Museum Bucket List

Allan, no bucket list, but I will offer a substitution for you. We thought the Jorvik Centre in York was pretty child-oriented, but would suggest the Railway Museum there instead, or better, in addition to. There are two other museums in York you might as well cover while there.

While you are visiting Ottawa/Gatineau, consider that the National Gallery of Canada has free hours at times. It used to be Thursday after 5pm. It might be worth adding that to your list - if only to visit the modern aquisition floor to see some of the 'art' we spend millions of dollars on. Particularly the elastic string in a room from one corner to the other......the mind boggles.

I have been blessed to see some wonderful museums. Do I have a personal bucket list? Never really listed them, but at a start:
- Any Frank Lloyd Wright home museum, USA
- Frick Museum in Pittsburgh (because I loved the one in NYC so much)
- Barnes Foundation Philadelphia
- Naples National Archeological Museum (which isn't open my one day in Naples next April :-( )
- National Archeological Museum Athens, Greece (April 2021)
- Victoria and Albert, London UK
- British Museum, London
Not having been to London yet, I expect I will need a week to see all the collections I most likely will want to see. If one considers stately homes, or castles, Tower of London, well, I will need 2 weeks.

Presidential Museums. I have visited several of them ( JFK, FDR, Carter) but would like to visit more.
The Viking Ship Museum in Oslo listed above is wonderful! Another small museum we loved was Mauritshaus in The Hague,NL.

Suki, the LBJ library is outstanding. You can listen to recordings of LBJ with many notable figures.

I would second the Mauritshaus in The Hague and would add the Vasa Museum in Stockholm. While I’m at it....

The Emigrant Museum in Dublin
The V&A in London
Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam
The Dali Museum in St Petersburg Florida
Bastogne War Museum in Bastogne
The African American Museum in Washington DC
The Louisiana Museum in Humlebaek, Denmark (35 kilometers north of Copenhagen)
The Munch Museum in Oslo
The David Collection in Copenhagen
Musée d’Orsay and Musée Rodin in Paris
The Getty Museum in Los Angeles
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston

I love the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria. When I'm on Vancouver Island, it's always on the list. (And, don't miss Barbara's Fish and Chips on the wharf. Oh baby!)

Blue439, I am a Victoria girl and of an age when the museum used to be housed in a wing of the Parliament Buildings next door until the new building was built in 1968. (I was 11 at that time). I don't remember any human history displays, but I still miss those old glass cases with taxidermied animals in it. There as also a stuffed moose with no case, that was obviously loved by many as there were a lot of bald spots from being patted and petted over the years. The current iteration is definitely wonderful.

The Imperial War Museum was very entertaining in delivering the History of Modern Wars in London with interactive displays. A bit of Trivia: The building was the former site of Bedlam or the Bethlehem Hospital (for mental illness). The Tower of London is a must see. The Maritime Museum in Portsmouth compares with the Viking Ship Museum with the Nelson's HMS Victory and salvaged wreck of Henry VIII's HMS Mary Rose (named after his Sister). The Mary Rose went down fully furnished with cannons and crew. It is under restoration. The Palace of Versailles has several tour options; you would have to visit a few times to see it all. To see Teotihuacan requires healthy personal mobility; because of steep stair climbing at high altitude. I agree that Jorvik is a little too Kitchey. If you go to Naples be sure to go to Pompey. Best Wishes!

For me

• The Hermitage on St Petersburg
• All the museums in Amsterdam
• Possibly some in Stockholm or Oslo

Paul, the Hermitage and the Armory in Moscow are spectacular. The Tsars' palaces in Russia are much prettier on the outside than are British palaces.

While you are visiting Ottawa/Gatineau, consider that the National
Gallery of Canada has free hours at times. It used to be Thursday
after 5pm. It might be worth adding that to your list - if only to
visit the modern aquisition floor to see some of the 'art' we spend
millions of dollars on. Particularly the elastic string in a room from
one corner to the other......the mind boggles.

Maria, that is mind boggling. And I thought Voice of Fire was our most ridiculous piece. I'm starting to understand why art museums don't make my list.

• Hermitage in St. Petersburg
• Vasa Museum in Stockholm
• Museum of Crime and Punishment in Rothenburg, I think
• Imperial War Museum in London
• Matisse chapel in Vence, France
• Museums in South of France
• Marc Chagall Museum in Nice
• Picasso Museum in Barcelona
• The Prado Museum in Madrid

In addition to the Getty in Los Angeles, the Getty Villa in Malibu. Like visiting Pompeii before the Vesuvius incident.
Ironbridge Village (outside museum) in the west of England. (See the RS guidebook)

We thought the Jorvik Centre in York was pretty child-oriented, but
would suggest the Railway Museum there instead, or better, in addition
to.

