Located in Pacific Palisades, California, it displays a collection of antiquities from each of these periods in a thematic exploration of ancient life, culture, religion and even war.

The Getty Villa is itself a reconstruction of a typical ancient villa as well as including a reconstructed theatre.

Getty Villa history

In 1954, oil tycoon J. Paul Getty opened a gallery adjacent to his home in Pacific Palisades. Getty quickly ran out of space and built a second museum, the Getty Villa, on the property down the hill from the original gallery.

Getty believed that the art in his collection should not be viewed in a neutral or Modern-style museum setting and that it should be displayed in a building that evoked Classical traditions. Architects Robert Langdon and Ernest Wilson were hired to design the museum in consultation with Stephen Garrett and Norman Neuerburg, and they created a re-imagining of Herculaneum’s Villa dei Papiri, a Roman villa buried in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

As most of Herculaneum’s Villa dei Papiri remained unexcavated, the architects looked to other ancient Roman houses to complete the details of the new design. The building is grand, with Doric and Corinthian columns surrounding a landscaped courtyard with a reflecting pool, Roman-style plantings, and bronze statues. The interior galleries are equally opulent.

Between 1997 and 2006, the Getty Villa underwent a major renovation by architects Rodolfo Machado and Jorge Silvetti, seeing modifications to its site plan, landscaping, and buildings. The museum now houses only Greek, Roman, and Etruscan art, with the rest of Getty’s collection now housed at the massive Getty Centre in Brentwood.

Getty Villa today

The Getty’s mission statement is to advance and shares the world’s visual art and cultural heritage for the benefit of all.

Through the collective and individual work of its constituent programs—Getty Conservation Institute, Getty Foundation, J. Paul Getty Museum, and Getty Research Institute—Getty pursues its mission in Los Angeles and across the world. The Getty Villa hosts live performances in both its indoor auditorium and its outdoor theatre. It also offers special educational programs for children.

There has been controversy surrounding the Greek and Italian governments’ claim that objects in the collection were looted and should be repatriated. In 2006, the Getty returned or promised to return four looted objects to Greece: a stele a marble relief, a gold funerary wreath, and a marble statue. In 2007, the Getty signed an agreement to return 40 looted items to Italy.

Getting to Getty Villa

The Getty Villa is located at 17985 Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades Malibu, just north of the intersection with Sunset Boulevard. The Villa can only be accessed from the northbound side of Pacific Coast Highway. There is paid parking on site.  Metro bus line 534 stops at Pacific Coast Highway and Coastline Drive, directly across from the Getty Villa entrance. Free Park and Ride services are available throughout Los Angeles County.

History of Hall of Fame and Statue of Bavaria

Commissioned by King Ludwig I of Bavaria and designed and built from Kelheim limestone by Leo von Klenze, the Ruhmeshalle – Hall of Fame – is a Doric colonnade with a wide main range and two wings. It was built between 1843 and 1853 using ancient Greek architecture as inspiration, and is 68-metres long by 38-metres deep.

Inside are over 90 busts of Bavaria’s most celebrated people including artists, politicians, and scientists as well as the Palatinate, Franconia, and Swabia.

At the front of the Hall of fame stands Bavaria, an 18.5-metre high bronze statue designed by Ludwig Schwanthaler and cast by Ferdinand von Miller. It sits on a 9-metre platform and weighs close to 90 tons. She is vested in a bearskin holding an oak crown and in her left hand and a lead attached to a lion at her side in her right – supposedly a symbol of Bavarian strength.

Her sheer size, scale, weight and intricate detail were hailed as a technological masterpiece when she was unveiled in the early 1850s.

Hall of Fame and Statue of Bavaria today

There is a spiral staircase inside the statue which you can climb and look out over Munich’s Theresienwiese, the location of the world-famous Oktoberfest, as well as other neighbourhoods in the city. The equally large open gallery behind contains the busts of many significant Bavarians.

Getting to Hall of Fame and Statue of Bavaria

From the centre of Bavaria, the Hall of Fame and Statue of Bavaria is reachable in around 15 minutes by car or 40 minutes by foot via Lindwurmstraße. Public transport is a good option, with the closest station being Schwanthalerhöhe, from where the statue is a 7 minute walk.

