X.

Museums of the World

Almost every country and most cities have museums. This section highlights significant museums outside of the United States and Canada. Major museums in those countries are described in the Types of Museums section of this article.

A.

Africa

Museums in Africa focus on protecting, preserving, and promoting the continent’s cultural heritage. In recent years African museums have collaborated on development of professional practices that help combat the illicit traffic in cultural property, a major concern of museums on the continent. See also African Art and Architecture.

A.1.

North Africa

In North Africa, the Bardo National Museum (founded 1888) outside of Tunis, Tunisia, has artifacts from every period of the country’s history, including a well-known Roman mosaic collection. The Egyptian Museum (1858) in Cairo, Egypt, has an unsurpassed collection of Egyptian antiquities. Among the artifacts are pharaohs’ mummies discovered on the site of the ancient Egyptian capital of Thebes as well as artifacts from royal tombs, including objects from the tomb of Tutankhamun, discovered in 1922. See also Egyptian Art and Architecture.

A.2.

West Africa

In West Africa, Nigeria’s National Museum in Lagos has masks, ancient terracotta figures, and a top collection of the famous bronze sculptures and ivory carvings produced by the Kingdom of Benin, which flourished from the 15th to the 17th century. The bronzes are regarded as among the finest achievements of African art. (Many Benin masterpieces were seized by the British army in 1897 and are held in museums abroad, despite Nigerian government requests for their return.) The Republic of Niger’s National Museum is in Niamey. Ghana’s museums include the National Museum in Accra, with its collections of African art and archaeology, the Museum of Science and Technology, also in Accra, and several regional museums and historic sites. The National Museum in Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) is located in Abidjan, the largest city.

A.3.

East Africa

The oldest museum in East Africa is the Uganda Museum in Kampala. Established in 1908, it has a distinctive collection of African musical instruments. Kenya’s museums emphasize wildlife and prehistoric archaeology. The National Museums of Kenya, headquartered in Nairobi, is the governing agency for a network of regional museums. The National Museum of Tanzania in Dar es Salaam contains important excavated material from the archaeological site at Olduvai Gorge in northern Tanzania, where many remains of early humans have been found. Its collection includes the 1.8-million-year-old skull of Australopithecus boisei (originally named Zinjanthropus boisei), an early human fossil discovered in 1959 by British-Kenyan paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey.

A.4.

Southern Africa

In Southern Africa, the National Museum of Namibia, in Windhoek, has collections in cultural and contemporary history, anthropology, archaeology, and natural history. South Africa’s national museums include the South African Cultural History Museum and the South African National Gallery, both in Cape Town. Exhibitions at Museum Afrika in Johannesburg explore life under apartheid as well as black Africans’ contributions to South Africa. The Mayibuye Centre at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town documents the history of apartheid, resistance, social life, and culture in South Africa.

B.

Asia

B.1.

India and Pakistan

India’s older museums, established by the British as natural history museums in the 19th century, in time acquired comprehensive collections. The Indian Museum in Kolkata (Calcutta) is the oldest and largest of its kind in the region, encompassing art, archaeology, anthropology, geology, zoology, and industry. The National Museum in New Delhi has collections of Central Asian paintings, sculpture, coins, and manuscripts. Collections of Indian textiles can be seen in the Calico Museum of Textiles in Ahmadābād and the Crafts Museum in New Delhi, which also has outstanding examples of Indian folk art from all over the country.

Pakistan’s museums include the Lahore Museum, the country’s largest; the National Museum of Pakistan in Karāchi, noted for its archaeological material from the Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa sites in the Indus Valley; and the National Museum of Science and Technology, a participatory science center in Lahore.

B.2.

East Asia

China has an extensive system of national, regional, and provincial museums. In Beijing, the Palace Museum, located within the Forbidden City, is the largest and most complete group of palace buildings in China. It contains a collection of nearly one million historic and cultural artifacts. The Shanghai Museum, a major museum of ancient Chinese art, is best known for its collections of bronze, ceramics, paintings, and calligraphy. Near Xi’an in Shaanxi Province, thousands of life-sized, terra cotta warrior figures have been excavated on the site of the burial chamber of China’s first emperor, Qin Shihuangdi (Ch’in Shih-huang-ti), who died in 210 bc. The Museum of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses, located on the site, is a popular tourist attraction.

