Devour Art & Culture at 9 of the Best Museums in the World
State Hermitage Museum and Winter Palace
As St. Petersburg’s biggest tourist attraction, the State Hermitage Museum and Winter Palace attracts over 4 million people every year who are eager to explore the 15 miles worth of exhibition space and galleries. With over 3 million unique items on display, you could spend months admiring the art and never see it all.
Guided tours are the best way to see the museum, which will cover the most popular paintings and architectural highlights. Don’t miss the Knight Hall filled with armor from the Middle Ages or the lavish Malachite Room that once belonged to an empress. Countless jeweled treasures fill the galleries, but the real gems are the two Da Vinci paintings and a sculpture by Michelangelo.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York has a ton of world-renowned art museums, but none more famous than the Metropolitan Museum of Art, also considered one of the top museums in the world. While it has its share of European masters and Egyptian curiosities, the Met also has an elaborate collection of antique weapons, musical instruments and costumes.
Open for nearly 150 years, the museum has expanded into two additional campuses besides its main Central Park location — one site houses its medieval art collection and the other its modern and contemporary works. Aside from having rotating exhibitions featuring well known artists, the Met Gala also attracts the rich and famous for the opening of the Costume Institute’s annual fashion exhibit.
The Empty Met Tour is also one of the best tours in New York City you can take, allowing you to peruse the museum before it opens.
These former Olympic host cities have done a great job transforming stadiums and other buildings into fun attractions. Here are the ones worth visiting!
Prado National Museum
As you might expect, Madrid’s Prado National Museum has the most extensive collection of Spanish art in the world. Formerly a private royal museum for Spanish monarchs in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Prado now has over 2,300 paintings in addition to drawings, sculptures and decorative arts.
The majority of the art found in the Prado National Museum focuses on religious imagery due to Spain’s Catholic tradition. However, politics also play a big part in the work of painters such as Francisco Goya, who happens to have the most pieces on display there. Along with the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and the Museo Reina Sofía, the Prado is part of the Golden Triangle of Art, the biggest cultural attraction in Madrid and all of Spain.
