Planning a European city trip? Make sure you visit the local city museum first, to find out how history has shaped the very ground you’re standing on. These institutions are much more than just guardians of valuable treasure; through their exhibitions you’ll better understand the city’s present and future, including the inhabitants that you’ll encounter during your trip. [Photo: STAM, ©Phile Deprez]
Amsterdam Museum, The Netherlands – In recent times, many city museums have dropped the word ‘historic’ from their name, such as the one in the Dutch capital, and the one in its second-biggest city, Rotterdam. The aim is to make it clear that museums don’t just look at the past, but also focus on the city’s present and future as well. Skip the long lines at Amsterdam’s blockbuster museums, and start your visit here instead. Amsterdam DNA is an interactive presentation built around sound, images and objects that tells the story of how a fishing village in the 13th century became a global power during the Dutch Golden Age, and how all this shaped Amsterdam into what it is today.
Basel Historical Museum, Switzerland – The Historisches Museum Basel consists of three sites, with the most interesting among them housed in the Barfüsserkirche, a former church, where carefully designed exhibitions tell the history of the Swiss city from prehistoric times until now. Highlights include pre-Reformation sacred art, such as the Basel Dance of Death; the Basel Cathedral Treasury, a stunning collection of medieval tapestries; and the ‘Great Cabinet of Curiosities’, which features Renaissance and Baroque collections. English speakers receive an iPad that automatically translates museum signs.
Helsinki City Museum, Finland – “Everyone has the opportunity to fall in love with Helsinki”: this is the vision of Helsingin Kaupunginmuseo, which reopened on the iconic Senate Square in 2016. The museum aims to tell the history of the Finnish capital through the stories of its inhabitants, with interactive presentations, AR and objects on display allowing you to put yourself in their shoes – and maybe indeed become infatuated with the city.
Historical Museum of Kraków – The narrative of the city of Kraków is told through not one, but 19 sites spread across the city. Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Krakowa’s main site is the Krzysztofory Palace, but it also includes the Zwierzyniec House, a suburban apartment dating back a century, an underground museum, a bourgeois house and two sites related to the Jews in Nazi times: the Old Synagogue of Kazimierz and the Schindler enamel factory. [Photo: Zygmunt Put/Wikimedia Commons]
Luxembourg City History Museum, Luxembourg – Lëtzebuerg City Museum’s mission – collect, preserve, document, exhibit and transmit continuously the cultural (tangible and intangible) heritage of the City of Luxembourg – translates into appealing exhibitions using multimedia technology. The building itself is a mix of old and new: take the slow-paced glass elevator, which lets you view the building’s rock foundations, up to a panorama of the Grund district and the Rham plateau on the upper levels. [Photo:© (c) Les 2 Musées de la Ville de Luxembourg]
Museum For Hamburg History – From ‘Hammaburg’, a missionary settlement, to a gateway to the world as a member of the Hanseatic League: Hamburg came a long way to transform into the hyper-modern harbour city it is today. You can learn all about it at the Museum Für Hamburgische Geschichte. The museum is about Hamburg and Hamburgers, too, such as tattooist Christian Warlich (1891-1964); the world-renowned ‘king’ of tattoo artists is honoured with an exhibition that runs through May 2020. [Photo: SHMH, Sinje Hasheider]
Museum Of Liverpool – The Museum of Liverpool proudly sits on the city’s waterfront, and was aimed at expressing Liverpool’s confidence as a great 21st-century city from its opening in 2011. Visitors can explore how the port, its people and their creative and sporting history have shaped the city. Feel free to roam among the rooms or follow one of the themed trails, such as the black community trail, the LGBT+ trail, or the ‘When I Was Little’ trail for grandparents and grandchildren. The museum is great for families: it won this year’s Family Friendly Museum Award.
Museum Of London – The Museum of London, near St Paul’s and the Barbican, focuses on the city’s greatest stories in nine galleries, such as War, Plague and Fire, which chronicles the century before the Great Fire of 1666, or The London 2012 Olympic Cauldron, which tells the story behind Thomas Heatherwick’s impressive copper cauldron built for the 2012 Olympics. The temporary exhibitions round off the experience: Beasts of London is an immersive digital installation exploring the role animals have played in shaping the capital (until 5 January 2020) while London Calling goes behind the scenes on the making of The Clash’s London anthem (19 April 2020).
Museum Of The History of Barcelona (MUHBA) – With a free multilingual audio guide, the Museu d’Història de Barcelona (MUHBA) brings Barcino (Barcelona in Roman times) to life. Excavated ruins on display in the museum’s basement form the starting point to trace back the development of the Catalan city over 2.000 years. MUHBA is comprised of one main building and different heritage sites across the city; the museum also organises city routes and walks, lectures and other events for residents and tourists to better understand the local urban environment. [Photo: Richard Mortel/Flickr]
Palazzo Pepoli, Bologna – All over Italy, you literally stumble over historical remnants of its rich past, but museums don’t always unlock them in the most accessible way. This is changing, with Palazzo Pepoli as a case in point. The history, culture and transformations of Bologna, from its Etruscan beginnings to the present day, are narrated in an engaging and interactive way, curated by architect Italo Lupi. Mario Bellini was responsible for the renovation of the medieval palace that forms the heart of Genus Bononiae, a cultural and artistic museum itinerary running through the historical centre of Bologna. [Photo: Palazzo Pepoli]
Pavillon de l’Arsenal, Paris – When it opened in 1866, the Musée Carnavalet was the first European museum dedicated to a city. This temple of Parisian history in the Marais district is currently undergoing a major facelift, and is scheduled to reopen in 2020. In the meantime, the Pavillon de l’Arsenal in the 4th arrondissement gives an interesting overview of Parisian architecture and the urban evolution of the French capital – including a peek into the future, with more than 1,000 archived documents, photographs, maps, plans and films on display. Be sure to check out Paris, Metropolis 2020, a digital model made in partnership with Google and JCDecaux. [Photo: Dhekir/Wikimedia Commons]
STAM, Ghent – Once the largest city in medieval Europe, the university city of Ghent is now somewhat of a hidden gem. To uncover its rich history during your visit, visit Ghent City Museum, known as STAM. As soon as you set foot inside, you’ll be walking all over Ghent through an illuminated glass floor printed with an aerial photograph. A computer programme acts as a type of ‘chronological street view’, and lets you compare a digitised panoramic painting from 1534, a map from 1641, a 1912 ground plan and a recent aerial photograph. Through 300 collection pieces and multimedia applications, the history of the city comes to life. [Photo: ©Phile Deprez]
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