We were supposed to be in York for 3 days in September and the Railway Museum was a consideration but not a definite as the subject matter doesn't hold a lot of interest for me. I've read a few comments regarding the Jorvik Centre being aimed at a younger audience, but I also heard that about Warwick Castle, and that was one of my highlights of the last time I was in the UK. I've got Viking and English blood in me and since the English side of the family all have blue eyes maybe I'm 100% Viking. In any case the Danelaw period in England is of interest to me and I'd regret not going.

It brings up an interesting question though. In a museum post I made last week, there was a comment that someone didn't like museums that simply showed artifacts under glass. But when museums try something different such as Jorvik and Warwick they risk alienating a different demographic. Maybe another post coming up about what you expect from a museum.

@Allan, in that case, since you have three days, you'll have time for every museum in York anyway. I will say that we went to them, and the only thing I recall learning, was that Kit Kat candy bars were invented in York, a long time ago. A new respect for them at Halloween.
The trains are pretty, BTW, like sleek art deco trains in a cartoon.

I'm surprised how many of the museums mentioned I've visited. One still on my list is the Pergamon in Berlin.

@Allan, even if you don't like art museums, if you're in Ottawa you should visit the National Gallery just to see the building, which is pretty spectacular. I love the walk up the long ramp to the Great Hall (though that may require purchasing a ticket, in which case you might as well tour the gallery 😏). There's a very nice gift shop. Also, lots of artwork outside around the building, I love Joe Fafard's "Running Horses" - there's 11 of them, and of course Maman - the enormous spider.

Major's Hill Park across the street is pleasant place for a picnic - you can buy your food from the nearby Byward Market.

I have been to several that you mentioned and highly recommend Versailles, Machu Picchu and Teotihuacan.
Also, the Viking museum in Denmark. We loved York, England and visited three museums there, including the National Railway Museum and they were great. We decided not to visit the Jorvik Viking Centre in York, it seemed less like a real museum and more for kids.

Others great places
The Vasa Museum in Stockholm
Hermitage in St. Petersburg
Lourve in Paris
Prado in Madrid
Vatican Museum in Rome
Accademia in Florence
Uffuzi in Florence
Archaeological museum in Cairo
Archaeological museum in Istanbul
Archaeological museum in Mexico City
Archaeological museum Athens, Greece
Museum with the 1001 Horses tapestry in Taipei, Taiwan
Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian, Washington, DC
Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian, Washington, DC
National Museum of Art, Smithsonian, Washington, DC
Museum of Natural History, NYC

I don't have a bucket list, but here are a few I've been to and highly recommend.

I loved the Museum/Display in the plinth under the Statue of Liberty.
It has sound, recordings, and a wealth of exhibits about the building of the Statue, as well as lots of fascinating stuff about early immigrants to the US.

For a tiny Museum: the Ferragamo Shoe Museum in Florence Italy.
I went in there one day to escape the punishing heat as it has AC; and was very pleasantly surprised.

The Viking Museum in Roskilde Denmark is absolutely fascinating.

Also in Denmark: the Design Museum in Copenhagen is amazing, as are the palaces, especially the Castle of Rosenborg.

Copenhagen has a wealth of fabulous exhibits in equally fabulous buildings!

No bucket list. We pick and choose which museums we visit. I did enjoy the Dali museum in Figueres, Picasso Museumin Barcelona, and some of the Madrid museums, but also Bletchley Park, old navy yard at Portsmouth, and IWM at Duxford. We prefer the outdoor to the indoor museums. Machu Picchu was fantastic.

I’m afraid I will never get to this bucket list based on age and the fact we’ve already been to the cities, just ran out of time, but...

Gulbenkian (Lisbon)
Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam)
Reina Sofia (Madrid)
Schoenbrunn Palace (Vienna)
San Simeon (the Hearst Castle)

Ah, to dream...

The ones that come to mind right away are:

The Hermitage
The Prado
The Alte Pinakothek (Munich)
The Cycladic Museum (Athens)
Hadrian's Wall
Chartres Cathedral
Palace Chapel, Aachen
Trier (Roman remains)
The Nelson-Atkins Art Museum (Kansas City; apparently a really good Asian collection)

But there are many other places, like all the smaller museums in the Netherlands, that I would love to see. Your post has made clear that I do not really have a bucket list for museums (etc.) in any well-defined sense. So now I'll work on that, thanks.

