No products in the cart.

No products in the cart.

Image Alt

Experience It Yourself

 

More than relaxation, famous landmarks, and the local beers, I’m all about taking in the art and history of the places I visit.
Even in London, I aim to visit all the homes of art I’ve yet to see with my own eyes – Rubens’ ceiling in the Banqueting House being at the very top of that list.

 

Here’s a list of my favourite places to visit…

…in the United Kingdom

England

London

Scotland

…in Italy

Rome

Vatican City

…in the rest of Europe

Belgium

France

Germany

The Netherlands

Click the link to be taken straight to recommendations from that city or country.

take in art and history in

London

 

The National Gallery

 

Don’t Miss

 

Leonardo da Vinci’s Virgin of the Rocks
Raphael’s St. Catherine of Alexandria
Gerrit van Honthorst’s Saint Sebastian

 

The V&A

 

Don’t Miss

 

Samson Slaying a Philistine by Giovanni Bologna
The Raphael Cartoons
The Leighton Corridor which houses Lord Leighton’s frescoes

 

St. Paul’s Cathedral

 

Don’t Miss

 

Soul’s Chapel
The cupola of the dome painted by James Thornhill
William Black Richmond’s mosaics

 

The British Museum

 

Don’t Miss

 

The Crouching Venus
Mozambique’s decommissioned weapons in The Tree of Life
Narasimha

 

The Queen’s Gallery

 

Don’t Miss

 

Artemisia Gentileschi’s La Pittura
Canaletto’s views of Venice
Rubens’ Winter: The Interior of a Barn  

 

The Courtauld

 

Don’t Miss

 

Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s Landscape with the Flight into Egypt
Unmoored from her Reflection by Cecily Brown
As always, look up!

 

Tate Britain

 

Don’t Miss

 

David Bomberg’s The Mud Bath
An Athlete Wrestling with a Python by Frederic Leighton
Jacob Epstein’s Torso in Metal

 

Wallace Collection

 

Don’t Miss

 

The dagger of Shah Jahan
Francesca da Rimini by Ary Scheffer
The unknown woman by an unknown artist, Bust of a Woman

 

RA of Arts

 

Don’t Miss

 

The casts of the Belvedere Torso and the Laocoön
William Pink’s Smugglerius
Michelangelo’s Taddei Tondo

 

take in art and history in

Vatican City

 

St. Peter’s Basilica

 

Don’t Miss

 

Michelangelo’s Pietà
Bernini’s Baldacchino
5pm Mass

 

The Vatican Museums

 

Don’t Miss

 

The Raphael Rooms
The Laocoön
Double Helix Staircase

 

take in art and history in

Rome

 

Pantheon

 

Don’t Miss

 

The Dome
Tomb of Raphael Santi
Tomb of King Victor Emmanuel II

 

Villa Medici

 

Don’t Miss

 

The Marble Copies of the Medici Lions
Cardinal Ferdinando’s Studiolo
Claudio Parmiggiani’s Butterflies

 

Borghese Gallery

 

Don’t Miss

 

Bernini’s Rape of Proserpina
Raphael’s Deposition
The Sleeping Hermaphroditus

 

Villa Farnesina

 

Don’t Miss

 

Loggia of Galatea’s Ceiling
Alexander and Roxane’s Wedding Hall
Hall of Perspectives

 

Palazzo Colonna

 

Don’t Miss

 

The Colonna Gallery
Gardens
Princess Isabelle’s Apartments

 

Castel Sant’ Angelo

 

Don’t Miss

 

Archangel Michael
Models of the Castel across the Centuries
The View from the Bar

 

San Luigi de Francesci

 

Don’t Miss

 

Caravaggio’s St. Matthew
The Contarelli Chapel
The Organ above the Entrance

 

Museo Nazionale Romano

 

Don’t Miss

 

The Loggia
The Suicide Gaul
The Chapel

 

Santa Maria della Vittoria

 

Don’t Miss

 

Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Teresa
The Fountain of Moses
Domenico Guidi’s Dream of St. Joseph

 

Colosseum

 

Don’t Miss

 

The Amphitheatre
Gate of Death
Second Floor Balcony

 

Capitoline Museum

 

Don’t Miss

 

Piazza del Campidoglio
Bernini’s Medusa
View of the Roman Forum

 

Roman Forum

 

Don’t Miss

 

Arch of Septimus Severus
Basilica of Maxentius
Temple of Saturn

 

Basilica of Sant’Agostino

 

Don’t Miss

 

Caravaggio’s Madonna of the Pilgrims
Raphael’s Prophet Isaiah
Melchiorre Cafà’s St. Thomas of Villanova

 

Santa Maria Maggiore

 

Don’t Miss

 

Bernini’s Grace
Christ’s Crib Relic
Mosaics of the Portico

 

Santa Maria del Popolo

 

Don’t Miss

 

Chapel Cerasi
Chapel Chigi
Pinturicchio’s Ceiling Fresco

 

Museo de Roma

 

Don’t Miss

 

Giuseppe Valadier’s Staircase
Pietro Tenerani’s Fainting Psyche
Pallavicini Rospigliosi Chapel Model

 

San Pietro in Vincoli

 

Don’t Miss

 

Michelangelo’s Moses
Saint Peter’s Chains
Giovanni Battista Parodi’s Miracle of the Chains fresco

 

Palazzo Venezia

 

Don’t Miss

 

Portrait of Cesare Borgia
The Ceilings
Loggia

 

Corsini Gallery

 

Don’t Miss

 

Caravaggio’s St. John the Baptist
Orazio Gentileschi’s Madonna with Child
Salvator Rosa’s The Torture of Prometheus

