When I was at school, once our teacher announced that the class would be going for a field trip. It was a cause for excitement, as those days field trips were not too frequent. But for some, the excitement died down as we learned that the trip will be to the National Museum, Karachi.

Museums were considered a boring place, visited by old people and not school students. Anyhow, the trip was taken and it completely changed my perception of a museum because I found it a fascinating place featuring many interesting things. And as the years passed, I became more and more interested in museums and now whenever I visit a foreign country, I try to visit at least a museum of some kind there.

So what’s interesting about museums if you may ask. My answer will be: a museum is a building or institution dedicated to preserving a collection of artefacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical or scientific importance. They collect and preserve artefacts and specimens, and make them accessible to people, enabling them to view the collections for inspiration, learning and enjoyment.

Along with conservation and documentation of their collection, museums also serve as scholarly venues with educational resources and attract tourism to a region.

There are many types of museums, such as art museums, natural history museums, science museums, war museums and children’s museums. According to the International Council of Museums (ICOM), there are more than 55,000 museums in 202 countries.

In addition to these, there are a number of virtual museums on the internet. However, they are dependent upon the collection, preservation and interpretation of material things by the real museum.

In this article, I will try to explore some famous museums from around the world, although there are many famous and unique museums out there, but due to limited space, I have selected a few for my young readers. Let’s explore.

Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology

The Ashmolean Museum, set up in the University of Oxford, is the oldest public museum of art, archaeology and natural history in Great Britain. It was founded in 1677, from the personal collection of an antiquarian, Elias Ashmole. The collection included antique coins, books, engravings, geological and zoological specimens. The museum was opened to the public on May 24,1683, to become the first public museum.

Before that, museums were private collections of wealthy individuals, families, or institutions of art and rare or curious natural objects and artefacts, and were often accessible only by the middle and upper classes.

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA),New York, USA

Founded in 1929 as an educational institution, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is considered to be the most important art museum in the world. From an initial gift of eight prints and one drawing, MoMA’s collection has grown to include 150,000 paintings, sculptures and design objects, as well as some 22,000 films, videos, media works, film stills, scripts and historical documents, from the late 19th century to the present day.

The collection includes famous art works of Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and Frida Kahlo.

The Vatican Museums, Vatican City, Italy

Housed within the Vatican City — home to the Roman Catholic Church’s governing body and its head, the pope — the Vatican Museums comprise a collection of 22 chapels, galleries and traditional museums, where works from the vast collection amassed by the Catholic Church and the papacy throughout the centuries are on display.

No visit to the Vatican City would be complete without visiting the world-famous Vatican museums. The highlight is Sistine Chapel, famous for its beautiful ceiling painted by Michelangelo.

The Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, USA

Founded in 1846, the Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum plus education and research complex, with 19 museums and galleries, the National Zoo, and various research stations. It is said that there is so much to see that, if you spent looking just one minute at each object on exhibit, you would see only 10 percent of the whole site in 10 years.

The main attractions include the Wright brothers’ 1903 Flyer, the Apollo 11 command module, Dorothy’s ruby red slippers, the dresses of the First Ladies, and the original Star-Spangled Banner.

The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia

The second-largest art museum in the world, the State Hermitage Museum was founded in 1764, when Empress Catherine the Great acquired an impressive collection of 255 paintings from Berlin.

At present, the museum has a spectacular collection of more than three million items — paintings, graphic works, sculptures, works of applied art, archaeological artefacts and numismatic objects — covering the history of the world from the Stone Age to the early twentieth century. The museum occupies six buildings along the Neva River.

Among other items, the museum also houses pieces from Nicholas II’s private collection, including paintings, drawings and medals created to commemorate his coronation.

The Uffizi Galleries, Florence, Italy

The Uffizi Galleries (the Galleria degli Uffizi) in Florence, Italy, is famous for its outstanding collections of ancient sculptures and paintings from the Middle Ages to the modern period. The paintings include some masterpieces from the 14th century and the Renaissance period.

Besides that, there are paintings by the early mediaeval, baroque and the Mannerist eras. It also boasts an invaluable collection of ancient statues and busts from the Medici family, and consists of ancient Roman copies of lost Greek sculptures.

The British Museum, London, United Kingdom

The British Museum is a popular and must-visit place for visitors to London. Founded in 1753, it opened its doors to the public in 1759. It was the first national museum to cover all fields of human knowledge, and is open to visitors from across the world.

The museum houses eight million permanent works — ranging from prehistoric bones to chunks of Athens’ Parthenon, from whole Assyrian palace rooms to exquisite gold jewels — many of which were collected during the British Empire era.