Good fortune has let me visit many of the museums mentioned in this thread . . . and many many more. I call myself a "museum mouse" like some people are bookworms. I am rarely disappointed in a museum and often learn a lot. Along with return visits to my favorites, here's a list that come to mind immediately:

Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
Yitzhak Rabin Center, Tel Aviv
Menachem Begin Center, Jerusalem
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Nashville
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (haven't been since the remodel)

I also look for open-air museums when I plan a trip. My first was in Stockholm, which encouraged me to look for more.

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Nashville

I was wondering if someone was going to mention a Hall of Fame. The Country Music Hall of Fame isn't my thing, but if I ever make it to Cleveland to see a baseball game (another bucket list, go to every Major League Baseball stadium), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is on the radar. The first museum that was ever on my bucket list was the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Finally made it in about 1992 and I always visit whenever I'm in Toronto for business or pleasure.

Deserving of a mention are American art museums, since there are so many fine ones and except for a few they are uncrowded and often free. Concentrate on the parts of the country that had a lot of multimillionaires in the 19th century to buy masterworks when they were not so expensive and which were then donated to museums, so mainly the NE and Midwest. Especially now when most countries are not accepting Americans....

Two slightly different museums in London are the Wellcome Collection: https://wellcomecollection.org/ and the Geffrye Museum: https://www.museumofthehome.org.uk/

I agree about the Jorvik Centre in York - more of a theme park ride.

Further afield I would suggest the museum attached to the Raja's Palace in Thanjavur (Tanjore) you can't get much further off the beaten track than that!

Florida museums that are worth a visit when you are traveling there:
Morse museum in Winter Haven by Orlando-Tiffany stained glass.
Dali museum in St Petersburg-take the tour. We took the tour of Dali’s home in Port Ligot sp?. Spain. Hard to get to and must have a reservation. Only about 10 people per tour. No crowds. Spend the night in Cadaques.
John Ringling Art museum with A circus exhibit and the family Venice mansion. A very good Renaissance art collection and more.
Viscaya in Coral Gables (Miami) a Italian style mansion built and furnished representing 400 years of European styles with a great Italian garden.
Edison and Ford Winter Homes in Ft Myers-includes Edison inventions exhibit and workshop.
The World War 1 exhibit in the above mentioned Imperial War Museum in London is exceptional. Worth the visit. It was updated in the last 10 years or so.
Going to make notes of places we haven’t seen for future travels. Thanks to all who have shared.

Many of my favorites are already listed. Here are a few more:

• Oceanographic Museum in Monte Carlo, Monaco
• Doge's Palace in Venice, Italy
• Mozart Residence museum on Makartplatz in Salzburg, Austria
• Hohensalzburg Fortress in Salzburg, Austria
• Akrotiri Archaeological site on the island of Santorini, Greece

It has been fun to read about all of these fantastic places!

Hmmm, my wife just added this one to the bucket list. https://abbathemuseum.com/en/ happy wife, happy life moment.

Again, not a bucket list, but naming a few museums we've liked and aren't already listed.
Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen
US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC
Yad Vashem - The World Holocaust Remembrance Center, Jerusalem
Ten Boom Museum, Haarlem

And a brief museum story. After visiting the British Museum which we really like, my wife went to an information desk and asks one of the young people "Why do you guys have all this stuff?" The other kid said "give her the brochure." Evidently they'd been asked that before.

Tom_MN makes a good point above . If you are traveling in New England , here are a few of my favorites , all with excellent collections of both European and American artists . The Clark Art Institute , Williamstown MA https://www.clarkart.edu/ .The Wadsworth Atheneum , Hartford CT https://www.thewadsworth.org/. The New Britain Museum of American Art , New Britain CT https://www.nbmaa.org/ . The Norman Rockwell Museum , Stockbridge , MA https://www.nrm.org/ . Peabody Essex Museum , Salem , MA https://www.pem.org/ Browse these websites , as in the days of the virus , there is much on the websites to maintain your interests . This is just a sampling , I could go on ad infinitum .

Also , both The Clark and The Wadsworth , have massive art libraries that are alone worth a fair amount of time . One of my pastimes is spending a whole day exploring whatever comes to mind ( in the world of art ) in The Clark library in the dead of winter . The view of the campus , with the snow gently falling outside in the Berkshire Hills of Western Massachusetts , is one of my joys in life .

My husband and I have been fortunate to visit many of the museums listed up thread. One that we were planning to visit this September is Museo Storico della Sbarco in Catania. Some of our favorites not mentioned, but would recommend: Ivan Mestrovic Gallery, Split, Croatia. Albertina, Belvedere and Kunsthistorisches Museums, Vienna. Miro, Barcelona. Archimedes Museum, Syracuse. Centre Pompidou, Paris. Benaki, Athens. Verzetsmuseum, Amsterdam. Frank Lloyd Wright: Taliesin in Scottsdale.

