These Are A Few Virtual Cultural Experiences That Will Keep You Mesmerized During This Tough Quarantine Period

Stuck at home during quarantine? Yes, the world might look bleak now, but don’t worry, we will pull through. Self-isolation, that’s the key now! However, staying locked up at home can get soooo boring. Public events have been canceled and many sports fans were hit with the news of their favorite sports events being canceled. Even the Olympics are going to be postponed and held next year!

But the human spirit is always looking out for one another. Many organizations and communities have come together to help us find a way to relax and enjoy our quarantine. If you are starting to miss going out for cultural expeditions, a few national parks, zoos, and cultural institutions are opening up virtual cultural experiences for you!

Here are a few such virtual cultural experiences you will love from your mobile devices or computer!

Museum Tour

If you go to the Art and Culture pages of Google, you will witness about 2500 galleries and museums. You can look at the collections of Van Gogh Museum present in Amsterdam, London’s Tate Modern, the Whitney Museum in NYC and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum located in Boston. You might even take a virtual tour down niche areas like Uffizi Galleries. The best thing about these virtual cultural experiences is that you can go up close, that is, zoom in as much as you like. Probably a physical tour won’t get you this ‘close-up’ experience. 

And the best is for the last – even the Louvre allows virtual tours via their website. You can go to the Egyptian antique section using the Louvre website. Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid will take you into the world of its Rembrandt and Portraiture in Amsterdam, 1590-1670 exhibit and the Vatican Museums are offering a 360-degree virtual experience of the Sistine Chapel, Rafael’s Room and many other places. You can also take a self-guided tour around Washington D.C.’s Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

National Parks In USA

The Art and Culture Pages of Google has partnered up with the U.S. National Parks Services and they have started a program – “The Hidden Worlds of the National Parks”. You can have amazing virtual cultural experiences and adventures as you venture on a digital exploration of different national parks – Utah’s  Bryce Canyon National Park,  Dry Tortugas National Park present in Florida,  Kenai Fjords National Park located in Alaska, Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park and New Mexico’s Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

Orchestra

While sitting at home, are you often thinking of going back in time and enjoying a quality barouche-style orchestra? For a fan of music, nothing can beat live shows of an orchestra. But most of them are canceled now, unfortunately. There is good news though – some of the live performances are going down the live streaming path. Plus, old shows are being released online.

The famous Philharmonie Berlin may remain shut to the public till 19th April but that has not stopped them from entertaining music enthusiasts. They have opened up the digital library and enjoy more than 600 of their past shows. You just have to use to BERLINPHIL code to gain access for 30 days. Use the code before 31st March.

Even the famous Melbourne Symphony Orchestra will live stream several of its performances on Youtube. The timing might not be of your convenience since it will be 4 am EDT when it is 7 pm AEDT, but you can watch the repeat on the Youtube channel. You might want to get mesmerized by the classic masterpiece of Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade.    

Zoos or Virtual Aquariums

From March 12th, the Monterey Bay Aquarium present in California has been shut down for the public. However, they have opened it up for online visitors trying to dive in for a virtual tour and enjoy the aquatic life. With live camera streams, you can look into the kept forest and the jellyfish exhibition. You can even see the penguins waddling around. Feeding times are scheduled and streamed as well. New England Aquarium in Boston allows you to go into a tour of the behind-the-scenes glimpses and feeding via scheduled live streaming on Facebook. You can also see penguins and the Philippine Coral Reef exhibit in the  California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. The Oakland Zoo takes you on a virtual tour of sun bears, elephants and black bears in their daily activities.

It’s great that despite such a tragic moment, people are coming together and organizing such virtual cultural experiences for us. Yet again, the indomitable human spirit prevails.

Stuck at home during quarantine? Yes, the world might look bleak now, but don’t worry, we will pull through. Self-isolation, that’s the key now! However, staying locked up at home can get soooo boring. Public events have been canceled and many sports fans were hit with the news of their favorite sports events being canceled.…

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