The main attractions include the Egyptian gallery that is claimed to have the world’s second finest collection of Egyptian antiquities outside Egypt, including the Rosetta Stone, carved in 196BC.

Le Louvre, Paris, France

Before being turned into a museum two centuries ago, the Louvre was a mediaeval fortress and the palace of French kings. The grand palace that houses the museum dates back to the late 12th century. It is visited by millions of people every year. The museum’s collections, which range from antiquity to the first half of the 19th century, are among the most important in the world.

Though Leonardo DaVinci’s Mona Lisa is the star attraction, there are thousands of other treasures of human civilisation, from Egypt, Asia, ancient Greece and Rome. A good place to start is the Sully Wing, in the heart of the Louvre.

Tate Modern, London

Tate Modern is part of a series of art galleries in London, Liverpool and Cornwall. The first Tate Gallery was established when, in 1889, Henry Tate, a British industrialist, donated his collection of 19th century British art and provided funding for it. A century later, the development of an international modern and contemporary art gallery was announced.

Besides the collection of contemporary art, the museum has exhibits that allow visitors to interact with the works and those that highlight how renowned pieces were made.

Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The Victoria and Albert Museum, named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, is considered the ‘world’s leading museum of art, design and performance’. So, if you’re interested in architecture, vintage fashion and furniture, and exhibits dedicated to theatre and performance, this is the place to visit.

Natural History Museum, London

The Natural History Museum, situated in South Kensington, has on display a wide array of animal bones, lifelike dioramas (replicas or 3-D models), and educational exhibits dedicated to the natural world. You’ll find the bones of a blue whale suspended from the ceiling and the first Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever discovered.

National Archaeological Museum, Athens

The National Archaeological Museum of Athens is the largest archaeological museum in Greece and one of the most important museums in the world devoted to ancient Greek art. It was founded at the end of the 19th century to house and protect antiquities from all over Greece, and as such displays their historical, cultural and artistic value. If you are interested in the masterpieces of ancient Greece, this is the place to visit.

The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The Rijksmuseum is one of the world’s most renowned art institutions. The museum first opened its doors in 1800 under the name ‘Nationale Kunstgalerij’ in The Hague, but in 1808, it was moved to Amsterdam.

There are about 8,000 objects of art and history on display. It has a total collection of one million objects dating from 1200–2000. It is most famous for its paintings by 17th-century Dutch masters, including Ruysdael, Frans Hals, Johannes Vermeer, Van Gogh and Rembrandt van Rijn; it also displays art from the Middle Ages.

The Prado, Madrid, Spain

One of the most popular places in the art world, Museo Nacional del Prado, opened to the public in 1819. Over the centuries, the Spanish royal family collected and commissioned art to be housed in the museum. The Prado has large collections of Italian (including Titian and Raphael) and Flemish artists; the strongest collection is of Spanish masterpieces by Goya, El Greco, and Velazquez.

Today, it boasts three million annual visitors and an online presence that exceeds 10 million visitors.

Apartheid Museum, Johannesburg

The Apartheid Museum, Johannesburg, opened in 2008 and since then it has been regarded as one of the most informative museums in South African history. Its 21 exhibition halls document the rise and fall of apartheid in the country through film footage, photographs and artefacts.

The seven columns in the main courtyard signify the Pillars of the Constitution. The most striking exhibit details the life and wisdom of Nelson Mandela, the famous revolutionary and the first president of South Africa after the end of segregation.

The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, Cairo

One of the largest museums in North Africa, the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities was commissioned in 1835 by the Egyptian government, with the hope that it will stop the looting of many archaeological and historic sites.

It houses nearly 120,000 ancient Egyptian artefacts and has the world’s largest collection of Pharaonic antiquities. The main attraction is the gold mask of Tutankhamun, made of 11kg of solid gold.

The Museum of Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses, Xi’an, China

One of the most significant archaeological finds in the world is the Terracotta Army. It was discovered by local farmers while digging for a well near the tomb of China’s first emperor Qin Shi Huang in Xian, Shaanxi, in 1974. The discovery caught the attention of archaeologists immediately, who confirmed that these artefacts were associated with the Qin Dynasty (211-206 BC).

The 16,300-square-metre excavation site revealed thousands of life-size terracotta figures of warriors and horses arranged in battle formations. It is estimated that the three pits within the royal mausoleum contains more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses.

Since October 1, 2010, the Museum of Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses and the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum have been combined into one large attraction area, Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum, which also includes three other small sites opened in 2011.

Published in Dawn, Young World, November 5th, 2022