Chicago Art Museum

https://www.artic.edu/interactive-features

Website provides a tool that allows visitors to view a set of art objects from many vantage points with pop-ups that provide contextual information.  Some that are particularly compelling:

• 1787 Anti-slavery medallion (explores the role of the medallions as “political buttons”, worn to show support for abolitionism)  
• Wooden pillow used by Zulu and other Nguni-speaking peoples of Southwest Africa (explores the form and function of these objects, including the influence of colonization)
• Santa Maria Maggiore (explores the evolving traditions behind this tabernacle)
• German altarpieces of the Saints (explores how these objects resonated with worshippers in times of need)
• Wonderland Map (a 1914 map of the London Underground with playful comments about London neighborhoods)

 

Jim Crow Museum, Big Rapids, Michigan (Ferris State University)

https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=8miUGt2wCtB

Virtual tour is interactive and provides opportunities to explore racist ephemera through audiovisual pop-ups.

 

The Louvre

https://www.louvre.fr/en/visites-en-ligne

The Louve website offers access to several thematic-based tours, including virtual tours that explore art and political power, as well as how myths have influenced art and film over the ages. The Louvre was originally a fortress built by King Philippe Auguste, and visitors to the website can “tour” the  original perimeter moat and view the piers that supported the drawbridge.

 

National Women’s History Museum

https://www.womenshistory.org/events/electronic-field-trips

https://www.womenshistory.org/students-educators/digital-classroom-resources

Features virtual exhibits and program on a myriad of topics including:

• Women Pioneers of Computer Programming
• Katherine Johnson and the Mathematics of the Space Race
• Cooking with the First Ladies

 

Science Museum

https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories

Features interesting virtual exhibits on several topics including:

• Astronomy
• Chemistry
• Communication technologies
• Everyday technology and computing
• Mathematics
• Medicine (including epidemiology)
• Robots
• Space

 

The Smithsonian Natural History Museum

https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour#

Includes narrated tours of the Sant Ocean Hall (topics: coral reefs and whales); and 360 tours of a multitude of permanent and rotating exhibits, including the exhibit, Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World.

 

Abdul Rahman Siddik Mosque, Dubai 

https://www.dubai360.com/scene/2659-abdul-rahman-siddik-mosque-prayer-hall-1/en

Explore the minimalist and environmentally friendly design of this Dubai mosque.

 

Mt. Vernon

https://virtualtour.mountvernon.org/

Includes opportunities to explore decorative and fine art objects, as well as historic furniture housed on site.

 

Monticello

Interactive virtual tour:  http://explorer.monticello.org/virtualtour/

Includes opportunities to explore decorative and fine art objects, as well as historic furniture housed on site.

 

The Secret Annex 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SJgudCq540

A virtual tour of the secret annex, a cleverly disguised hiding space that housed wartime diarist Anne Frank and her family.

 

The Vatican

http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/tour-virtuali-elenco.html

360 tours of the Vatican, including many of its halls and chapels, as well as the Profane Museum. 

       

                                             

 

 

Several websites provide links to virtual exhibits and tours of museums. Here are a few worth exploring: 

 

 

• https://upgradedpoints.com/best-virtual-museum-tours/


• https://www.timeout.com/travel/virtual-museum-tours


• https://www.educatorstechnology.com/2014/01/20-wonderful-online-museums-and-sites.html


• https://artsandculture.google.com/ (a free platform for museums to share digital content; includes a vast collection of material from museums across the globe)


• http://www.virtualfreesites.com/museums.html


• https://www.titlemax.com/geography-games-and-virtual-travel-through-the-usa/


• https://www.partsgeek.com/mmparts/travel_around_the_world_virtual_tours_and_field_trips.html

 

 

Below is a curated list of exhibits and tours that may be of particular interest because of the quality of the tours/exhibits and the thematic coverage.

I Am A Man

https://www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/1558748774146820/

Free video game that allows "players"  to walk in the shoes of the people who fought for freedom and equality during the civil rights era. The game includes embedded historical film and photographs, along with voice narrations of actual Civil Rights participants.

 

Moon Tours

https://www.google.com/moon/

https://accessmars.withgoogle.com/

Includes tours of lunar landing sites (narrated by Apollo astronauts); 3D models of rovers and landers; 360-degree photo panoramas; and TV footage of the Apollo missions.

 

Making History: Christian Cole, Alain Locke and Oscar Wilde at Oxford 

https://makinghistory.magd.ox.ac.uk/

This virtual exhibit tells the story of three nineteenth and twentieth century trailblazers who changed Oxford University and the world beyond it. Christian Cole was one of Oxford University’s first Black African undergraduates, Alain Locke of Pennsylvania was the first African-American Rhodes scholar and dean of the Harlem Renaissance, and Oscar Wilde was the greatest Irish wit and dandy of all time. By drawing these three exceptional men together, this exhibition showcases Black and Queer undergraduates’ shared histories through rare archives that bear witness to their remarkable lives and times.