Other major Chinese museums include the Museum of Chinese History, the Museum of the Chinese Revolution, and the Chinese Military Museum, all in Beijing. Hong Kong’s museums include the Museum of History and the Museum of Art. In Taiwan, the National Palace Museum in Taipei has one of the world’s greatest collections of Chinese art and objects, with holdings dating back to 3000 bc. Highlights of its collection include jade ornaments from Neolithic cultures, bronzes from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, ceramics and rare books from the Song Dynasty, and paintings and calligraphy from the Tang, Sung, and Yuan dynasties. See also Chinese Art and Architecture.

The oldest and largest museum in Japan is the Tokyo National Museum. Founded in 1871, it has what is considered the finest collection of Japanese art in the world and a representative collection of Asian art and archaeology. The Science Museum of Tokyo has interactive educational exhibits. The heritage of Tokyo and its precursor, Edo, are preserved in the Edo-Tokyo Museum. Many national, regional, and local museums preserve and interpret Japanese culture, including the National Museum of Ethnology in Ōsaka and the National Museum of Japanese History in Sakura. The Kyōto Costume Museum traces fashions from the pre-Nara era in the 6th and 7th centuries to the Meiji period beginning in the 1860s. Modern and contemporary art are displayed in a number of museums, including the National Museum of Modern Art and the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo. Exhibiting art outdoors is also popular in Japan; the Hakone Open-Air Museum and the Sapporo Art Park on the island of Hokkaidō are two examples. See also Japanese Art and Architecture.

The National Museum of Korea in Seoul, South Korea, has a collection of archaeological materials. The National Folklore Museum, also in Seoul, focuses on traditional and popular arts. South Korea has several outdoor cultural heritage museums, including the Korean Folk Village. See also Korean Art and Architecture.

B.3.

Southeast Asia

In Singapore, the government’s National Heritage Board administers the Singapore Art Museum, housed in a colonial building once known as the Raffles Museum, a museum of Asian cultures, and a museum devoted to Singapore history. The Singapore Science Center is a well-known interactive museum of science and technology.

The two major museums in the Philippines are both in Manila. The National Museum of the Philippines has collections in anthropology, botany, geology, zoology, and art. The Museum of Arts and Sciences has collections documenting the natural history, ethnography, and art of the Philippines.

Indonesia’s National Museum in Jakarta houses treasures from the 19th-century courts of Indonesia as well as historical, archaeological, and ethnographic collections. Museums in Thailand include the National Museum, a history museum, and the Science Museum, both in Bangkok.

In Vietnam, the Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts in Hanoi traces the evolution of Vietnamese architecture, sculpture, drawing, and fine arts. The Army Museum, also in Hanoi, includes weaponry and aircraft from the Vietnam War.

C.

Australia and New Zealand

C.1.

Australia

Australia has a variety of museums that reflect its unique natural history, its Aboriginal heritage, and its art (see Aboriginal Art). The nation’s first museum, the Australian Museum (1827) in Sydney, is devoted to the natural history of the Australian continent and has a collection of materials related to Aboriginal Australians. The Queensland Museum in Brisbane also focuses on the natural history and ethnology of the Australian region. Museum Victoria in Melbourne is a complex including the Melbourne Museum, a cultural and natural history museum; Scienceworks, a science and technology museum; and the Immigration Museum and Hellenic Antiquities Museum.

History museums in Australia include the Old Melbourne Gaol in Melbourne, the first permanent prison complex in Australia; the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney, which focuses on colonial exploration, ships and shipwrecks, and Australian naval services; and the Museum of Sydney, which portrays life in early Australia. The National Museum of Australia in Canberra, which opened in 2001, interprets the complex origins of the continent and nation.

Outstanding art museums are found throughout Australia. The Australian National Gallery in Canberra is the home of the national art collection. The emphasis is on Australian and Aboriginal art, with additional material from Asia, Africa, and the Pacific Islands. The National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne includes European and Australian paintings and drawings, decorative arts, sculpture, Asian art, antiquities, and primitive art. Other important art museums are located in Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, and Adelaide.

C.2.

