Recommend a museum/exhibition/historic site

Samez

Samez

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I would like to see your recommendations for museums, exhibitions and historic sites which are especially worth visiting.
My first recommendation would be the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin/Ireland.
The library has great collection of historic books, manuscripts and papyri. The exhibition is divided in the East Asian, the Islamic and the Western Collection, in which are shown many religious texts like papyri with the letters of St. Paul dating back to 180-200AD.


IMHO the museum manages to show how sparse primary historic texts are on which our modern day knowledge and culture is based on.
It's also free of admission :goodjob:
 
I think a couple of days in Bayeux, Normandy, is worth it if you're a history buff. There's a museum built around the Bayeux Tapestry, a gothic cathedral, and tours of the D-Day beaches. A few restaurants, a small cinema, shops. It's a couple of hours by train to/from Paris, iirc. I don't remember it being expensive or crowded, although I was there in the off-season. Lots of Spanish teenagers and middle-aged Americans, when I was there.

And if you're in Boston, Massachusetts, before September 1st, the Museum of Fine Arts has built an exhibit around a copy of the Magna Carta on loan from England. Drafts of the Declaration of the Independence, one written by Thomas Jefferson and another by John Adams, are part of the exhibit. Probably not reason alone to visit the museum, but if you're a nerd for American revolutionary history and are thinking of visiting anyway...
 
The museum I visited in Valparaiso, Chile that contained several infamous shrunken heads, as well as one or two easter island head statues, was pretty damn cool.

The Museum of War (or whatever it's called now) in Auckland, New Zealand, was very cool. More than 2/3 of the exhibition pieces were not about war at all. Very interesting stuff.

As for historic sites, Machu Picchu wins I think, although the temples of the sun and moon near Trujilo, Peru were also impressive, as were all the temples nearby Siem Reap, Cambodia.
 
Although the British Museum itself is a bit of a no-brainer, I will specifically recommend the series of major special exhibitions they do, often bringing in rare artifacts from other museums around the world. Over the last few years they've had things like some of the figures from the Terracotta army, one about Moctezuma and the Aztecs, another on Babylon, the Vikings and so on. There's usually 3-4 a year and they're well worth a visit if you can get tickets.

I have to admit though, my favourite museum overall has to be Bovington (as I haven't been able to get to Kubinka...). Not much other than tanks, but their collection is amazing.
 
If you're into Chinese History, I cannot recommend the National Palace Museum enough in Taiwan. It's just outside of Taipei.
Basically, the Nationalists swiped all the good artefacts when they lost the Civil War and fled to Taiwan. And a good thing too, they probably would've been smashed up in the Cultural Revolution if they were left on the mainland.
 
While not exactly covered by the title, I took a helicopter tour over the active crater at Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park. If you ever get a chance to do that it is unforgettable. Other than seeing it for yourself there is no way to convey the power of a volcano.
 
I took a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon once. That was worth the, fairly steep, price.
 
Cashie said:
If you're into Chinese History, I cannot recommend the National Palace Museum enough in Taiwan. It's just outside of Taipei.
Basically, the Nationalists swiped all the good artefacts when they lost the Civil War and fled to Taiwan. And a good thing too, they probably would've been smashed up in the Cultural Revolution if they were left on the mainland.
Click to expand...

^^ Sad but true, the PRC Chinese museums I have seen (just a few in the Greater Shanghai area ) had only very few historical artifacts and close to none English information.
I've heard the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor (aka Terracotta army) near Xi'an is worth a visit but haven't been there myself.
 
The Field Museum in Chicago is a great place to visit. I was so captivated I entirely missed the giant tyrannosaurus skeleton in the lobby. I was too busy admiring the full-size totem poles.
 
Chicago-the open air museum of modern architecture.

While there visit their art, natural history, and science and industry museums, all of which are top notch. Good planetarium also.
 
I went to the Louvre over the summer, which was excellent, although truly huge - I spent the best part of a day there and didn't get around more than a small fraction.
 
Flying Pig said:
I went to the Louvre over the summer, which was excellent, although truly huge - I spent the best part of a day there and didn't get around more than a small fraction.
Click to expand...

I've heard that most people try to cram in through the main entrance, leading to chaos.. and that there is a side entrance nobody knows about that you can use instead to avoid the crowds.

Which one did you use? Was the place packed?
 
I remember running through the Louvre and wishing I had more time there. I could spend a whole weekend looking at the exhibits.

If you are in Boston, the Freedom Trail can be a bit touristy but the USS Constitution is worth it. You can go aboard, speak with the actual crew of the ship (still a commissioned warship!), and if you get bored with the Age of Sail there is a Fletcher destroyer (WW2 era) right next door you can go crawl around in.
 
Antilogic said:
I remember running through the Louvre and wishing I had more time there. I could spend a whole weekend looking at the exhibits.

If you are in Boston, the Freedom Trail can be a bit touristy but the USS Constitution is worth it. You can go aboard, speak with the actual crew of the ship (still a commissioned warship!), and if you get bored with the Age of Sail there is a Fletcher destroyer (WW2 era) right next door you can go crawl around in.
Click to expand...

You aren't that far from Battleship Cove or Mystic Seaport if you like climbing around old ships. Even closer is USS Salem. Which, as it's run by a smaller organization, you can get deeper inside the ship.
 
warpus said:
I've heard that most people try to cram in through the main entrance, leading to chaos.. and that there is a side entrance nobody knows about that you can use instead to avoid the crowds.

Which one did you use? Was the place packed?
Click to expand...

I went through the main entrance - it was busy but orderly; I queued for about half an hour or so. The museum itself wasn't too crowded except in the obvious places like the Mona Lisa room; you were rarely the only person in the other rooms, but then you rarely had any problem looking at an exhibit because someone else was in the way. That may just be because I have strange tastes, mind.
 
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