Corona time flies.
People mostly consider corona time as a wasted time. How could they not?We are basically "locked" in the house, not allowed to do any social contact, while reality changes rapidly making it harder and harder to follow. The Chinese refer to Corona as "the virus of the truth". Probably, because in the end our self is the only one left to accompany us. It is been said by plenty of psychologists, that corona's lockdowns compelled people to uncover their personality and discover more about their selves. During this inquisitive period full of changes and questions, we actually got a chance to take a little bit more care of ourselves, to discover what we like or not, and spend much more time on what we actually do like. If it’s not now the period to allot some time to do things that you hadn't the time to do before, then when is it?
During the era of social distancing, we have been given the chance to take a long walk through some virtual experiences, that the web platforms of the most noteworthy museums worldwide, as well as Google itself, have already created for us. Google has created this stimulating platform, called Google Arts & Culture, where you can actually explore exhibitions based on categories such as artists, art movements, historic events and figures, or by filters like the historical time or even the color.
Corona time (hopefully) flies, so take advantage of this strange period of time in order to discover and explore places and eras that you wouldn’t have the time to do under normal circumstances.
Further down, I have categorized some of the most remarkable free virtual tours that someone can take in order to explore art’s and culture’s sites worldwide.
Here there are all the free virtual tours and exhibitions offered by Google Arts & Culture:
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner?hl=en
Apart from the museums posted below, the above platform offers an exhibition about the history of Eiffel Tour, paintings and information about the life of Frida Kahlo (El Olmedo), a tour through the White House, the Japanese art of the Nagoya City Art Museum, the Korean Art Museum Association in South Korea and many more.
In the section of “Experiments” you can find the games collection of “Play with Arts & Culture”, a collection of five interactive games that make art, culture and history accessible in a fun and educational way. The guest plays virtual games such as puzzles of famous paintings, crosswords and art coloring books, solo or with other friends that can be invited. Except for these games, viewers can travel around the entire world with Hopper the Penguin or flip through An Ocean of Books, where they have the opportunity to explore the map of novelists, philosophers, scientists etc.
Classic ones:
Vatican:
Virtual tours in rooms, chapels and many interesting parts of the museum.
http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/tour-virtuali-elenco.html
Louvre, Paris:
Visit the museum’s rooms and galleries, admire the palace architecture and enjoy the views.
https://www.louvre.fr/en/visites-en-ligne#tabs
British Museum, London:
Many galleries and collections available to take a free look.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Met Museum got several free virtual tours for its guests. Take a look of the section #metkids, it is fun and set in a playful way.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/online-features
Contemporaty art:
MoMA, US:
Google offers a free virtual exhibition of 129 items of the Museum of Modern Art in midtown Manhattan. https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/moma-the-museum-of-modern-art?hl=en
Physics:
NASA, US:
A free virtual tour is given by the biggest research center, with the director of NASA, Clayton Turner, virtually welcoming its guests.
https://oh.larc.nasa.gov/oh/
Painters:
The Blue House: Frida Kahlo's private universe, Mexico
https://www.museofridakahlo.org.mx/en/the-blue-house/
Van Gogh’s free online exhibition with various of paintings, drawings and letters of the artist.
The exhibition is created by Google Arts & Culture and represents items from The van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/van-gogh-museum?hl=en
Dali Theatre-Museum, Catalonia, Spain
https://www.salvador-dali.org/en/museums/dali-theatre-museum-in-figueres/visita-virtual/
The National Gallery of London
Most of the past exhibitions are for free, as well as many current ones.
The guests should book their free entry ticket in order to visit the virtual exhibition and view paintings by Caravaggio, Velázquez or Vermeer.
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions#p-exhibitions-list-view-current
Nature:
San Diego Zoo
The zoo provides live broadcasts through 10 webcams so the viewer can sneak in and watch animals including koalas, penguins, tigers on real time.
https://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/live-cams
Georgia’s Aquarium
Georgia’s Aquarium is also using a live streaming webcam tool. Take a deep breath and “swim” along with a Beluga whale, meet the piranhas, or watch Jellies smoothly move in the ocean.
https://www.georgiaaquarium.org/webcam/ocean-voyager/
Visit National Parks
Take free virtual tours through national parks all over the world, including volcano locations and caves.
https://artsandculture.withgoogle.com/en-us/national-parks-service/welcome
Graffiti:
Street art: Explore the stories behind the art
Pointing on the country you’re interested in on the worldwide map you take a walk through small alleys or central streets and see the wall arts in several places.
https://streetart.withgoogle.com/en/audio-tours
Greece
Germany