Virtual Museums and Tours from across the Globe

Want to enrich your daily classroom or need a break from the routine? Why not make global connections and take a virtual field trip and visit a museum or city without leaving the classroom. Or consider a video or web conference with museum educators. This month’s Global Update highlights unique opportunities for your students to “visit” museums and other sites from across the globe. This is just a sample of what is available on the world wide web.

#10 Downing Street
Enter through the door to one of the world’s most famous addresses. It is the home of British government serving as a meeting place of the British Cabinet, a reception venue for dignitaries from around the world and home to the British Prime Minister.
www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page41.asp

Ancient Stones of Scotland
Take a virtual tour of Stonehenge and more. The site has information, images and panoramic movies of 182 sites, ranging from the earliest settlements (dating from about 3500 BC), through the stone circles and standing stones, to the defense towers called brochs, built about 2000 years ago.
www.stonepages.com/ancient_scotland/navigati.htm

How Does Art Tell Stories?
An educational website from the Seattle Art Museum, "How Does Art Tell Stories?", uses works of art to teach about Hinduism, Buddhism, and the representation of gods in different cultures. The central figures shown are Buddha, Vishnu, and Ganesh, and the site is set up as an interactive game. (works best with Internet Explorer)
www.seattleartmuseum.org/onlineActivities/ArtStories/

Live…from the Heart
Students have an opportunity to explore the human heart by viewing a live open heart surgery. Students can ask the surgical team questions about all things heart-related. Live...from the Heart provides a rare glimpse into the world of health professionals, offering an unparalleled career exploration experience. The program is available to middle school and high school classes. You have to be able to participate on one of the scheduled dates and be available for about 2-1/2 hours – the length of the surgery.
www.livefromtheheart.org

The Louvre
Visit the museum's exhibition rooms and galleries and contemplate the façades of the Louvre from both inside and outside this museum.
www.louvre.fr/llv/musee/visite_virtuelle.jsp?bmLocale=en

The Lower East Side Tenement Museum
Take a tour of 97 Orchard Street , the first homestead of urban working class and poor immigrant people preserved and interpreted in the United States. Located on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, an immigrant portal for almost two centuries, 97 Orchard Street was home to an estimated 7,000 people from more than 20 nations between 1863 and 1935. Through the virtual tour you will experience life in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s and “meet” some of the past tenants.
www.tenement.org/Virtual-Tour/index_virtual.html

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Consider the Met's collection a virtual extension of your classrooms and see how teachers can integrate art into their daily curricula. The museum houses one of the largest and most varied collections of art in the world. Publications include a variety of illustrations and descriptions of selected works of art, historical and cultural background, lesson plans and activities, and other useful material. Current online units with an international flare include: the Art of Ancient Egypt; Byzantium: Faith and Power; China: Dawn of a Golden Age; and Flowers Underfoot: India Carpets of the Mughal Era. The museum also offers many more printable units focusing on art from around the world.
www.metmuseum.org/

Museum of Science and Industry
Online exhibits include: the Coal Mine, Genetics: Decoding Life, The Great Train Story, Networld, Toymaker 3000, and U-505 Submarine.
www.msichicago.org/

The Mysteries of Çatalhöyϋk, Science Museum of Minnesota
Archaeologists are excavating the remains of a Neolithic town in Turkey, where 9,000 years ago, this place was one of the world's largest settlements. Join the team as they excavate this ancient city. Through this interactive archaeology exhibition students will see where and how people lived, what kinds of food they ate, and learn about the science and practices of archaeology.
www.smm.org/catal/introduction/

The National Palace of Taiwan
Explore exciting exhibits examining Asian art including bronzes, ceramics, painting, and calligraphy. The e-Learning section has many interactive activities and tours for students.
http://elearning.npm.gov.tw/index_en.htm

NC Museum of History
The NC Museum of History offers virtual field trips where students see, hear, examine artifacts, participate in group activities, and talk with an expert at the museum all via two-way videoconferencing. Classes are free and meet specific goals of the NC Standard Course of Study. Materials and other information are available at
www.ncmuseumofhistory.org/edu/outreach.html 