I'm a bit late on this, but if Allan gets to the Viking Ship museum in Oslo (Which is terrific), very close by is the Fram museum, which I'd never heard of, but was excellent.

The Fram is the polar exploration vessel that took Amundson to the South Pole, and played a part in mapping the North West Passage (among other things). The entire ship is preserved, and is surrounded by exhibits about Polar exploration, the race to the South Pole etc. We popped in because it was part of our Oslo pass, but ended up spending hours there.

Thanks for the tip Tim, I was just looking at the video on their website and it looks outstanding. I also didn't know this but a new Viking Ship Museum is under construction. Anyone else want to go to Oslo in 2025? https://www.khm.uio.no/english/visit-us/viking-ship-museum/new-viking-age-museum/norways-new-world-attraction/

Allan , if you are considering Oslo , The Fram Museum is a must . The building actually houses two ships , The Fram , and The Gjoa . The Gjoa was Amundsen's vessel in 1906 , when he became first to sail the whole distance of the Northwest Passage, . The Fram , originally built for Nansen for his furthest north was later loaned to Amundsen for what became the race to the South Pole in 1910 . The tale of this great adventure is best grasped by reading Roland Huntford's gripping book " The Last Place on Earth " ( 1985 ) available on Amazon , Seeing the Fram will be greatly enhanced if you read the story first . A few years after the book , BBC made a film ( 8 hours , serialized ) which is brilliant ,and stays very close to the book . Since having time on our hands due to the virus , watching this is time well spent. It is on youtube , here https://youtu.be/ks_JiE1gdx0 . While the focus is polar exploration , the deeper aspect is about the people involved , their successes , as well as their failures . As a further bit of information , A visit to The Scott Polar Research Institute , in Cambridge , England will bring you face to face with artifacts from the 1910 voyage and the heartbreaking diaries , recovered from Scott's last camp where he and his team perished in 1911 , only eleven miles from a supply depot on the return from the pole .

Norway is a definite on our list Allan. But I want to go around February since I think, haven’t done too much research yet, that they do winter the best. Waiting for my RS $5 guidebook to arrive.
I’m surprised no one mentioned the Smithsonian in Washington. Also, the Spy Museum in DC is fabulous. We spent over 3 hours there and could have stayed longer but our travel companions had had enough (family). Also, Key West has so many great and unusual museums for such a small place. We’ve been there 3x and believe we hit them all, at least once each.
I know the above are museums we already visited - 3 museums on my bucket list are the Naples National Archaeology Museum, the Imperial war Museum/Churchill War Rooms, and the Palace of Versailles

Speaking of the Northwest Passage, this is an interesting story about the Franklin Expedition that tried to find the passage in 1845...it didn't go well. https://www.history.com/news/relics-of-long-lost-shipwreck-unveiled
Then in 2014, Parks Canada found the wrecks. The sites have been designated as National Historic Sites, but visitors aren't allowed yet. Even when they are, it's pretty far from civilization. The disappearance of the ships has been immortalized in books, poems and songs. There are 10 museums in Canada as part of the Franklin Expedition's museum network https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/lhn-nhs/nu/epaveswrecks/culture/explore/musee-museum but it doesn't appear to be any permanent exhibitions yet.

The Franklin expedition is certainly a fascinating tale . To this day , there are multiple points of view on what caused the demise of the show , and a good deal of validity to many of them . Here are two that are considered as possible contributing factors . - This PBS NOVA documentary from 1988 advances the contributing element of lead poisoning having affected the sailors - https://youtu.be/ptn6oSt1Xck This slim volume contends that botulism poisoning played a major role in the death count . https://www.amazon.com/Ice-Blink-Tragic-Franklins-Expedition/dp/0471404209 Admittedly . there were many factors involved ( TB , A Victorian mentality to name two ) but the Cookman book and the documentary are particularly interesting , Enjoy !

Sticking to museums in the traditional sense and in order: Hermitage, Egyptian Museum, Rijksmuseum

Following up on my American art museum comment, I like this list

https://m.ranker.com/list/best-art-museums-in-the-united-states/admiralcrunch

Any list that doesn’t list the Metropolitan Museum of Art first and the Chicago Art Institute second is suspect. There’s absolutely no need to leave the US to see great art.

Any list that doesn’t list the Metropolitan Museum of Art first and
the Chicago Art Institute second is suspect.

Why?