New Zealand

New Zealand’s museums have strong collections that show the country’s rich natural and artistic heritage. The Auckland Museum, or Te Papa Whakahiku, was founded in 1852, only 12 years after the first large European migration to New Zealand. Its collections of Maori and Pacific Islands art and treasures are among the finest in the world. The museum building also serves as a war memorial honoring fallen New Zealand soldiers. Other museums in Auckland include the Auckland City Art Gallery, with a collection of contemporary art; the Museum of Transport, Technology, and Social History; and the National Maritime Museum. In Wellington, the national museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa, explores the nation’s cultural identity and natural environment. The Waikato Museum of Art and History (Te Whare Taonga o Waikato), on the Waikato River near Hamilton, focuses on New Zealand and Waikato region art, the cultural history of the Tainui Maori group, and Australasian art, sculpture, and ceramics. In Christchurch, the Canterbury Museum is a major regional museum with diverse archaeological and ethnological collections. The Robert MacDougall Art Gallery in Christchurch has a comprehensive collection of 19th- and 20th-century New Zealand art. See also Oceanian Art and Architecture.

D.

Europe

Although Europe is the birthplace of the museum movement and its museums are the inheritors of so much of the cultural wealth of the Western world, the European public museum is only a little older than such institutions in other parts of the globe. The range of museum types and sizes varies as it does elsewhere, from large encyclopedic art and natural history museums to participatory science centers to outdoor museums.

D.1.

Science and Natural History Museums

Britain’s national museum of life and earth sciences—with a collection of some 70 million specimens—is the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London, which is known for its innovative exhibits and educational programs. The National Museum of Science and Industry explains the history and development of science, technology, medicine, and industry. This museum incorporates the Science Museum in London, the National Railway Museum in York, and the National Museum of Photography, Film, and Television in Bradford.

In Munich, Germany, the Deutsches Museum is a major museum of natural sciences, technology, and industry. It pioneered participatory interpretation techniques that have influenced contemporary museums of all types. The Technisches Museum in Vienna, Austria, also emphasizes visitor participation, with exhibits on transportation, maritime history, industrial history, and science. Other museums with a hands-on approach to science include the City of Arts and Science in Valencia, Spain; newMetropolis science and technology center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands; the Evoluon Museum in Eindhoven, the Netherlands; the Museum of Science and Industry in Mannheim, Germany; and the Teknorama National Museum of Science and Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. France’s national museum of science, technology, and industry, the City of Science and Industry in Paris, is one of the world’s largest and most-visited science museums, featuring the latest in exhibit design and technology.

Another important science museum is the Polytechnical Museum in Moscow, Russia, which shows the history and contemporary achievements of Russian science and technology. Created in 1872, it was the first museum in Russia established for the purpose of education.

D.2.

History and Anthropology Museums

The most encyclopedic of the European museums is the British Museum in London. Founded in 1753, it contains world-famous antiquities, prints, drawings, coins, and medals that chronicle Western civilization. Among the museum’s many treasures are the Rosetta Stone, which enabled the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphics, and the Elgin Marbles, a set of sculptures that once decorated the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. (Both treasures are at the center of cultural-property disputes. Egypt has requested the return of the Rosetta Stone, and Greece is seeking the repatriation of the marbles.) The museum’s central courtyard, the Great Court, houses an education center, galleries, temporary exhibition space, and facilities for visitors.

The principal French museum for exhibiting worldwide cultures is the Musée de l’Homme (Museum of Man) in the Palais de Chaillot, Paris. Founded in 1939, its imaginative exhibits encompass all phases of anthropology, ethnology, and prehistory. The Hungarian National Museum in Budapest, Hungary, traces the geographic and ethnographic history of Hungary through a collection of artifacts dating from early Paleolithic times through the 10th century ad (see Paleolithic Art). The Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (National Museum of Antiquities) in Leiden, the Netherlands, has a comprehensive collection with material from ancient Egypt, the Near East, the classical world, and the early Netherlands. The State Historical-Cultural Museum in Moscow, Russia, documents Russian social, economic, and political history and has one of the world’s richest collections of textiles and costumes.

History museums in Germany include the Jewish Museum in Frankfurt, which depicts the history of Jews in Germany from the Middle Ages to the present and focuses on Frankfurt’s Jewish ghetto. The German Historical Museum in Berlin depicts political, social, and economic history from the 9th century to the present. Also in Berlin, the Topography of Terror historic site documents the district that served as the administrative headquarters for the Nazi regime.

