The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russie — Google Arts & Culture State Hermitage is one of the largest museums in the world. Its exhibitions include over 3 million exhibits representing Antiquity, Western Europe, Middle East, Russia and many more epochs, countries and regions. Its foundation dates back to 1764, when Catherine the Great purchased a big collection of Western European paintings. The museum consists of five buildings located in the historical center of St. Petersburg on the Neva embankment. The Winter Palace was built in 1754-1762 by Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli.
MoMA Founded in 1929, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in midtown Manhattan was the first museum devoted to the modern era. Today MoMA’s rich and varied collection offers a panoramic overview of modern and contemporary art, from the innovative European painting and sculpture of the 1880s to today's film, design, and performance art. From an initial gift of eight prints and one drawing, the collection has grown to include over 150,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, architectural models and drawings, and design objects; approximately 22,000 films and four million film stills; and, in its Library and Archives, over 300,000 books, artist books, and periodicals, and extensive individual files on more than 70,000 artists.
Galerie des Offices, Florence, Italie The Uffizi was designed by Giorgio Vasari in 1560 for Cosimo I de'Medici to house the Granducal Magistratures of Tuscany. Over time, the top floor loggia became an exhibition of the dynastic collection of ancient sculpture, artwork and artifacts. The eastern wing of the building incorporated the ancient Florentine church of San Pier Scheraggio and the wing to the west connected with two existing buildings, the Mint and the Loggia dei Lanzi.
Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid, Espagne — Google Arts & Culture Founded in 1990 after originally being created as an art centre, Museo Reina Sofía is among the culminating events of the Spanish transition to democracy, recovering Pablo Picasso's Guernica as well as an outstanding representation of the international avant-gardes and neo-avant-gardes. In short, the founding of this museum means the recuperation of the experience of modernity previously missing from the Spanish context and the opportunity to try out new models of narration from a periphery that is neither lateral nor derivative, but is rather an entry way for new stories, historiographic models and artistic episodes that tip the balance of the orthodox canon of the main museums. The institution no longer considers its task to be simply the transmission of culture.
MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo, Brésil — Google Arts & Culture The Museu de Arte de São Paulo is a private, nonprofit museum founded by Brazilian businessman Assis Chateaubriand, in 1947, as Brazil’s first modern museum. Chateaubriand invited Italian art dealer and critic Pietro Maria Bardi to serve as MASP’s director, a position he held for nearly forty-five years. Acquired through donations from the local society, MASP’s first artworks were selected by Bardi and became the most important collection of European art in the Southern Hemisphere. Today, MASP’s collection contains more than 8.000 works, including paintings, sculptures, objects, photographs, and costumes from a wide range of periods, encompassing art from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Besides the permanent exhibition of its collection, MASP organizes a comprehensive program of temporary exhibitions, courses, and talks, as well as musical, dance, and theater presentations.
Musée Archéologique d'Athènes - Collections The National Archaeological Museum is the largest museum in Greece and one of the most important in the world. Originally destined to receive all the 19th century excavations, mainly from Attica and other parts of the country, it gradually took the form of a central National Archaeological Museum and was enriched with finds from all parts of the Greek world. His rich collections, enumerating more than 11,000 exhibits, offer the visitor a panorama of ancient Greek culture from the prehistory to the late antiquity.
Musée de Pergame. Berlin Pergamon or Pergamum, also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos, was a rich and powerful ancient Greek city in Mysia. It is located 26 kilometres from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus and northwest of the modern city of Bergama, Turkey.During the Hellenistic period, it became the capital of the Kingdom of Pergamon under the Attalid dynasty in 281–133 BC, who transformed it into one of the major cultural centres of the Greek world. Many remains of its impressive monuments can still be seen and especially the outstanding masterpiece of the Pergamon Altar. Pergamon was the northernmost of the seven churches of Asia cited in the New Testament Book of Revelation.The city is centered around a 335-metre-high mesa of andesite which formed its acropolis. This mesa falls away sharply on the north, west, and east sides, but three natural terraces on the south side provide a route up to the top.
Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, Allemagne — Google Arts & Culture The Alte Nationalgalerie is the original home of the Nationalgalerie, whose collections today are divided between the Neue Nationalgalerie, the Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin, the Friedrichswerdersche Kirche, Museum Berggruen and the Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg. The idea of establishing a cultural and educational centre across from the Berlin Palace dates back to the time of Friedrich Wilhelm IV, who dreamt of creating a "sanctuary for art and science" on the site. The basic architectural concept for the Alte Nationalgalerie – a temple-like building raised on a plinth decorated with motifs from antiquity – came from the king himself. The building was designed by Friedrich August Stüler, a student of Schinkel who also designed the Neues Museum.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, New York, United States Founded in 1937, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation is dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of art, primarily of the modern and contemporary periods, through exhibitions, education programs, research initiatives, and publications. The Guggenheim network that began in the 1970s when the Solomon R. Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, Paris, France In the heart of Paris's museum land, neighbouring the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay, a few minutes from the Grand and Petit Palais, the Palais de Tokyo and the Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac has an exceptional location on the banks of the River Seine, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. The arts of Africa, Oceania, Asia, and the Americas now form part of the historical and artistic grand tour of the capital. The Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac is an innovative cultural institution - museum, educational and research centre, and public living space all in one.
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Seoul, Corée du Sud — Google Arts & Culture Since opening its door in 1969, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Korea has lived through the history of Korean art. In the process, MMCA established itself as a representative institution of Korean modern art. The museum’s four branches, including Gwacheon (opened in 1986), Deoksugung (opened in 1998), Seoul (opened in 2013), and Cheongju (expected to open in 2017), each in its own way, will continue to carry out MMCA’s commitment to the art and culture of Korea by enriching the first-hand cultural experience of the viewing public. Boasting a superb natural landscape surrounding the site, MMCA Gwacheon will be devoted to various genres of visual arts such as architecture, design, and crafts. Located within a historical site, MMCA Deoksugung will showcase modern art from Korea and overseas. In the heart of the city, MMCA Seoul will focus on introducing global contemporary art.
National Museum - New Delhi, New Delhi , Inde — Google Arts & Culture The National Museum, New Delhi as we see it today in the majestic building on the corner of Janpath and Maulana Azad Road is the prime museum in the country. The blue-print for establishing the National Museum in Delhi had been prepared by the Gwyer Committee set up by the Government of India in 1946. When an Exhibition of Indian Art consisting of selected artefacts from various museums of India, sponsored by the Royal Academy (London) with the co-operation of the Government of India and Britain, was on display in the galleries of Burlington House, London during the winter months of 1947-48, it was decided to display the same collection under a single roof in Delhi before the return of exhibits to their respective museums. Accordingly, the exibition was held in the state rooms of the Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi in 1949, and it turned out to be a great success.