 

Barberini Gallery

 

Don’t Miss

 

Bernini’s Square Staircase
Caravaggio’s Judith Beheading Holofernes
Bromine’s Helicoidal Staircase

 

Doria Pamphilj

 

Don’t Miss

 

Caravaggio’s Penitent Magdalene
Parmigianino’s Doria Madonna
Fra Filippo Lippi’s Annunciation

 

take in art and history in

Scotland

 

Scottish National Gallery

 

Don’t Miss

 

Titian’s Venus Rising from the Sea
Edwin Landseet’s The Monarch of the Glen
Innocenzo Spinazzi’s copy of the Venus de’ Medici

 

St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral

 

Don’t Miss

 

A. E. Borthwick’s The Presence
The Paolozzi Window
The high altar, designed by J Oldrid Scott

 

National Museum of Scotland

 

Don’t Miss

 

The Arthur’s Seat coffins
The Millennium Clock
Mary, Queen of Scots’ Book of Hours

 

 

 

take in art and history in

England

 

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

 

Don’t Miss

 

Guy Fawkes’ Lantern
The death mask of Oliver Cromwell
Paolo Uccello’s The Hunt in the Forest

 

The Bodleian Library, Oxford

 

Don’t Miss

 

The Divinity School
The Exhibitions at the Weston Library
The Old Bodleian Library

 

St. Bart & St. Boisil’s, Tweedsmouth

 

Don’t Miss

 

The stained-glass window of the Evangelists
Displaced grave of an unknown knight
The stained-glass window of the Crucifixion

 

 

 

take in art and history in

France

 

The Louvre

 

Don’t Miss

 

Victoire de Samothrace on the top of the grand staircase
The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault
Canova’s Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss

 

Pantheon

 

Don’t Miss

 

Hugo, Dumas and Zola’s Crypt
The Foucault Pendulum
Antoine-Jean Gros’ fresco in the dome

 

Palais Garnier

 

Don’t Miss

 

Le Grand Foyer
Paris Opera Library
The ballet dancers practicing

 

Musée Rodin

 

Don’t Miss

 

The Gates of Hell
The Waltz
The Kiss

 

Monet’s House

 

Don’t Miss

 

The real Water Lilies
Monet’s flowers
The Japanese Prints

 

Versailles

 

Don’t Miss

 

Galeries des Glaces
The Gardens of Versailles
Don’t forget to look up!

 

Eglise Saint-Sulpice

 

Don’t Miss

 

Delacroix’s Frescos
The sculpture of St. Peter
The Fountain of the Four Cardinal Points

 

Musée de l’Orangerie

 

Don’t Miss

 

The Nymphéas
Rodin’s The Kiss
Firmin Bourgeois’ architecture

 

take in art and history in

Belgium

 

Church of Our Lady, Bruges

 

Don’t Miss

 

Michelangelo’s Madonna of Bruges
Ceremonial tombs of Mary of Burgundy
Van Dyck’s painting of the Crucifixion

 

Musée d’Arts Anciens, Namur

 

Don’t Miss

 

The treasures of the Oignies
Mosan altarpieces
Reliquary of the Coast of St. Peter

 

Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp

 

Don’t Miss

 

Rubens’ altarpieces
The Man who Bears the Cross
by Jan Fabre
Javier Pérez’s Corona

 

Musée Fin-de-Siècle, Brussels

 

Don’t Miss

 

Alphonse Mucha’s The Nature sculpture
Rodin’s Fallen Caryatid Carrying her Stone
Jacques Bergé’s Dying Gladiator

 

St. Paul’s Cathedral, Liège

 

Don’t Miss

 

Le Génie du Mal by Guillaume Geefs
The pulpit
Jean del Cour’s St. John the Baptist

 

Museum of Original Figures, Brussels

 

Don’t Miss

 

Smurf Village
The life-size figures of American comic characters
Tintin in Space

 

Sint-Baafs Cathedral, Ghent

 

Don’t Miss

 

The van Eyck brothers’ Ghent Altarpiece
The Altar
Look up at the architecture

 

Xpo Salvador Dalí, Bruges

 

Don’t Miss

 

Surrealistic Angel
Un Chien Andalou
playing on the screens
The quotes on the walls

 

take in art and history in

The Netherlands

 

The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

 

Don’t Miss

 

The Japanese temple guardians
The doll’s house which inspired Jessie Burton’s The Miniaturist
Marauding monkeys throughout the paintings

 

Het RembrandtHuis, Amsterdam

 

Don’t Miss

 

The recreation of Rembrandt’s collection room
Pieter Lastman’s The Sacrifice of Abraham
260+ etchings made by Rembrandt himself

 

Escher in Het Paleis, The Hague

 

Don’t Miss

 

Hand with a Reflecting Sphere
Drawing Hands
Snakes

 

 

 

take in art and history in

Germany

 

Frauenkirche, Dresden

 

Don’t Miss

 

Climb the dome for the most spectacular views
Adolf von Donndorf’s sculpture of Martin Luther
The frescos within the dome

 

Händel-Haus, Halle (Saale)

 

Don’t Miss

 

Collection of musical instruments
Handwritten sheets of music
The house in which he Händel was born

 

Marktkirche Unser Lieben Frauen, Halle

 

Don’t Miss

 

The organ on which Bach played
The font in which Händal was baptised
Evidence of the destruction of part of the building outside

have you got any recommendations?

Share Them Here!

    gksihat@gmail.com

    FALLING DOWN RABBIT HOLES
    TO BRING YOU
    STORIES FROM THE ART