Someone mentioned Hadrian's Wall. We did that in 2017 and there is not much left on the wall where it once stood. You can see much of it used by local farmers that used the stone for fencing, like the rest of Britain uses hedges.
Still, there is a small, but nice museum near Haltwhistle, England that is near the wall and the site of a Roman camp.

Any list that doesn’t list the Metropolitan Museum of Art first and
the Chicago Art Institute second is suspect.

Why?

Because these are clearly the best 2 art museums in the country. There are a lot of posted lists online of art museums that put those in touristy places near or at the top (The Getty is an example), just because the authors of the list have visited them but not bothered to be comprehensive and visit museums not in touristy places like Toledo or Kansas City. Of course any list is subjective. Mostly I am responding to those who feel that Americans have to visit Europe to see great art, when some of the best art museums are in the US. There are several American art museums that have better art collections than the Vatican Museum, for example, without the horrendous crowds. The main advantage some European art museums offer to Americans (aside from seeing some specific masterpiece) is seeing at one time the most of something and the ability to be immersed in it, like the Van Gogh Museum, or the Uffizi for Italian Renaissance, or the Chagall Museum.

If an American art lover is looking for a domestic trip that includes 3 great art museums a couple of hours apart (currently all free although Toledo is always free) would be to visit the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Toledo Museum of Art. Can be done by train or car.

Because these are clearly the best 2 art museums in the country.

Why are they clearly the best 2? Since art is subjective, what makes these two the best? When I scrolled through the list, the only paintings that were featured from each Museum that caught my eye were #'s 20 and 27. I'm not an art guy, so sell me on why I'd go to those two?

There really is a lot of Hadrian's Wall and other associated walls and Roman remnants to view for a distance of over 76 miles or more. Check English Heritage web site.

I actually have to part company with determinations of " the best " whether it comes to art museums , paintings , music , or many other things . I am a lifelong member at The Metropolitan , and spend a great deal of time there . If you want to define " best " as a quantitative issue , that would be accurate . ( the same would hold true for other large institutions - The Louvre , Hermitage , Prado , Uffizi ) . There are many smaller museums , however , that are equally important on a qualitative level . The great variety spread among numerous places begs for a broader assessment . There are many museums I have visited in order to see one or two isolated works , unavailable elsewhere That is a great list , but I differ about the view of the level of importance it implies . Allan , the two paintings that you noticed are actually New York City paintings - #20 is Thomas Cole's " Kindred Spirits " ( 1849 ) , a Hudson River School work of a scene in The Catskills . It was property of The New York City Public Library , until a few years ago when it was sold to Crystal Bridges . #27 is " Stag at Sharkey's " ( 1909 ) , by the Ashcan School artist , George Bellows . I was sorry to see the Cole leave New York , as it is an iconic Hudson River work . Unfortunately , the Library was badly strapped for funding .

I should also point out , that looking into the stories behind these two paintings ( no pun intended ) , will broaden one's appreciation of what underlies them

One passes through Neuville St Vaast to get to Vimy if you're coming from Arras. Neuville St Vaast itself has more to see on WW1.

I agree with the person who mentioned the Florida Edison museum, along with the Ringling one. If you have kids, they will have a great time. The Edison has a huge bilboa tree to climb on, and the Ringling has a circus setup, in miniature, that is amazing. All the trains, animals, kitchens to feed the performers, big top...the scale and accuracy were fascinating.

I also like the outdoor museums, Arnhem has their Open Air museum that is a great way to spend a day. A few smaller WW2 museums nearby that are well done. Have also been to nice ones in Ireland, Scotland, Germany and Romania. Good way to see how people lived.

As a kid, I lived 10 miles away from the Smithsonian's in Washington, and my dad worked just a few blocks off the DC Mall. My folks would let me wander after doctors appointments, and meet my dad to ride home in his car pool. That was a real education, with an early appointment basically the whole day to explore! What a great system, all free. If you're in DC, be sure to visit, even if just to see the buildings themselves. From the elephant in the main rotunda of the Museum of Natural History, to the trains in History and Technology...The passageway between the 2 wings of the National Gallery of Art is a neat underground walk. The sculpture garden right above is also worth a stop.

All free, no obligation to stay. Which is great, because my patience level with crowds and people aren't what they use to be, so the outdoor ones really rate high.

...because my patience
level with crowds and people aren't what they use to be,

My wife and I were having a conversation about the Vatican; I loved it, she hated it. It turns out she was less than thrilled because she's only 5' tall and if she's stuck in the middle of a of crowd she sees nothing while I'm 6'2" and can hang at the back and still see. We try and tailor our visits to times of day to minimize crowds-a worthy goal anytime, but necessary when travelling with the vertically challenged.