Museums come in all shapes and sizes and occupy buildings that have had various uses. There are some that are in purpose-built venues, but the one thing most of them have in common is they are no longer regarded as stuffy old places that are boring.
The Natural History Museum, London
The Natural History Museum in London welcomes millions of visitors every year. There are exhibitions that you will not see anywhere else in the world, and the museum caters for all ages. There are things to thrill the children as well as plenty of things for adults as well. It is located in a purpose-built venue, which in itself is something well worth seeing.
The Hanoi Museum, Hanoi
This inverted pyramid looks as though it is defying the laws of gravity. It’s the kind of place that has you working out how to get a loan with bad credit just so you can see it at any cost. The displays are artefacts from Hanoi’s 1000-year history, as well as things showing the culture and heritage of Vietnam. With over 50,000 pieces on show, some say it is worth visiting to see the outside of the building as well as the inside.
Moscow State Historical Museum, Moscow
This red brick building, which is located in Red Square, was built in the 19th century. The exhibits trace Russian history from prehistoric times to the present day, a collection said to be worth many millions of pounds. These include a longboat, which was excavated from the banks of the Volga River, manuscripts dating back to the sixth century, and gold artefacts of the Scythians.
The Louvre, Paris
The Louvre is officially the world most visited museum. As it houses such masterpieces as the ‘Mona Lisa’ and ‘Venus de Milo’ that should not really be a surprise. Even if you had to sell everything you own to get there, you’d probably think it was worth it. Since it was first started, the building has been added to in different eras. The 60,000 square meters it covers shows all the various architectural styles from the different ages.
The Musee d’Orsay, Paris
The largest collection in the world of impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces can be found in a renovated railway station in Paris known as Musee d’Orsay. The building has been altered as little as possible and as well as all the fine pieces of art, the building itself is very impressive, with all the station clocks still in working order.
The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto
For a long time, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto has been the most popular museum in North America to visit. It caters for all ages with exhibitions and workshops for children and adults. The building itself causes some debate. Some consider it to be really beautiful, while others have declared it to be the ugliest building in the world.
Often when visitors tour a museum, they are so engrossed in the displays that they fail to look at the building around them. These can be just as important to history as the artefacts on show. Some are in old railway stations, some are in medieval ruins and others are in buildings designed especially to house them. Which is the case in the museum you are visiting, stop and look at the architecture, you might just be surprised how good some of it is.
Which one will you see first?