The Olympic Museum
Take a virtual tour of this museum, physically located in Switzerland, which promotes the union of sport, art and culture. Travel through time and see the history of the Olympic movement as you virtually tour the four floors of the museum.
www.olympic.org/uk/passion/museum/virtual/index_uk.asp

Rivers, Edens, Empires: Lewis & Clark and the Revealing of America, the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress has used its enormous amount of exploration material so visitors can learn more of the journey and virtually follow Lewis and Clark's expedition across the country.
www.loc.gov/exhibits/lewisandclark/virtualtour/

Roman Open Air Museum, Hechingen-Stein
Take a virtual tour of a Roman Estate. On the website you can read the history of the villa, tour through the estate and park, and learn about the history of the Romans in southwest Germany.
www.villa-rustica.de/intro/indexe.html

State Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage occupies six magnificent buildings situated along the embankment of the River Neva, right in the heart of St Petersburg, Russia. Visit the State Hermitage Museum virtually and see exhibits and panoramic views of rooms of the Winter Palace, and the Small, Large, and New Hermitages.
www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/08/hm88_0.html

The Tower of London
The Tower of London has been the seat of British government and the living quarters of monarchs. It has housed lions, bears, and flightless ravens, as well as notorious traitors and members of court, lords and ministers, clergymen and knights. Enjoy a virtual tour of the tower and bridge. There is also a special tour for kids visiting the site.
http://everycastle.com/Tower-of-London.html

Interested in London? Be sure to also check out Big Ben too! http://bigbenfacts.com/

US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Online exhibitions present new subjects and also extend the reach of Museum public programs and special exhibitions. Current topics include: rescue and resistance, children, the aftermath, ghettos, anti-Semitism, persecution, propaganda, documentation and evidence, remembrance, and units of general reference about the Holocaust.
www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/

The Vatican Museums
Take a virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel, Raphael’s Rooms, and see many famous works of art on this site. Detailed descriptions and historical information are provided.
http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html

Virtual Egyptian Museum, King Padibastet’s Tomb
Explore ancient Egypt through a series of images, commentaries, and interactive tools in this virtual museum, a joint venture between the California Institute of World Archaeology and the Senusret Collection.
www.virtual-egyptian-museum.org/

Virtual Primates of Africa
Read information, see photographs, and hear vocalizations of some of Africa’s most amazing primates.
www.indiana.edu/~primate/primates.html

The Virtual Smithsonian
A site created to help commemorate the Smithsonian’s 150 th birthday, view over 360 artifacts from the 16 Smithsonian museums without leaving your chair. http://2k.si.edu/2k/node_rotunda/indexe.htm Also visit the newly created African American History and Culture Museum at the Smithsonian, where visitors to this virtual museum can participate in the development of the bricks and mortar version of the museum, slated to open in 2015, by contributing memories, essays, or recordings. http://nmaahc.si.edu/

CARE Virtual Field Trips
Journey to different countries with CARE, an international non-governmental organization working to alleviate global poverty. Follow different groups, including students on one of their current virtual field trips are to Guatemala, Ghana, and Peru or view archived field trips to Bolivia, Kosovo, Haiti, Nepal, Mali, and Honduras.
www.care.org/features/vfts.asp

China
View a photographic Journey through the Forbidden City, The Summer Palace and the Ming Tombs.
www.stuebegreen.com/wonderland/photos/

England, A Virtual Tour of London
A virtual tour of London with over 200 photos to explore, each with description and links.
www.explore-london.co.uk/

India, A Virtual Village – Arampur
Take a virtual tour of Arampur, a village in the Bihar state of India. Visitors can “roam” the streets, “interview” members of the village, see photographs of daily life in the village, and more. The site may be a little old for elementary students but is definitely worth visiting. There also is a section for teachers.
http://virtualvillage.wesleyan.edu/index.html