History of the Hugh Lane Gallery

The Hugh Lane Gallery is name, surprisingly enough, after Sir Hugh Lane, an Anglo-Irish art dealer and collector. Lane’s first exhibition of Irish art was displayed in London in 1904, and in 1908, he bequeathed his collection to the Dublin Corporation (now the City Council). Lane was a particular fan of impressionism, which had fallen out of fashion at the time, and his gift was the first time impressionist art appeared in a national collection in England or Ireland.

The first gallery was opened on Harcourt Street, and was moved to Charlemont House in 1933, following a major refurbishment project.

The Hugh Lane bequest is an ongoing source of tension between London and Dublin. Originally he bequeathed his collection to the National Gallery, who were rather snobbish about it. As such, he had a change of heart and added a (unwitnessed) codicil to his will, leaving his collection to Dublin instead.

On his death, a bitter feud between the two developed as they fought over Lane’s bequest. Today, the collection is still technically owned by the National Gallery in London, but many of the works are on semi-permanent loan to its counterpart in Dublin on a rotating basis.

Located within Buda Castle, the Hungarian National Gallery is also home to the Habsburg Palatinal Crypt (Nadori kripta), the burial place of the Hungarian line of the Habsburg Dynasty. Note that the crypt can only be visited by prior arrangement and is located on the ground floor of Building C.

History of Hungarian National Gallery

Located in several wings of Buda Castle, the Hungarian National Gallery was established in 1957 as the country’s national art museum. The aim in establishing the museum was to present Hungarian art across a range of its history, from the settlement of the Magyars in the 10th century, through medieval ages, until the present day.

The collection is extensive, being formed of more than 6000 paintings and 2100 sculptures, as well as 3100 medals, 11,000 drawings, and 5000 prints.

There is a range of more historic art, with Medieval, Renaissance, Gothic, and Baroque Hungarian art being a part of the exciting works that the museum features. Paintings from the 18th and 19th centuries are among the most popular that the museum features, as they visualise the turbulent experience of Hungary during the Turkish and then Austrian occupations.

The collection also includes wood altars from the 15th century, as well as more contemporary works by Hungarian sculptors, painters, and photographers.

Hungarian National Gallery Today

Today, the gallery is enjoyed by tourists and locals alike who wish to delve into Hungarian art and history. There is a regular schedule of rotating exhibits, as well as permanent exhibits which display paintings by old masters such as Cezanne, Pissarro, and Monet.

There is also a Dome Terrace, from where visitors can enjoy breathtaking views over the Pest side of the city and the river Danube.

For those who wish to expand upon their knowledge of Hungarian artists, the primary museum for international art in Budapest is the Museum of Fine Arts.

Getting to Hungarian National Gallery

The gallery is reachable in around 5 minutes by car via the Palota út road. There is also a regular schedule of buses which depart every 15 minutes from Budapest Nyugati Palyaudvar, and take around 45 minutes to reach the museum. By foot, the museum is around 7 minutes from the centre via Sikló u.

A number of boat tours along the nearby river Danube are also popular.

The history of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

Kelvingrove houses one of Europe’s great art collections – it’s collection of French 19th century paintings includes works by Monet, Gauguin and Renoir. Further highlights are Rembrandt’s ‘Man in Armour’, ‘Christ and the Adulteress’ by Titian and Salvador Dali’s famous ‘Christ of St John of the Cross’. Scottish art includes paintings by the Scottish Colourists and the Glasgow Boys, as well as the art of Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

The museum also has one of the finest collections of arms and armour in the world and a vast natural history collection.

The construction of Kelvingrove was partly financed by the proceeds of the 1888 International Exhibition. It was designed by Sir John W. Simpson and E.J. Milner Allen and opened in 1901 as the Palace of Fine Arts for the Glasgow International Exhibition held in that year.

There is an urban myth in Glasgow that the building was accidentally built back-to-front, and the architect jumped from one of the towers in despair upon realising his mistake. However, the grand entrance was always intended to face into Kelvingrove Park.

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum today

The museum re-opened in 2006 after a three-year refurbishment, holding 22 galleries with the exhibits organised into two halves; Life and Expression. The Life galleries represent natural history (including taxidermy), human history (such as artifacts from ancient Egypt) and prehistory while the Expression galleries include the fine art collections. In 2007 it was the most visited museum in the UK outside London, and since then it remains one of Scotland’s most popular visitor attractions.

Getting to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

The gallery is located on Argyle Street, in the West End of the city, on the banks of the River Kelvin. It is adjacent to Kelvingrove Park, and situated near the main campus of the University of Glasgow on Gilmorehill.

