Post by LHR02 on Dec 16, 2004 9:02:12 GMT -5
The Telegraphs travel section has a good piece outlining some of the finest galleries!
AARRGGHH! The links did not copy! Kim....HELP!
Dear Virginia
16 December 2004
This week: Gallery guides
The Louvre, the Hermitage and the British Museum are all tourist destinations in their own right. Yet the world's greatest museums can be vast, daunting places; with thousands of exhibits on display, it's hard to know where to start.
In his series of gallery guides, Nick Trend helps you plan a visit to the best museums and galleries in Europe and the United States. He advises how to avoid the worst of the crowds and where to find the highlights as well as lesser-known treasures.
Berlin: The Gemäldegalerie
For 50 years, Berlin's cultural treasures were divided by the Wall. Now they are brought together again in this beautifully presented collection.
Florence: Uffizi Gallery
Nowhere is the Italian Renaissance documented more completely than in the Uffizi Gallery.
London: National Gallery
It has major works by almost every important European artist from 1250 to 1900. No other gallery can boast such a comprehensive portfolio of all the major schools.
London: The British Museum
It's free, relatively uncrowded and uniquely in tune with its visitors.
London: The Victoria and Albert Museum
The largest museum of decorative and applied arts in the world is sometimes confusing but its magnificent collections amply reward the visitor.
Madrid: Prado Museum
An unrivalled collection of paintings by Titian, Velasquez and Goya as well as works by Raphael, El Greco, Rubens and Van Dyke.
Moscow: The Pushkin Museum
Its Impressionist and post-Impressionist works are almost equal in importance to those on display at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.
New York: The Met
As well as a remarkably wide-ranging collection, the Met also has strength in depth - 40 paintings by Monet some 20 Rodin sculptures and five of the world's 40 extant Vermeer.
Paris: The Louvre
Its great strengths are an unrivalled collection of French paintings and sculpture; key works from the high Italian Renaissance, including the Mona Lisa; and a superb holding of ancient art.
Paris: The Musée D'Orsay
Come here to see some of the most celebrated images of western art hanging in a converted railway station.
Rome: The Vatican Museums
Few visitors to the Vatican Museums come away unmoved by what they see - especially in the Sistine Chapel, where the sheer scale of Michelangelo's achievements is heart-stopping.
St Petersburg: The Hermitage
Wandering around the glittering, gilded, frescoed rooms of the great Winter Palace gives a stunning insight into the astonishing wealth and extravagance of the Romanovs.
Vienna: Kunsthistorisches Museum
Its picture galleries are home to masterpieces by Holbein and Titian, some of the most famous works of Bruegel and some of the best by Vermeer and Velasquez.
Washington: The National Gallery
With its outstanding collection of European art in a glorious neoclassical setting, this institution is worth at least two visits.
Travel quiz
Test your knowledge of museums and art galleries.
1. Which museum is home to Mantegna's Mary with Sleeping Child, 1466/67?
2. In which Italian city can you see Botticelli's Birth of Venus, c1484?
3. Which London museum was inspired by The Great Exhibition of 1851?
4. Where can you view the Venus de Milo, one of the most famous of all classical sculptures?
5. In which Russian city can you see Henri Matisse's Goldfish, 1912?
ANSWERS
. Thanks.