Outdoor history museums in Europe began in 1891 with the Skansen Museum in Stockholm, Sweden, the oldest continuously existing museum of its kind. Skansen has more than 100 buildings that date from medieval times to the 20th century. Among the many outdoor museums in Denmark is the Frilandsmuseet, a collection of houses, shops, and wind and water mills in a 36-hectare (90-acre) rural park outside Copenhagen. The Netherlands has the National Zuiderzee Museum, which preserves the cultures of settlements surrounding the former Zuider Zee, a region of coastal land reclaimed from the North Sea. In Telford, Shropshire, England, an area that is considered the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, the Ironbridge Gorge Museum explores the engineering and artistic endeavor that launched the modern era.

The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, explores how the sea has shaped British identity. It collection of ships, ship models, instruments, and other objects of maritime interest is the largest of its kind in the world. The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology at the University of Oxford, founded in 1683, is one of the oldest public museums in the world. It has collections of international importance, especially in antiquities and Eastern art.

European heritage is also on display in many castles, churches, and historic homes. The historic preservation movement, especially in France and Britain, has contributed to the European interest in saving and interpreting the past through structures of historic or aesthetic interest. Many of these buildings have become museums of local or regional history. In Europe, as in the United States, many museums have specialized collections or focus on particular themes. For example, the Vasa Museum in Stockholm preserves and interprets maritime history through a fully restored 17th-century Swedish warship. The Hungarian National Agricultural Museum in Budapest features exhibits about farming and rural life.

Many European archaeological sites, especially those of classical Greece and Rome, have become museums. The Iráklion Archaeological Museum, for example, displays objects discovered at Knossos and other important sites in Crete. The National Archaeological Museum in Athens has a rich collection representing all of the cultures that flourished in Greece. Visitors can see archaeological treasures from the Acropolis in the Acropolis Museum, which contains finds from the excavations in the ancient agora (marketplace) on the south slope of the Acropolis. In Italy, the National Museum in Naples displays finds from the excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum. The National Roman Museum, located in the Baths of Diocletian, contains sculpture from the 4th and 5th centuries bc.

D.3.

Art Museums

D.3.a.

Britain

The National Gallery in London contains the most representative collection of European painting in England. Its neoclassical Trafalgar Square building houses masterworks from every European school from 1260 to 1900, with Italian paintings accounting for more than half of the collection. The gallery also has a fine collection of works by British painters from William Hogarth to J. M. W. Turner. Adjoining the National Gallery is the National Portrait Gallery, which exhibits more than 4,000 likenesses of notable men and women in British history. At nearby Hertford House is the Wallace Collection of 17th- and 18th-century French art. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is the world’s largest museum of the decorative arts, representing all countries, periods, and styles.

The Tate Gallery, Britain’s national collections of British and modern art, consists of four museums. In London, Tate Britain is the national gallery of British art from 1500 to the present, and Tate Modern displays international modern art from 1900 to the present. Modern art is also the focus of Tate Liverpool, which includes a noted collection of work by J. M. W. Turner, and Tate St. Ives.

D.3.b.

France

The art treasures of France are organized chronologically and housed in three locations: the Louvre (art through the mid-19th century), the Musée d’Orsay (19th and early 20th centuries), and the Pompidou Center, or Centre Georges Pompidou (modern art). The magnificent Louvre, on the north bank of the Seine River in Paris, was erected in the early part of the 16th century as the royal residence and enlarged with almost every successive reign until it reached its present dimensions in 1868. An entrance courtyard and glass pyramid designed by the Chinese American architect I. M. Pei lends a contemporary flavor to the structure. The list of masterpieces represented in the collection of the Louvre reads like an index to art history from antiquity to the middle of the 19th century: Victory of Samothrace, or Winged Victory (190? bc), Venus de Milo (150-100? bc), Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (1503-1506), and Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People (1830) are just a few examples.

The acclaimed Musée d’Orsay contains paintings and sculpture, architecture, graphics, and decorative arts of the 19th and early 20th centuries, including works once displayed in the Musée du Jeu de Paume. The Musée d’Orsay is housed in a renovated train station originally built for the 1900 Paris Universal Exhibition. The Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano and British architect Richard Rogers, is a futuristic building that houses the French national collection of modern and contemporary art. More than a museum, it is also a lively center for the visual and performing arts. The Musée Guimet, the largest museum of Buddhist art in Europe, has a leading collection of art from Afghanistan, Cambodia, Tibet, and Japan. The Musée Marmottan exhibits works by Claude Monet and other impressionist artists. Other well-known Paris art museums include the Picasso Museum and the Cluny Museum of medieval art, where the famous tapestries called The Lady with the Unicorn (1484-1500) are displayed.

