirus lockdown, from online art galleries to the modern wonders of the world
From ‘50 virtual days out during coronavirus lockdown, from online art galleries to the modern wonders of the world’ published by inews.co.uk on Friday 3rd April 2020.
Still I Rise: Feminisms, Gender, Resistance | Nottingham Contemporary
3D Modelled Virtual Gallery
Galleries
Nottingham Contemporary, East Midlands
The Riba Award-winning building is one of the largest contemporary art institutions in the UK. There is a fully immersive virtual reality tour of the recent exhibition, Still I Rise: Feminisms, Gender, Resistance, Act 1 (2018–19). Nottingham Contemporary's Virtual Exhibition Archive is produced by V21 Artspace.
BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Arts, Gateshead
Join video tours of the current exhibitions housed in the former industrial building on the south bank of the River Tyne. BALTIC is an unusual space in that it has no permanent collection, meaning exhibitions remain fresh.
Great North Museum, Newcastle
Take a virtual tour of the Ice Age to Iron Age Gallery or go behind the scenes at Biology and Ethnography stores at the museum that sells itself as “the world under one roof”. Discover the stories behind some of the museum’s most-loved objects.
SS Great Britain, Bristol
The world’s first ocean-going liner was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and launched in 1843. You can take in 360-degree views of the Dockyard Museum and ship via their website.
Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow
The Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery is the most popular free-to-enter visitor attraction in Scotland and the most visited museum in the UK outside London. The virtual tour features 28 locations and shows Dali’s priceless painting Christ of St John of the Cross.
British Museum, London
More than eight million artefacts can be found inside the British Museum and most of them can be viewed online. Two of the galleries have digital versions: Prints and Drawings, from artists including Degas and Henry Moore, and Oceania.
The National Gallery, London
The National Gallery is home to thousands of publicly owned artworks from the UK and Europe, spread across 18 rooms, which you can visit with its virtual tours. The site offers detailed information about every painting on display, as well as floorplans to navigate around as though you are there.
The National Portrait Gallery, London
Take in Renaissance masterpieces from Northern Italy, the Netherlands, and Germany, including works by Titian, Veronese and Holbein as part of these panoramic tours.
Natural History Museum, London
Wander the museum’s halls from the comfort of your own home, inspecting the butterflies, birds, beasts and fossils in the collections up close. An interactive online guide includes insights into some of the 80 million specimens.
Tate Britain, London
Explore 351 artworks in a chronological display of Britain’s greatest artists, taken from the Tate’s collection. Instead of designated themes or movements, the tour is arranged by decade, so you can see an array of art made at any one moment.
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Journey through 5,000 years of human creativity in its online collections, which encompass everything from ancient Chinese ceramics to Alexander McQueen evening dresses. Collections are easy to navigate and can be explored by people, periods, techniques, places and more.
British Library London
There are virtual tours into the extensive stacks, where you can discover literature from medieval to Victorian times, as well as a number around past exhibitions, including Harry Potter: A History of Magic, which has a section for each of the Hogwarts magic classes.
RAF Museum, London/Shropshire
Panoramic tours take you under the wings of historical aircraft in the museum’s cavernous hangars and Bomber Hall.
Frida Kahlo, worldwide
This newly created Frida Kahlo collection brings together artwork and artifacts connected to the Mexican artist from 33 museums and cultural collections around the world, including the V&A and La Casa Azul (The Blue House), where she was born and died.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
One of the Netherlands’ most popular cultural institutions is home to famous pieces like The Milkmaid by Vermeer and Rembrandt’s The Night Watch. They can all be delved into in the museum’s virtual gallery tours.
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
The gallery has the largest collection of the artist’s work anywhere – that’s more than 200 paintings and 750 letters. You can read his biography, discover the stories about his life and work and explore his paintings, drawings and letters in the online collection.
Museum Island, Berlin
Take a virtual look at collections from the five museums on this Berlin island: the Altes Museum, the Neues Museum, the Alte Nationalgalerie, the Pergamonmuseum and the Bode-Museum.
Musée d’Orsay, Paris
You can click your way through the halls and galleries of this former railway station, by the Seine in central Paris, which houses the world’s largest collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist artworks.
Le Musée du Louvre, Paris
The world’s largest art and antiques museum has world-famous pieces such as the Mona Lisa or the Winged Victory of Samothrace.
Uffizi Galleries, Florence
The 16th-century halls and matchless Italian Renaissance collection of Florence’s Uffizi Gallery are available to explore via Google Maps. To name a few, you can see Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, Dürer’s Adoration of the Magi and Caravaggio’s Bacchus.
Musei Vaticani, Vatican City
You can take a virtual tour through the extensive collections of art, archaeology and ethno-anthropology gathered by the Popes over the centuries, housed in the lavish Apostolic Palace.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Recently designated a part of a Unesco World Heritage site, this futuristic museum building has come to be known as Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece. You can explore the site in VR.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Experience standing in an empty gallery after hours, witnessing a bustling space in time lapse, or floating high above the Cloisters for a bird’s-eye view of the Met’s art and architecture.
The Smithsonian, Washington DC
The world’s most popular natural history museum has virtual tours galore, including the Butterfly Pavilion, the Deep Time Hall of Fossils and the Hall of Human Origins. You can also visit the US National Portrait Gallery’s presidential portrait collection.
J Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Explore art from ancient to contemporary times at the museum’s two LA locations on this virtual tour. The collection includes European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts, and European, Asian, and American photographs.
Nasa Mission Operations Room, Maryland
Take a virtual tour of the Hubble Space Telescope’s home for mission operation. There is the Operations Room, where the flight operators command and monitor Hubble and the Operations Support Room, where the flight team investigates spacecraft anomalies.
MASP, São Paulo, Brazil
The Museu de Arte de São Paulo was Brazil’s first modern museum. Its striking architectural design by Lina Bo Bardi has made it a landmark of 20th-century architecture. Visit its extensive collections or explore the striking building.
National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City
Explore the world’s largest collection of ancient Mexican art and ethnographic exhibits about Mexico’s present-day indigenous groups.
Structures
Buckingham Palace, London
You can step inside the official residence of the Queen on this virtual tour, taking in the Throne Room, the White Drawing Room and the Grand Staircase.
Stonehenge, Wiltshire
The English Heritage virtual tour offers a 360-degree view from inside the monument, with pop-out videos on its excavation, conservation and design, as well as a site for stargazing.
Eiffel Tower, Paris, France
Take in the views from the look-out platform of the 324m Paris landmark. Additional immersive digital exhibitions explore its construction from 1887 to 1889, with photos of the first visitors.
Colosseum, Rome, Italy
The oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome could hold up to 80,000 spectators and was used for gladiatorial contests, mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, battle reenactments and dramas. Explore it in a series of images dating back to 80AD.
Athens Acropolis, Greece
Explore the most complete ancient Greek monumental complex still standing today, with 360-degree views from some of the key vantage points. Guides fill you in on the fascinating history at each vantage point.
Petra, Jordan
Visit the iconic city of stone created more than 2,000 years ago by the Nabataeans. This online tour includes a guide narrating the interactive walk, which takes you through a narrow gorge called the Siq, passing tombs, temple ruins, an enormous monastery and Al Khaznah, the famous building carved into the gorge wall.
Pyramids of Giza, Egypt
This virtual tour allows you to explore two of the largest pyramids ever built, the Great Pyramid (147m) and the Pyramid of Khafre (136m), as well as the Great Sphinx to the east, from near and far.
Tour the great Inca ruins located in the Andes with a series of 360-degree images. They were built at 2,430m above sea level around 1450 without wheels or animals to transport the huge stones. The tour includes a voiceover guide.
Christ the Redeemer, Brazil
Take in 3D panoramic views of the art-deco statue that looks down on the leafy mountain and extraordinary coastline of Rio de Janeiro, avoiding the crowds that normally fill the walkways around it.
Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Explore the temple complex in Siem Reap as it would have been in the 13th century, with video simulations created by archaeologists, historians and CGI artists.
Taj Mahal, India
The Taj Mahal, India’s architectural crown jewel, was built more than 350 years ago by a powerful ruler in honour of his wife. Explore routes around the white marble mausoleum, reflecting pool, paradise gardens and sandstone mosque.
Great Wall of China, China
Click through to walk along the path on top of the wall from Jinshanling to Simatai, or take in 360-degree views of the surrounding landscape.
Chichén Itzá, Mexico
Explore one of the most famous most frequently visited of Mexico’s Mayan sites with a series of aerial images taking in several ruins, including the pyramid, the Temple of Warriors, the observatory and the nunnery.
Rapa Nui, Easter Island, Chile
Travel to one of the world’s most remote islands and view the famous moai statues, recreated in 3D. There is lots of information about their history, what they mean to the indigenous people and how they are threatened by climate change.
Nature
Cliffs of Moher, Ireland
The magnificent cliffs – the most- visited nature site in Ireland – soar 702ft above the Atlantic ocean and 8km along the Co Clare coast. The virtual tour captures 360-degree views and has VR headset capability for a fully immersive experience.
Swiss Grand Tour, Switzerland
The Swiss tourist board has created a beautifully scenic “virtual drive” around the country that takes in 1,600 kms, 22 lakes, five Alpine passes and 12 Unesco World Heritage Sites. Stop off to look at slideshows and panoramas.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, USA
Visit two of the park’s active volcanoes, Kīlauea and Mauna Loa, and step inside the Nahuku Lava Tube, a cave formed by flowing lava. There are also views from the volcanic coastal cliffs, all guided by an expert ranger.
Yosemite National Park, USA
There are 200 different locations within Yosemite and its surrounding areas in California, in all seasons, to explore in 360-degree interactive panoramas. Dizzying views from the tops of Yosemite’s famous cliffs and waterfalls are available.
Grand Canyon, USA
Take a virtual hike into the depths of Arizona's Grand Canyon, descending the South Kaibab Trail to Phantom Ranch. You can learn about the history behind the canyon’s formation by clicking on different geological features.
Mount Fuji, Japan
The conical shape of Japan’s tallest mountain, a currently dormant volcano, is one of the country’s most iconic symbols. You can trek up it virtually with Google Street View, taking in panoramic views at points from the base to the peak.
Gombe, Tanzania
Explore the African rainforest where Jane Goodall made her historic observations about chimpanzees more than 50 years ago through thousands of 360-degree images. Or visit sites like Lake Tanganyika and Goodall’s favorite overlook, The View.
