museums & galleries


Seafaring Culture Exhibit at the Maritime Museum of Denmark

Maritime Museum of Denmark

HELSINGØR, Denmark — The Maritime Museum of Denmark isn’t your typical maritime museum. It takes a modern approach to telling the stories of commercial seafaring.

Icons on Display in the Museu de Sao Roque in Lisbon Portugal

Museu de São Roque

LISBON, Portugal — Attached to the Igreja de São Roque, the Museu de São Roque displays artifacts related to the church’s history, collections of the Jesuits, and other items.

World War I Exhibit at Military Museum in Lisbon Portugal

Lisbon’s Military Museum

LISBON, Portugal — Lisbon’s Military Museum, housed in a 16th-century cannon foundry next to the Tagus River, showcases Portugal’s important military history.

Stained Glass Windows of Greek Goddesses at Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City

Chapultepec Castle (Mexico’s National Museum of History)

MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Sitting high above one of Mexico City’s best green spaces is Chapultepec Castle. It sits on top of a hill that has been a sacred place for Aztecs and housed a military academy, imperial residence, and presidential home. Now, it’s a museum.

Stone of the Sun (Aztec Calendar Stone) at the National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City

Mexico’s Cultural Treasures

MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Mexico City’s impressive National Museum of Anthropology showcases the region’s endlessly rich and diverse pre-Columbian cultural heritage.

Biomuseo Theater

Panama City’s Biomuseo

PANAMA CITY, Panama — Opened in late-2014, the Frank Gehry-designed Biomuseo focuses on Panama’s biodiversity and how the isthmus of Panama has changed the world.

Facade of Centro Cultural Convento San Francisco, Granada, Nicaragua

Granada’s San Francisco Convent & Museum

GRANADA, Nicaragua — Behind that impressive facade, standing above most of the city of Granada, is the city’s main museum. Its exhibits are rather eclectic, but many of them relate in some way to the history of Granada and the nearby region.

National Palaces Painting Museum at Dolmabahce Palace, Istanbul

National Palaces Painting Museum

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Türkiye) — Reopened in a newly renovated space in the Crown Prince’s apartments of Dolmabahce Palace, the National Palaces Painting Museum showcases the collection of paintings of the national palaces.


Istanbul Naval Museum

Istanbul Naval Museum

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Türkiye) — If I was picking a name for this museum, I wouldn’t use the word “naval.” Istanbul Maritime History Museum would be a better fit. Or better yet: Royal Water Taxi Museum. But what impressive water taxis they are!

The Emporer's Room at Ferme du Caillou Waterloo

Napoleon’s Last Headquarters

WATERLOO, Belgium — Ferme du Caillou, next to the battlefield of Waterloo, is where Napoleon spent the night before the Battle of Waterloo. The next day, his empire was in tatters.

Brussels Royal Museums of Fine Arts Main Hall

Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Flemish art has a well-deserved reputation for its beauty. Some of the best is on display at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels.

Vietnam Museum of Revolution Statue and Artillery

Museum of the Vietnamese Revolution

HANOI, Vietnam – Unsurprisingly, Vietnam takes its revolutionary foundations very much to heart. They’re shown off and commemorated in the national Revolution Museum in central Hanoi.

Churchill War Rooms London Updating Map

The Churchill War Rooms

LONDON, United Kingdom — This was British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s underground command bunker during some of the most dangerous days (and nights) of World War II.

Aya Sofya interior with tourists

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul’s Byzantine Jewel

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Türkiye) — Hagia Sophia is old. Very old. The building that currently stands on the first of Istanbul’s famous seven hills dates back almost 1,500 years and has had a remarkable and colorful history. It’s also a beautiful place to visit.

Vietnam Military History Museum Tank Exhibit

Hanoi’s Vietnam Military History Museum

HANOI, Vietnam – The Vietnam Military History Museum in central Hanoi celebrates the Vietnamese victories of the 20th century, first over the French and then the United States. And, of course, it presents a version sanctioned by the Vietnamese Communist Government.

Photo of Shells on display at War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Vietnam’s War Remnants Museum

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — The War Remnants Museum presents an important but one-sided history of the appalling legacy of the decades of war that have ravaged Vietnam.

Hoa Lo Prison Hanoi Hilton Conditions

The Hanoi Hilton

HANOI, Vietnam — This is not a place of sweetness and light. Hoa Lo Prison, better known in the west as “the Hanoi Hilton,” was first a French colonial jail for Vietnamese political prisoners and later used during the Vietnam War for American pilots held as prisoners of war. And it’s a place with an especially grim history.

Space Shuttle Enterprise

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

WASHINGTON DC, United States — One of the world’s most visited museums, the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum has an incredible array of original artifacts from the history of flight and space exploration.