museums

Attached to one of San Francisco’s Good Vibrations stores is a museum dedicated to the surprisingly long history of vibrators.

The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen or Spring Garden by Vincent van Gogh, stolen from the Singer Laren museum in March 2020.

The next time you come across a portrait stolen from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, you can alert Interpol without making a single phone call.

The Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee.

Elvis Presley’s Graceland hasn’t changed too much since he lived there—the last record he ever listened to is still in the record player.

The Louvre’s online database includes literally everything, from artworks in storage to those on display at other museums.

To this day, the theft of the 'Weeping Woman' has not been solved. The case remains lodged in popular imagination in Australia.

Jane Austen's House in Chawton, Hampshire.

Jane Austen’s books were all written in the Hampshire house, which is now a time capsule of her life there.

A museum in China has broken a Guinness World Record with its 150 million-block "Lord of the Rings" LEGO creation.

The Merugo Parasitological Museum has more than 300 life-sucking species on display, including a 28.9-foot long tapeworm. It's got date night written all over it.

Vincent van Gogh's original Portrait of Dr. Gachet wasn't stolen, but it hasn't been seen in 30 years.

A priceless Van Gogh painting was snatched from a Dutch museum in March 2020. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?

Thanksgiving Day menu from November 1917 at Fort D. A. Russell in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Thanksgiving may look different in 2020, but history provides some surprising insights on how to approach the menu, traditions, and celebrations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Courtesy of Orange County Regional History Center

On November 2, 1920, a Black man attempted to vote in Ocoee, Florida—and sparked the bloodiest Election Day massacre in U.S. history.

Puppy by artist Jeff Koons is now sporting a face mask.

The 40-foot-tall sculpture is covered in flowers and changes with the seasons. Now it's changing with a pandemic.

A baby Hemingway tottered through the halls of this idyllic edifice.

The museum is a tribute to Ernest Hemingway’s legacy in Oak Park, Illinois, and a reflection of the salon culture of his era.

There aren’t any 10-foot strawberries to dip in it, unfortunately.

There aren’t any 10-foot strawberries to dip in it, but there is a tasting room at the end of the tour.

The Hayao Miyazaki retrospective will be the inaugural temporary exhibition at the Academy Museum when it opens next spring.

A fallen statue of Lenin next to the Mogoşoaia Palace.

At the Citadel Museum in Germany, monuments to oppressive figures and regimes are displayed in a different context than what was originally intended.

Former curator of paintings Jennifer Scott in the Picture Gallery in 2011.

Queen Elizabeth II’s purported favorite painting—a portrait by Rembrandt—will be included in the display.

Lydia Hicks brings food to a cow in the 1627 Pilgrim Village at Plimoth Plantation, the 17th century replica village that was the site of the first Thanksgiving in 1623.

The colonial-era living museum in Massachusetts is updating its name to be more inclusive of its Wampanoag history.

This dad wanted to learn about dinosaurs, too.

Kids can learn about archaeology, marine biology, and other “-ologies” through games, interactive lessons, and more.

The Bassins de Lumières in France uses the concrete walls of the former Nazi bunker as canvases for projected paintings.

Explore Mars from the comfort of your couch.

If you're looking for a change of scenery, join the American Museum of Natural History on May 8 to explore the surface of Mars without leaving home.

© The Trustees of the British Museum // CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Customize your own virtual tour of the British Museum by exploring and downloading high-resolution images of its most precious items.

A long-dead Roman woman’s hair bun, jet pins and all.

They may be closed, but museums around the world are staying connected with the public by sharing unusual items from their collections.

Knud Winckelmann, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 3.0

With people cooking at home more than ever, the New-York Historical Society is digging into its archives to share recipes from the 1800s.

San Francisco's Antique Vibrator Museum Chronicles the Fascinating, 150-Year History of Vibrators

Interpol’s New App Allows Anyone to Help Track Down Stolen Art

9 Rockin’ Facts About Elvis Presley’s Graceland

The Louvre Just Launched a New Online Database With Its Entire Collection—More Than 480,000 Artworks

When Picasso’s Weeping Woman Was Stolen By Art Terrorists

PBS Is Hosting a Virtual Tour of Jane Austen’s House

This Lord of the Rings LEGO Display Is the World’s Largest Mini Brick Build

Tokyo Is Home to a Museum Full of Parasites

New Online Art Exhibition Needs the Public’s Help to Track Down Lost Masterpieces by Van Gogh, Monet, and More

5 World War I-Era Tips for Celebrating Thanksgiving in Strange Times

100 Years Later, the Story of Florida’s Ocoee Massacre—an Election Day Attack on Black Citizens—Is Finally Being Told

Jeff Koons's Puppy Sculpture, at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Is Donning a Face Mask

The Ernest Hemingway Birthplace Museum in Illinois Might Shut Down Forever—Here’s How to Help Save It

Lindt Opened the World’s Largest Chocolate Museum in Switzerland, Complete With a 30-Foot-Tall Chocolate Fountain

The Long-Awaited Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Will Open in April 2021 With a Hayao Miyazaki Exhibition

What Happens to the Racist Statues and Monuments That Are Removed? Many Find Their Way to Germany’s Citadel Museum

Buckingham Palace’s Most Enviable Artworks Are Getting Their Own Exhibition for the First Time Ever

Plimoth Plantation Is Changing Its Name to Be More Inclusive of Its Wampanoag History

The American Museum of Natural History Just Launched OLogy, an iPad App Version of Its Science Website for Kids

In Bordeaux, France, a Former Nazi Submarine Base Has Been Transformed Into a Digital Art Gallery

The American Museum of Natural History Is Hosting a Virtual Field Trip to Mars

Explore 4.5 Million Objects in the British Museum's Digital Archives