Lonely Planet - 50 Museums to Blow Your Mind

Introduction

It starts innocently enough. You notice the interesting motif on a beer bottle top. You put it in your pocket and when you get home, flip it into a bowl on your bookshelf. Another day, another beer, another bottle top catches your eye. It gets flipped into the bowl too.

Six months later youve attached 4563 bottle tops (some donated by friends who think your obsession is quirky) to one wall of your living room. You start a website documenting your collection.

One year on: your friends are often busy, but so are you, and in any case, the bottle-top collection has sky-rocketed, your bottle-top collecting web connections have inspired you and the display room (your ex-garage) suddenly takes on a new guise: Bottle Top Museum.

Weve pretty much left sane-land, were now in the land of ooooh in the city of ahhhhhh; firmly in the country of collector mania.

This is basically how every museum begins.

And really, thank the stars for these obsessives, these documenters of the great and trivial, these people who want to show us all something wonderful about their collections and share the insights into humankind each of them illuminates. They might be the easiest way for aliens to get to know us, if not for us to learn about ourselves. Oooooh alien artefacts. Theres a collection to start... maybe youll visit soon.

ALAN VAJDIC

Then & now // History museums

Acropolis Museum / Greece

15 DIONYSIOU AREOPAGITOU ST,
MAKRYGIANNI, ATHENS, GREECE
WWW.THEACROPOLISMUSEUM.GR

SO HOWS THIS NEW ACROPOLIS MUSEUM WORKING OUT?

Funny you should ask; extremely well. This hyper-modern, in situ museum is more than ten times the size of its predecessor and intertwines spectacular architecture with the display of surviving gems from the Acropolis.

ALL OF THE GEMS?

Controversially, the Parthenon Marbles, aka the Elgin Marbles, are still housed in the British Museum, so the display at the Acropolis contains a pointed gap where the marbles belong. And there are many other Parthenon marble artefacts scattered around the world, so be prepared for a few holes in the collection.

SO IF WE WONT SEE THE FULL ASSORTMENT OF PARTHENON TREASURES, WHAT WILL WE SEE?

Among the triumphs of the museums design are the glass walkways and floor-to-ceiling glass walls which allow visitors to walk right over the top of Acropolis ruins and look out on the slopes of the Acropolis, seeing 2000 years of history in its original context. Most of the collection is from the 5th century BC, though there are items from the Archaic and Roman periods as well.

SUEDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG PHOTO ALAMY

British Museum / UK

GREAT RUSSELL ST, BLOOMSBURY,
LONDON, UK
WWW.BRITISHMUSEUM.ORG

EVERY MAJOR CITY HAS THEIR OWN MUSEUM. WHY IS THIS ONE SO SPECIAL?

Hold on to your hat this world-class, truly remarkable museum was opened in 1753 and houses a collection which spans more than two million years of human history, with show-stoppers like the Rosetta Stone, the worlds largest collection of Egyptian mummies, a 36m-long Viking warship, and an actual Easter Island statue, to name just a few.

THAT SHOULD KILL AN HOUR OR TWO.

That is just the tip of the iceberg. The museum has about eight million works on display. Yes, people, eight million.

HOW DO I EVEN KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN?

The museum is laid out in exhibitions on culture, people, place and/or material. Tip: the Greeks and Romans feature heavily and you wont want to miss the Parthenon Sculptures. Otherwise known as the Elgin Marbles, these sculptures are part of the original Parthenon and Acropolis in Greece. If youre still unsure of how to proceed, the museum provides itineraries with highlights for those with an hour or three hours to spare; that should help narrow it down.

IM THERE. ANYTHING ELSE I SHOULD KNOW?

Oh, yeah we forgot to mention, its all totally free!

CHRIS DORNEY SHUTTERSTOCK, ARCHITECT: NORMAN FOSTER

Forbidden City / China

4 JING SHAN QIAN JIE,
DONGCHENG, BEIJING, CHINA
WWW.DPM.ORG.CN

THE FAMOUS FORBIDDEN CITY, FORBIDDEN NO LONGER?

For more than 500 years the worlds largest palace complex was the exclusive haunt of royal dynasties, but after a Republican coup overthrew the last Qing Emperor the complex was open to all.

SO WE CAN WALK IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ROYALTY?

Its like stepping back in time. Crossing the 52m-wide moat that rings the complex takes you into the centre of the best-preserved ancient buildings in all of China.

WHERE DOES THE MUSEUM PART COME IN?

The buildings in the Forbidden City are collectively known as the Palace Museum and treasures and ancient royal artefacts are scattered through hundreds of rooms and galleries.

HOW DO WE APPROACH SUCH AN ENORMOUS SIGHTSEEING CHALLENGE?

See the City as divided into an outer and an inner court. Each is comprised of buildings with grandiose names like The Palace of Earthly Tranquillity. Our tip for making the most of your time: wander unhurriedly through the endless halls and corridors and soak up the history at your own pace.

HUOGUANGLIANG GETTY IMAGES

Goethe House & Goethe Museum / Germany

GROER HIRSCHGRABEN 23-25, 60311
FRANKFURT, GERMANY
WWW.GOETHEHAUS-FRANKFURT.DE

HIGHBROW!

Yeah, this is all about the time and place of a true renaissance man. Goethe House was the home where writer, statesman and all-round polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe grew up. Its an early 17th-century building two in fact, combined into one by Goethes father (who would also be Goethe, but lets call him dad for the moment)

DAD MAKES IT ALL SEEM A LITTLE LOWBROW.

You wont think so when you see the fully-decked out baroque masterpiece in all its glory. It also has the writing desk used to pen Goethe Jnrs early works. Goethe Museum, next door, adds to the atmosphere with artworks from this period of his life as well as pieces inspired by his writing.

ITS DEFINITELY A REFINED KIND OF EXPERIENCE, THEN.

Theres probably not going to be many laughs, but this memorial links you back to a seriously impressive life. He wrote poetry, novels, scientific papers, plays, criticism he was famous even as a young man. Then he got busy as a statesman and scientist. A visit here and youll probably wonder what youve been doing with your life.

H & D ZIELSKE GETTY IMAGES

Imperial War Museum / UK