Whether or not you savor a museum visit when you travel, consider how much there is to enjoy and learn from the time spent in these indoor pursuits. If you have been to a museum, any museum, and write the experience off as boring or a waste of your time perhaps you just didn’t pick the right kind.
According to The Inkline there are a plethora of different types of museums. Each one caters to a different interest or particular aspect of a country’s culture and society. Instead of just going to the big ones that everyone recommends perhaps find something a little less well known. An online search or a good guidebook will list the lesser known museums for you to explore, including hours and cost. To help you along, here, in alphabetical order, is a list of the categories of museums you can check out.
An Archaeological Museum contains a collection of artifacts, relics and ruins, usually mined from a nearby dig, that help you to conceptualization the items within the societies they came from and give you a better understanding of their contributions to human history. The Archaeological Museum of Athens and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo are two excellent examples.
One will not find a museum about Architecture on its own, (other than as part of a design museum discussed later), but many of the most famous museums around the world are housed in buildings that are fascinating in their own right. Instead of looking at the collections in the following examples, look at the architecture and design through the ages. Some of the best include the Guggenheim Museum in Bilboa Spain, the Louvre in Paris France and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City USA.
As lovers of art history we we explore any Art Museum we can find during our travels. Showcasing paintings and sculptures from different countries and periods a good art gallery will educate and enthral its visitors. Our favourites include the Louvre, the National Gallery in London England and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Cultural Heritage Museums offer a look at the traditional way of life in a country of region. Their focus is ethnography which is “a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures”. These can be found in pretty much every city and small town you visit as they house the artifacts from that region. Examples include the Acropolis in Athens, the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver Canada and the Elgin County Museum in my home town.
Design Museums are a depositories for product, industrial, graphic, fashion and architectural design. They were founded as museums for applied arts or decorative arts and started only in the late 20th century to collect design. The first, and in my opinion one of the best is the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Consider as well the Design Museum Denmark in Copenhagen or the Vitra Design Museum in Rhein Germany.
Fashion Museums showcase the art of clothing design, from historical costumes to contemporary haute couture. They highlight the trends, designers, and cultural influences that have shaped fashion over time and its role in expressing identity and societal values. To find a favourite designer or style check out this Top 10 List of Fashion Museums.
Check back next week for more types of museums to enjoy!