The nearest stations are Partick and Exhibition Centre, and buses 17 and 77 stop just outside.

Palazzo Pitti forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage site of Historic Florence and features as one of our Top 10 Tourist Attractions in Italy.

Palazzo Pitti history

The Florentine banker Luca Pitti commissioned the palace in 1458, allegedly ordering the windows to be bigger than the Palazzo Medici entrance, home of Pitti’s friend Cosimo de’ Medici. The Palazzo Pitti was no real rival to the Florentine Medici homes, but signalled a change in the fashion of building – a severe design resembling less a palace and more Roman aqueduct.

Unfortunately for Pitti’s heirs, the task of trying to surpass the Medici proved too dear and in 1549 they were eventually left with no option but to sell Palazzo Pitti to none other than the Medici themselves. Under the Medici’s, Palazzo Pitti doubled in size and an above ground walkway was linked to the Pitti from Cosimo’s old home, the Palazzo Vecchio.

The palazzo went on to become not only the prime residence of the Medici, filled with paintings, jewellery and luxurious furnishings, but also that of every ruling Florentine family thereon as the seat of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

Napoleon used the palazzo as a power base during the late 18th century and later was acquired by the Kingdom of Italy, who presented Palazzo Pitti to the nation in 1919. The palazzo was then divided into 5 galleries and a museum, including the Palatine Gallery that today contains a collection of over 500 Renaissance paintings.

Palazzo Pitti today

Today, the Palazzo Pitti continues to dominate Florence’s streets and is the largest museum complex in Florence. The palazzo houses a number of museums including the ornately frescoed 17th century Royal Apartments, the Porcelain Museum, Silver Museum and Museum of Modern Art, displaying paintings and sculptures from Neoclassicism to the 1930s.

However the main feature of Palazzo Pitti is undoubtedly the Palatine Gallery. This famous art museum contains works by many of the world’s most famous artists, such as Raphael and Caravaggio, many of which were owned by the Medicis.

Open from Tuesday to Sunday between 1.30am and 6.50pm, the Palazzo Pitti is a spectacular must-see on any trip to Florence.

Getting to Palazzo Pitti

An unmissable landmark in front of the Giardino di Boboli and along from the iconic Ponte Vecchio, Palazzo Pitti is found easily on foot or by public transport. The C4 and 11 buses stop just outside the palace.

History of the Uffizi

The Uffizi was originally built from 1560 to 1580 to house the offices – hence the name – of Florence’s administration and judicial sectors. Initially designed and built by Giorgio Vasari, the Uffizi was continued by Alfonso Parigi and Bernardo Buontalenti. This occurred when Vasari, and also Cosimo I, died in 1574.

Cosimo I’s successor was his son, Francesco I, who first decided to use the Uffizi as an art gallery, an endeavour further undertaken by Francesco I’s brother and successor Ferdinando I and continued today. The Uffizi’s collection were bequeathed to the gallery by the Medici family in 1743 on the condition that it never left Florence. The gallery has been open to visitors since the 16th century, but only formally became a museum in 1865.

The collections now held at the Uffizi include artwork from the Gothic and Renaissance eras by some of the world’s most prominent artists such as Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Titian, Carravagio and Giotto. There is also one of the world’s leading collections of works by Botticelli, including his most famous piece, The Birth of Venus. 

The Uffizi is part of the Historic Florence UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Uffizi today

The Uffizi is one of Florence’s most visited sites, welcoming over 2 million visitors a year. It’s advisable to book your tickets online well in advance, or face queues of up to 5 hours on a bad day to get in.

With over 13,000 square metres of gallery space, the Uffizi can feel a little overwhelming inside too. It’s worth plotting out what you’re most interested in seeing before you get there as after 3 or 4 hours, chances are you’ll want a sit down and a breather, without any Italian masters in sight. The second floor has the ‘highlights’ on, but there’s infinitely more to explore than just this. There’s a gorgeous (if expensive) café on the roof with excellent views of the city which is well worth visiting.

Getting to the Uffizi

Nestled in the heart of Florence, you’ll walk past the Uffizi (and its queues) even if you’re not meaning to. The Uffizi backs on to the River Arno and the Ponte Vecchio, and lies just south of the Piazza della Signoria. Florence is a city best explored on foot (or by motorbike) so don’t even think about other methods of transport to get here!