D.3.c.

Spain

In Spain, the Museo del Prado in Madrid, often simply called The Prado, is the country’s oldest art museum and one of the most celebrated in the world. It was established in 1819 to unite and protect the Spanish royal collections. The Prado displays jewelry, furniture, tapestry, paintings, and Greek and Roman sculpture. Most important is its collection of old Spanish masters, which includes a large number of paintings by El Greco, Diego Velázquez, Francisco de Goya, Bartolomé Murillo, and Jusepe de Ribera. The Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, a satellite museum of the Prado, includes masterpieces by Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, and other 20th-century artists. Picasso’s famed Guernica (1937), an emotional depiction of the bombing of a Basque village during the Spanish Civil War, is displayed there. Museums of contemporary art in Spain include the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, with its dramatic building designed by American architect Frank O. Gehry, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona.

D.3.d.

Italy

In Florence, Italy, the Uffizi Gallery is an art museum of the stature of the Louvre and the Prado. The building was designed by Giorgio Vasari in 1574 as a government office building and later was expanded to house the art treasures of the Medici family. The Uffizi has the most famous collection of Florentine Renaissance art in the world, along with a fine collection of classical sculpture. Its many masterpieces include Titian’s Venus of Urbino (1538) and Sandro Botticelli’s Primavera (1478?) and Birth of Venus (1482?).

The Pitti Palace, a massive castle-like building in Florence commissioned by merchant Luca Pitti in the 15th century, houses many impressive works. Its Palatine Gallery has an outstanding collection of paintings by Raphael, and its Gallery of Modern Art displays works from the 18th through the 20th centuries. The Pitti’s Silver Museum features silver, gems, ivories, and other precious objects from the various Florentine ruling dynasties, especially the Medici and Lorraine families. Also in Florence, the Bargello National Museum boasts a renowned collection of Florentine Renaissance sculpture, including works by Michelangelo, Donatello, and the della Robbia family. As a result of a flood in 1966 that destroyed and damaged many art treasures, Florence has become a center for art restoration. The restorers’ skills were put to good use in 1993, when paintings in the Uffizi Gallery were damaged by a bomb blast.

In Rome, the Villa Guilia National Museum has an outstanding collection of Etruscan art. The Borghese Museum and Gallery is noted for its Renaissance and baroque art. The Vatican Museum contains the largest collection of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian antiquities in the world. It also holds a significant collection of Italian paintings and sculpture from the 15th through the 18th century, many of which were commissioned by various popes. An example is the Sistine Chapel, whose ceiling was adorned by Michelangelo and stands as one of the world’s greatest artistic achievements.

D.3.e.

Germany

Among the well-known art museums in Germany are the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, whose collections date from the early 16th century. Artists represented in its collection include Albrecht Dürer, Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, Rembrandt, and Hans Holbein the Younger, as well as early Flemish and German painters. The Gemäldegalerie (Picture Gallery) in Berlin has European paintings from the 13th to the 18th century. At the New National Gallery, paintings and sculpture from the 18th to the 20th century are displayed. The collection of 20th-century German paintings includes Berlin portraits and cityscapes by George Grosz and Otto Dix. Berlin’s Bauhaus Museum is dedicated to the school of design that launched modernism throughout the world (see Bauhaus). In Cologne, the Wallraf-Richartz Museum surveys six centuries of painting as well as contemporary art. Museums of contemporary art in Germany include the Museum of Contemporary Art in Frankfurt, the Staatsgalerie (State Gallery) in Stuttgart, and the Neue Pinakothek in Munich.

D.3.f.

Austria

The personal collection of the Habsburg family gave rise to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria. This encyclopedic museum is especially well known for its works by the old masters. There are paintings from every European school and artist, with major works by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The Albertina museum in Vienna has one of the largest and most outstanding collections of graphic art in the world.

D.3.g.

