Famous Art Musuems

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The word ‘museum’ is derived from the Greek root ‘mouseion’ meaning the place of study or library. The earliest use of the word was for a library like the ‘British Library.’ According to the Museums Association (1998), museums are ‘institutions that collect, safeguard, and make accessible artifacts and specimens which they hold in trust for society.’ According to this definition, art galleries fall into the category of museums.  There are many types of museums, and the following are some of the most known forms: Historic, Natural History, Art, Science, Encyclopedic, Live, Maritime, Military and War, Open-air, Pop-up, Specialized, Virtual, Zoological, Gardens.

1.  British Museum, London

British Museum
British Museum, London

Founded in 1753, the British Museum is the first national museum constructed; attracting 5,000 visitors annually in its beginning to more than 5 million every year now. Sir Hans Sloane, a physician, collected more than 71,000 objects which were accepted by King George II as desired by the physician through his will against a payment of £20,000 to the heirs. The British Museum came into being on June 7, 1753 through an act of the British Parliament. The starting collection was comprised of books, manuscripts, ethnographic material, and some antiques. In 1757 King George donated the ‘Old Royal Library’ of the sovereigns of England. With continued additions and expansions, the British Museum is one of the most famous museums of the world. You may use a journeyplanner to get to the museum in the quickest time.

2. The Louvre Museum

The Louvre Museum
The Louvre Museum

The Louvre Museum is located in the heart of one of the world’s most beautiful cities, Paris. Its history is traced to the early 13th century when Philip II, or Philip Augustus, built the Louvre fortress to defend the River Seine against possible invasion of the Normans and the English. The Louvre Museum was opened during the revolution in 1793 as the first state museum, and it possessed the former royal collections, sculpture, and paintings. The current Louvre, having an exhibition area of more than 30,225 sq.m., is one of the largest, oldest, and the most visited museum. In the year 2010, 8.5 million people visited this museum. Currently theLouvreMuseum comprises ancient Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Mesopotamian, European, and Islamic Art Departments. It has many valuable possessions of great, historic importance like Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘s world-famous painting Mona Lisa and Michael Angelo’s Sculpture Two Marble Slaves, the Statute of Sumerian ruler Gudea bearing Hammurabi’s code. The latest addition to the Louvre Museum is the Glass Pyramid which functions as the main entrance and allows light into the underground sections. It was built in 1989 by the renowned architect I. M. Pei.

3. The Ashmolean Museum

The Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum

Located in England on Beaumont Street, Oxford; the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology is the oldest museum according to the Guinness Book of Records. It was opened in 1683. The current building dates from 1845, and its one wing is occupied by the Taylor Institute of Modern Languages. In addition to numerous other valuables, the collections of the Ashmolean Museum include: many Oxyrhynchus Papyri; the manuscripts recovered from the Egyptian ruins of Oxyrhynchus, including the Old and New Testament, drawings by Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci, and watercolor paintings of Pablo Picasso.

4. Musei Vaticani; the Vatican museums

Musei Vaticani; the Vatican museums
Musei Vaticani; the Vatican museums

Located inside the Vatican City of Rome, the Vatican museums are among the most renowned museums of the world, and the Sistine Chapel amongst them as one of the most elaborate. Pope Julius II laid the foundation of the Sistine Chapel in the beginning of the 16th century. Master painters like Michelangelo and Raphael decorated its walls. The museums include the following but do not exclude some others too:  Egyptian Museum, Museums of Popes Clement XIV and Pius VI, Gallery of the Candelabra, Raphael’s Rooms, Gallery of the Maps, and others.

5. The State Hermitage

The Stage Hermitage
The Stage Hermitage

Also known as Federal Cultural Institute, The State Hermitage is situated in the historic center of Saint Petersburg, Russia. The museum opened in the 18th century as a private collection of Empress Catherine II. The complex comprises ten buildings with 365 exhibition rooms containing 2,970,214 items. The items include paintings, graphic artworks, sculptures, archaeological finds, and many other valuable objects.

6. The Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Museum
The Smithsonian Institution

Located in Washington D.C., the Smithsonian Institution occupies the area from Third to Fourteenth Streets between Constitution Avenue and Independence Avenue. The Institution emerged by the fortune of a British scientist James Smithson, who gifted all his fortune in 1829 to the people of the United States to found an institution to increase the dissemination of knowledge. Comprising 16 museums, 4 research centers, the National Zoo, Smithsonian libraries, and many other departments, the conglomerate is the world’s largest museum complex. It is a valuable source of information and learning opportunities.

7. The Egyptian Museum

The Egyptian Museum
The Egyptian Museum

Custodian of the Egyptian antiquities, the Egyptian Museum was built in the year 1891 in Boulak and moved later to Giza first and then to Cairo where it is currently located in the Tahrir Square. The museum was opened on November 15, 1902. It comprises 107 exhibition halls. The ground floor exhibits the bigger statues while the smaller statues, the Tutankhamen treasure and mummies are displayed in the upper hall. The museum has many sections which contain Tutankhamun treasures, Old, Middle, and New Kingdom Monuments, the Greek and Roman period antiques, a valuable historic collection of coins, sarcophagi, the sculptured and inscribed stone tombs.  Tutankhamun’s face mask is an object of historic value. It is made of 11 kgs of pure gold.

8. Madam Tussauds

Madam Tussauds
Madam Tussauds

Madam Tussauds museum dates from 1770 in Paris, and it was first based in the Bakers Street Bazaar, London, England in 1835. MadamTussaudsmuseum was shifted to the present site in 1884. The museum is famous for its real, life-like wax statutes of the most famous people. Madam Tussauds learned to make wax models from Dr. Phillip Curtius. She had been an art teacher of King Louis XVI’s sister.

9. Peshawar Museum

Peshawar Museum
Peshawar Museum

The Peshawer Museum, located in the provincial capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan was founded in 1907 in the memory of Queen Victoria. It contains the Gandharan Sculptures excavated from the local site; Shah-ji-ki-Dheri, Takht Bahi, and Sari Bahlol.  The museum collection comprises 14,156 items of Gandharan, Mogul, and Kalash, dresses, coins, sculptures, and manuscripts. The Fasting Buddha statue is an icon of the Gandharan civilization and is valued by Buddha’s followers all over the world.

10. The Palace Museum, Beijing

The Palace Museum, Beijing
The Palace Museum, Beijing

Building of the current Palace Museum; also known as the Forbidden City was started in the year 1406 and was completed in 1420. It is an icon of the Chinese civilization and the largest museum of China. The palace had been abode of 24 former Chinese Emperors and taken in high regard by all Chinese. The museum comprises: Paintings and Calligraphic Gallery, the Treasure Gallery, Hall of Clocks, Gold and Silver Objects, the Bronze Gallery, Gallery of Qing, Imperial Opera, and the Jade Gallery.

Conclusion: 

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, and in my opinion a sculpture is worth a thousand pictures. If it is so, then what a worthy place would an art gallery or a museum like the Sistine Chapel be that treasures thousands of pictures, paintings of  great masters like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, and numerous sculptures of the finest quality sculptured by great artists like Raphael! Visiting museums is a source of learning and spiritual delight.

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