5 Fantastic iPhone, Android Apps For Museum Visits
(Image: vichie81/iStockphoto)
Now that we've entered the dog days of summer, and you've had a chance to hit the beach and work on your tan, it's time to skip the humidity and sweltering temperatures and cool off indoors.
No, we're not talking about sitting on the couch in front of the air conditioner catching up on Game of Thrones. We're talking about expanding your cultural horizons inside a museum. (OK, maybe you can visit from the couch, too.) To help guide you on your journey, we offer this collection of 10 apps for some of the world's greatest museums.
The majority of these apps follow a similar template, offering a selection from the museum's collection through high-quality photos and information about each piece, and also helpful guided tours that can be selected based on particular interests.
[Check out this list of handy iPhone apps to download.]
Another thing all these apps have in common is their impressive breadth and depth.
For example, the Prado museum app features 400 works of art with detailed descriptions, and many of these apps also provide you with information on the history of the institution and about the ways these collections have been amassed over the years.
As a bonus, many of the apps are available in multiple languages, so if you want to give your French a whirl while reading about the masterpieces hanging in the Louvre, you've got that option.
While this is a list of our 10 favorites, it is worth noting that this is far from a complete list. We would highly recommend checking the Google Play Store orApple's iTunes store to see if your next museum destination offers a handy guide.
Best of all, almost every app on this list is free, which means you don't have to fork over any additional funds once you pay the price of admission.
Chicago's Field Museum App Lets You Share
The Field Museum of Natural History app is loaded with exclusive content, experiences, and curated tours, and the app allows you to share your favorites with friends or create your own tours of the Chicago science museum based on an interest or theme. Through video and audio features, the museum's scientists give visitors a greater insight into featured artifacts and specimens, of which the massive museum has a daunting number.
Put The Musée du Louvre In Your Pocket
You might not make it to Paris this year, but you can still scope out the treasures hanging on the walls of the Louvre. The Musée du Louvre app offers a selection of museum must-sees, including Greek sculptures; paintings by Bosch, Titian, Raphael, Holbein, and Cranach; and a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci.
British Museum App: A Host Of Guided Tours
The British Museum app helps you figure out what you must see and where to find it with a fully interactive map of all the museum's floors, a virtual walk of the top galleries, high-resolution images of the objects, a detailed history of key artifacts, and information on current events and activities.
MoMA Makes A Modern App For Museum Goers
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York is world-renowned for its collection, and its slick app allows you to hear from artists and curators, plan your visit, and see a calendar of events and exhibitions. You can also explore the museum's collection of modern and contemporary art, as well as design and create personal collections of media and artworks.
A Sense Of Berlin's Museum Island Complex
A trip to Berlin's cultural epicenter, Museum Island, can be daunting, but this visitor's guide ($1.99) helps Apple device users navigate its five monster museums with offline maps, individual guides to each museum, practical information, and a history of the site.