The Netherlands

In the Netherlands, the Rijksmuseum (National Museum) in Amsterdam has the largest collection of Dutch art in the world. Amsterdam’s museums also include the Van Gogh Museum, where the works of the modern Dutch master Vincent Van Gogh are displayed, and the Stedelijk Museum, which has a collection of contemporary art. The Mauritshuis museum at The Hague, formed from the collections of the princes of the House of Orange, is renowned for its collection of 17th-century Dutch masterpieces.

D.3.h.

Russia

The most famous museum in Russia is the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. Opened to the public in 1852, it occupies an enormous neoclassical 19th-century building reconstructed from the Winter Palace of Catherine the Great. One of the largest museums in the world, its collections encompass all of Western European art, cultures and arts of the ancient world, and a history of Russian culture. Its collections of Italian Renaissance and French impressionist paintings are world-renowned.

In Moscow, the State Tretyakov Gallery has a collection of Russian art from the 11th through the 20th century, including more than 40,000 Russian religious objects. The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow has a large collection of Western European paintings. The museum also holds gold treasures and other artifacts from the legendary city of Troy, which were discovered by German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann in the 19th century. The Trojan artifacts, believed lost for decades until their existence was revealed in the 1990s, were seized as trophy art by Soviet forces occupying Germany after World War II. For more information, see the subsection Ownership of Museum Objects in the Trends and Challenges section of this article. See also Greek Art and Architecture; Roman Art and Architecture; Romanesque Art and Architecture; Gothic Art and Architecture; Renaissance Art and Architecture.

E.

Latin America

The rich and varied pre-Columbian and Spanish colonial heritage of Mexico, Central America, and South America is reflected in the many history, art, and anthropology museums in these countries.

E.1.

Anthropology Museums

Anthropology museums are probably the best known and most popular museums in Latin America. One of the world’s leading anthropology museums is the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City (1964). Its outstanding collections include rich archaeological finds from pre-conquest Mexico, particularly from the Aztec and Maya civilizations. A prized relic is the massive Aztec calendar stone, which weighs more than 22 metric tons. Also on display are artifacts from the great pre-Columbian city of Teotihuacán and objects from the Toltec civilization. The museum has exhibits on the modern peoples of Mexico, exploring their music, dance, customs, and crafts.

Mexico’s archaeological sites offer a close look at ancient civilizations. Among the best-known ruins are Teotihuacán east of Mexico City, Palenque in southern Mexico, and Chichén Itzá in the Yucután Peninsula.

The Archaeological Museum of La Serena in Chile has a comprehensive collection of artifacts from North America, South America, and the Pacific Islands, spanning a period from 3000 bc to the 15th century ad. Peru has two important archaeological museums: the National Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology in Lima and the museum at the University of Cuzco. Both contain collections of Inca and pre-Inca textiles, pottery, gold, silver, wood, and shell objects. One of South America’s most unusual archaeological museums is the Gold Museum in the National Bank in Bogotá, Colombia. It has a large collection of pre-Columbian gold objects.

The Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences in Buenos Aires, founded in 1823, was one of the first museums established in South America. Its extensive collections cover all fields of natural and human history but are especially strong in paleontology, anthropology, and entomology. In La Plata, the Museum of La Plata has well-known collections of reptile fossils.

The National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro is noted for its research, exploration, publications, and educational work. It has anthropological material from local areas and also contains archaeological material from Greece and Egypt.

E.2.

History Museums

Latin American history museums usually focus on the history of the region beginning with the colonial period and continuing through the early 19th-century revolutionary period to the present. Some also contain religious objects. The National Museum of History in Mexico City traces three centuries of Mexican history, beginning with the Spanish conquest. It is housed in Chapultepec Castle and an adjoining circular structure. One of South America’s best-known history museums is the National Historical Museum of Argentina in Buenos Aires. Its extensive collections depict Argentine history from the Spanish colonial period through the revolutionary wars. In Bogotá, Colombia, the National Museum also traces the nation’s history from the Spanish conquest.

The National History Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, founded in 1922, features exhibits on many aspects of Brazilian history. It is housed in the Casa do Trem, which is an excellent example of early Portuguese architecture. The museum is especially known for its coin and stamp collections. The Paulista Museum in São Paulo was erected on the spot where the independence of Brazil was proclaimed in 1822. It displays regional history, religious art, and ethnographic material. The Museu do Índio (Indian Museum) in Rio de Janeiro, founded in 1953, is dedicated to research and education on the indigenous cultures of Brazil.

