Coronavirus outbreak has prompted a temporary shutdown of all major tourist attractions, theme parks, galleries and museums across the world. Governments are advising self-quarantine and social distancing to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. But, for most people staying indoors, doing nothing, can be very frustrating.
While the travel industry finds itself severely impacted, you still have the option to walk through the Main Street in Disney World’s Magic Kingdom or check out the artworks of Picasso, Dali, or Van Gogh. Many museums and cultural institutions are offering free virtual tours, exhibits, videos, and performances for people to enjoy from their homes.
Tours of cultural institutions
As the people are recoiling inside their houses amidst the coronavirus pandemic, more than 500 cultural institutions are offering virtual tours to provide some solace.
Google Art and Culture has compiled a list of over 500 museums and galleries that you can visit virtually while staying in your bed. Various museums have virtual tours available online – including the Louvre that offers a tour of the recently restored Galerie d’Apollon, and MoMA that lets you view the iconic works of Matisse and Picasso.
Museums offering virtual tours
The Vatican museums offer a 360-degree tour of the Sistine Chapel and Raphael’s room, while the Van Gogh Museum exhibits over 200 paintings, 500 drawings and more than 750 letters from the Dutch post-impressionist.
With Italy on lockdown, you can explore the 16th-century halls of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence via google maps. Various institutions in northern Milan are also listed for virtual tours, including the historic Biblioteca Ambrosiana, the city’s Sforzesco castle, and the Museo del Novecento, which is a museum of twentieth-century art in the city. The National Museum of Mexico and Museo Nacional de Antropologia are also enlisted.
The platform allows you to browse featured museum collections, or use Google’s interior street view to explore gallery halls.