By Niki Angelopoulou,
Due to the recent Covid-19 pandemic the majority of theatres, cinemas, museums and galleries are closed. However, the quarantine did not stop artists and organisations from sharing their content online in a safe and free way. Through a multitude of online media, such as YouTube, Google Arts and other representative sites, people are able to experience culture at home in a different way than what they have been used to.
Theatre and musicals
Livestreaming full shows every Friday on YouTube, the channel “The Shows must go on!” has tried to keep millions of viewers entertained with popular productions such as “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Macbeth”. The shows stay online for a couple of days so everyone can enjoy them on their own time!
Find it here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdmPjhKMaXNNeCr1FjuMvag
Art
A great suggestion for art lovers is Google Arts. In there, anyone can view thousands of paintings, sculptures, photographs and other art pieces, and learn more about them. Furthermore, there are multiple collections and specials for different artists or eras. The site also has bonus features, such as a camera filter than can transform your face into a famous painting.
Find it here: https://artsandculture.google.com/
Many art museums, such as the Louvre, also have individual representative sites, where virtual tours are available for free.
Find it here: https://www.louvre.fr/en/visites-en-ligne#tabs
Natural History and Science
Educational tours are provided by different kind of museums as well. The famous National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian is such an example, with past, present, and permanent online exhibits and narrated tours.
Find it here: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour
Last but not least, for those who are fascinated with scientific discoveries NASA has the solution: a very interesting virtual tour of their research centres.
Find it here: https://oh.larc.nasa.gov/oh/
Bonus: An online heaven for culture
Free movies, audiobooks narrated by authors, online courses, language lessons, podcasts, famous lectures and so much more are all collected in one site! Plus, everything is so easy to find and the selection is huge. If you are bored at home this will certainly keep you entertained and you can also learn new skills through the different courses.
Find it here: https://www.openculture.com/freemoviesonline