E.3.

Art Museums

Art museums in Latin America tend to emphasize the artistic achievement of a particular country, with some exemplary collections of contemporary art. Mexico’s largest art museum is the Palace of Fine Arts, located in an imposing marble structure in the heart of Mexico City. It houses outstanding paintings, murals, and sculpture by Mexican artists such as Rufino Tamayo, Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Its auditorium contains the famous Tiffany glass curtain, which when illuminated with changing colored lights shows spectacular scenes of volcanic Mexican landscapes. The Diego Rivera Museum, a Mayan-style structure on the outskirts of Mexico City, contains a selection of Rivera’s murals as well as treasures from Mexico’s ancient cultures. Mexican painting and sculpture from the 19th and early 20th centuries are exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, housed in a circular modern building near Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City. Throughout Mexico, the country’s 16th- and 17th-century Spanish colonial baroque and rococo religious artworks are displayed in restored churches, convents, and monasteries.

South America’s most important art museums are located in Argentina, Brazil, Peru, and Venezuela. The National Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires has the most comprehensive collection of Argentine art in the world and a good collection of European masters from the 17th to the 20th centuries. Brazil’s National Museum of Fine Arts, located in the center of Rio de Janeiro, is the oldest art museum and the oldest continuously operating museum in South America. Its first public exhibition was held in 1829. It has a survey collection of 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century works by Brazilian artists and foreign artists who have lived in Brazil. The Museum of Contemporary Art at São Paulo University is the home of the São Paulo International Biennal, a major international contemporary art exhibition.

The art and decorative arts collections of the Museum of Art in Lima, Peru, survey the cultural history of the country from the pre-Hispanic period to the present. At the Museum of Fine Arts in Caracas, Venezuela, the diverse collection includes 19th- and 20th-century Venezuelan art, European paintings, and prints and drawings from the 15th through the 20th century. See also Pre-Columbian Art and Architecture.

F.

Middle East

Many museums in the Middle East are devoted to the display of national antiquities. Jordan’s National Archaeological Museum stands on the Citadel in Amman. In Israel, the Bezalel National Art Museum in Jerusalem features Jewish ceremonial art and archaeological material and houses many of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Bezalel is part of the Israel Museum, which also includes the Samuel Bronfman Biblical and Archaeological Museum, the Billy Rose Art Garden, the Shrine of the Book, and the Ruth Youth Wing. The Diaspora Museum (Beth Hatefutsoth) in Tel Aviv-Yafo presents the 2,500-year history of Jewish settlement outside Israel. Life in 20th-century Israel is recreated at Kibbutz Yif-at, an outdoor museum. Memorials dedicated to victims of the Holocaust include Yad Vashem, which has a historical museum and the largest Holocaust archive in the world.

In Saudi Arabia, the city of Najrān has a museum at the ancient site of Al-Ukhdood, with archaeological and natural history exhibits. In the port city of Jiddah, the Municipality Museum occupies a 200-year-old house made of Red Sea coral. In Kuwait, the National Museum of Kuwait in Kuwait City once housed one of the world’s most important collections of Islamic art; however, it was looted and burned during the Iraqi occupation of the country in 1990 and early 1991. The Tareq Rajab Museum in Hawalli, Kuwait, is a comprehensive private collection of Islamic art and antiquities that is open to the public. In Bahrain, the Bahrain National Museum in the capital city of Manama chronicles 7,000 years of the country’s history. Also in Manama is Beit Al-Qur’an, a museum and research center that has a large collection of Qur’ans (Korans). Museums are a major attraction in Iran’s capital, Tehrān. The Iran Bastan Museum (Museum of Ancient Iran) includes ceramics, stone figures, and carvings dating from the 5th millennium bc. Two other highlights in Tehrān are the Reza Abbasi Museum, which has a collection of Islamic art, jewelry, and pottery, and the Abgineh va Sofalineh Museum (Glass and Ceramics Museum).

In Turkey, the Archaeological Museum in İstanbul has a collection of Greek and Roman antiquities, including a tomb believed to have belonged to Alexander the Great. The Kariye Museum’s 14th-century mosaics and frescoes depicting biblical scenes are considered among the finest Byzantine works in the world.