HAVE social distancing and travel restrictions left you feeling a little uninspired? With quarantine rules changing so quickly and with so little notice, many destinations could be off limits to those who can’t afford to quarantine.
If your plans to take a trip to Europe this summer have been put on hold due to Covid-19 the team at Heal’s https://www.heals.com/blog/best-virtual-interiors-architecture-tours/ has you covered with these top 10 virtual tours for a quarantine free trip around Europe.
The Best Tours for the Ultimate Trip Around Europe:
Culture lovers can view thousands of paintings, sculptures, stately homes, installations and new work online – many in minute detail – as well as explore the museums and attractions themselves. Plus, many allow viewers to get closer to the art than they could do in real life.
So, enter full-screen mode and get those creative juices flowing and start your European adventure.
The National Gallery has three virtual tours that allow you to step inside the Gallery and explore one of the greatest collections of paintings, from the comfort of your home. You can experience the Gallery in virtual reality through your desktop, phone or VR headset.
The virtual tour at the Royal Academy of Arts allows users to explore the gallery’s ‘Sensing Spaces’ exhibition. Each gallery showcases the space, providing a historical document of the exhibition. This enables the gallery to expand the reach of their exhibitions to people who cannot attend due to distance, cost or accessibility.
Part of Google’s Art and Culture Network, the tour takes you through the Van Gogh Museum allowing you to view the artworks up close – much closer than you ever could in person.
From the outside the façade of Casa Batlló looks like it has been made from skulls and bones. The “Skulls” are in fact balconies and the “bones” are supporting pillars. The designer, Antoni Gaudí, used colours and shapes found in marine life as inspiration for this innovative building. The beauty continues inside and as part of this virtual tour you can explore every room in the building – taking inspiration from each corner.
With soaring vaulted ceilings, murals and tapestries, the Vatican’s museums are creatively rich sites. The virtual tours allow you to explore seven spaces including the Sistine Chapel. Why not wander around the rest of Vatican City with a You Visit tour that takes in Saint Peter’s Basilica and Square, complete with a tour guide narrating each interactive space.
The Vitra Design Museum is one of the leading design museums worldwide. It researches and conveys the past and present of design and relates them to architecture, art and everyday culture. The online collection allows you to explore in more detail about individual objects and their designers, from household furniture to vehicle designs.
Just because getting to museums might be a little more difficult at the moment doesn’t mean we should miss out on the many inspirations that design can offer. So brush up on your history by taking a virtual visit around the studios of leading designers and join learning sessions for all ages.
The Winter Palace was the official residence of the Russian Emperors from 1732 to 1917, but today the palace forms the Hermitage Museum. This Baroque-style masterpiece is St. Petersburg’s most famous landmark, and among the world’s most lavish palaces. The mint, gold and ivory exterior is eye-catching and extravagant. The inside is equally spectacular and the virtual tour allows you to explore all of the palace’s 1,057 rooms featuring velvet and gold detailing.
It’s hard to imagine a grander residence than the elegant Palace of Versailles, also known as the Château de Versailles. Every aspect of the building has been impeccably carved, smoothed and polished. This was France’s principal royal residence from 1682 until the French Revolution in 1789. The central gallery boasts elegant chandeliers and is home to around 5,000 pieces of antique furniture and 6,000 priceless paintings. With this virtual tour you can explore the palace’s art and design from royal portraits to iconic interiors.
This magnificent castle in Sozopol is the stuff of dreams and fairy tales, and its alternative name – ‘In Love with the Wind’ – only adds to its charm. It was designed by champion wrestler Georgi Kostadinov Tumpalov, who worked with a team of builders to craft the medieval-style structure from 20,000 tonnes of stone. The 360° virtual tour allows you to explore the elegant chapel and jaw dropping winery, this castle really has to be seen to be believed.
Pena Palace is breathtaking with its butter yellow turrets and brick red towers rising above the treetops in hilly Sintra. This multi-coloured beauty, is an example of 19th-century Romanticism, and was commissioned by King Ferdinand II and completed in 1854, and has been home to Portuguese royals through the years. The virtual tour allows you to explore the outer walls of the castle to really take in the magnificent architecture.
This art museum is famous for owning the Mona Lisa and the virtual tour offers you the opportunity to view its popular works up close. You can explore panoramas of the museum’s Egyptian antiquities, the galleries and even special exhibits such as the Founding Myths: From Hercules to Darth Vader.
From a Ming Emperor’s seat to an encyclopaedia of wondrous objects, Manchester Museum has a vast collection of online resources to explore from the comfort of your living room. The virtual experience allows users to spark some creative energy while exploring the fascinating objects and stories.
Five thousand years of art and design make up the Victoria and Albert Museum collection. Fashion is one of the museum’s strong suits and the virtual Gallery of Fashion takes viewers through the history of clothing design around the world. Further exhibits also include spotlights on Balenciaga, Schiaparelli, Indian textiles and the politics of fashion.
Founded as the Imperial Royal Austrian Museum of Art and Industry in 1863, today’s museum features a unique collection of applied arts and is an excellent hub of contemporary art. Originally established as an exemplary source collection, today’s MAK Collection continues to stand for an extraordinary union of applied art, design, contemporary art and architecture.
Founded in 1872, the Museum of Applied Arts is one of the oldest museums of art and design on the continent. The palace housing the museum was built in 1896, and is one of the most beautiful Art Nouveau buildings of the capital. The collection is made up of masterpieces of European decorative arts from the Middle Ages to the present day. Virtually explore over 100 pieces from clay to textiles.
The Picasso Museum in Barcelona is a key reference for understanding the formative years of Pablo Picasso. You can now view the impressive collection virtually by exploring each room of the museum and find inspiration everywhere, from each piece of art to the picturesque courtyards.
The Dalí Theatre and Museum, is a museum dedicated to the artist Salvador Dalí in his home town of Figueres, in Catalonia, Spain. You can now visit the museum like never before by taking a virtual tour and exploring each room and floor.
Heal’s Top Ten Virtual Tours: https://www.heals.com/blog/best-virtual-interiors-architecture-tours/
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