Visit Europe’s finest museums online while preparing for your semester in Prague

The events of this year have changed the plans of millions of Study Abroad students. Although many of you still can’t study or travel abroad due to various restrictions, we have to hold onto some hope that the situation could improve next year. Visiting museums and art galleries during your semester abroad is an essential component of the Study Abroad experience. Even if you generally don’t consider yourself a museum-goer or an art-lover, your future semester at the University of New York in Prague might transform you. Studying in the Czech Republic and traveling across Europe will help you gain cultural capital and broaden your horizons. There is no doubt that museums engage and educate their communities, and whether you are an International Relations or a Sports Management student, you will take away new information and insights from your museum visit. 

We know that international travel is very complicated right now. However, you can still use this time to browse through the free online resources offered by the best museums and art galleries in Europe, and map out which ones you would like to visit in person during your studies in the Czech Republic. We’ve picked museums that offer fresh insights into their exhibits, with innovative virtual tours.

Take a virtual trip through some of Europe’s most significant museums and plan which ones you would like to visit in person when you study at the University of New York in Prague!

THE DALÍ THEATRE-MUSEUM

Where: Figueres, Catalonia, Spain

The Dalí Theatre-Museum is located in Salvador Dalí’s hometown of Figueres, and is entirely dedicated to his art work. The master himself is buried in a crypt below the stage. The Museum features every era of Dalí’s life and career, from paintings and illustrations to sculptures, design objects, photographs, video work, and personal items, and as a whole constitutes a spectacular surrealist object. The Museum offers virtual tours of the grounds, as well as several online exhibits. 

THE GEMÄLDEGALERIE 

Where: Berlin, Germany 

The Gemäldegalerie is one of Germany’s largest museums, and has a lot to offer, even if you can’t physically be there. This art museum is home to a magnificent collection of European paintings, ranging from the 13th to the 18th century – you don’t have to be an art historian to know the names of Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach, and Johannes Vermeer. The Gemäldegalerie opened in 1830, and the current building was completed in 1998. 

THE LOUVRE

Where: Paris, France 

Even if you’ve visited the Louvre before, you probably didn’t manage to see all of it. The Louvre is the largest art museum in the world, with pieces dating from prehistoric times to the 21st century, displayed in an exhibition space of 72,735 square meters. It has been said that if you only spent 30 seconds looking at each piece, it would still take you one hundred days to see the entire collection. Previously a palace, and originally a medieval castle, the building itself has a fascinating history. The Museum offers online tours of some of its most famous and popular exhibits, including its Egyptian Antiquities and works from Michelangelo. 

VAN GOGH MUSEUM 

Where: Netherlands, Amsterdam

For a few years now, to visit to this Museum, you had to make an advance reservation for a particular time slot. However, most of the collection can now be found on Google Arts & Culture. You can take 360-degree tours, or examine the paintings up close, in high resolution. To understand the significance of artworks by Vincent van Gogh, we highly recommend spending some time reading about the events of his life. Psychology students might find his art particularly interesting. 

BRITISH MUSEUM 

Where: London, United Kingdom

Founded in 1753 and opened in 1759 to visitors from around the globe, the British Museum is in some ways the national public museum of the world. The British Museum has an unusual and very convenient interactive online experience, which enables the viewer to explore the Collection chronologically, geographically, and thematically. The Museum’s wide-ranging collections consist of about eight million objects covering two million years of human history. Curators continue to acquire objects and actively research the collections, including the circumstances in which objects were initially acquired, in collaboration with the Museum’s scientists and the academic community. 

Photo credit: Van Gogh Museum 360 Tour