Europe as a continent has its fair share of history and thus having an abundance of magnificent ancient history worth of artifacts. Globally, most countries will have their historical magnificent pieces and artwork, but nothing beats Europe for its richness in history.
Art lovers are always very precise in their choice of a travel destination. They often choose the music, theatre, museum and high art “meccas”. If you are one of those creative creatures, who find the enjoyment in art crucial, take a look at the following places on this Earth, which are known as art treasures, and choose your next destination. As you can see, Italy takes even 3 places on this list!
Sienna, Italy
via Elia Locardi
Siena is a city in central Italy’s Tuscany region and is distinguished by its medieval brick buildings rich in history. Ranging from the superb Palazzo Pubblico, Museum Civico, the Opera’s Museum, Villa Brandi, and the Pinacoteca National Art Galleries, Sienna has it all. Masterpieces from the famous Sienese school of artists, which created mainly and largely, majestic altarpieces with golden decorations. Early masterpieces dating back to the 13th century can be found as Sienna used to be, like Florence, the center of the renewal of Italian art tendencies. One will see the finest Frescos by Simone Martini and Pietro Lorenzetti.
Paris, France
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France could be one of the epicenters of the world in terms of history and its museums especially the ones dotted in and around Paris. Of course, the Louvre is here which will take you at least two whole days to see most of it to include the famous La Mona Lisa. It is the largest museum in the World and holds over, wait for it, 380,000 objects of which 35,000 are on show. You also have the Center of the Pompidou Museum of Science and Technology, and dozens more too many to cite them all. The Capital has bathed with history from millions of years ago to more recent history BC and after from Ancient Egypt, to Claude Monet’s famous water lilies paintings.
Venice, Italy
via Rory McDonald
Venice was once only reachable by boat until the mid 19th Century and has been home to some of the greatest artists in the world. One of which being, the rock star of the era, Giovanni Bellini. The Venetian trade networks helped to shape local painting practices. Ships from the East brought luxurious and very exotic pigments, while traders from Northern Europe imported the new technique of oil painting. Giovanni Bellini combined the two by the 1460s and 1470s. In the following decades, oil paint largely supplanted tempera, a quick-drying paint bound by egg yolk that produced a flat, opaque surface. Botticelli’s Birth of Venus is one example of tempera paint and worth seeing once in a lifetime.
Rome, Italy
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The coliseum is only one major tourist attraction that the world knows and has known and will continue to do so, so no need for further introduction. However, interestingly enough one will also find the likes of Michelangelo’s Moses, Raphael’s Frescoes, and Leonardo Da Vinci. The style of painting, sculpture, and decorative arts identified with the Renaissance emerged in Italy in the late 14th century; it reached its zenith in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, in the work of Italian masters.
Salzburg, Austria
Austria is famous for its castles, palaces, and buildings, among other architectural works. It is also super famous for its artists featuring the likes of Mozart, Herbert Von Karajan and Joseph Mohr, and Franz Xaver without forgetting legendary Opera performer Angelika Kirchschlager. An artist in his very own right having rewritten history on the music style front. The city itself has a wide variety of museums and Churches with the finest art Europe has to offer.
Prague, Czech Republic
via Neal Wilson
Prague and anywhere else in the Czech Republic, unfortunately, battles censorship throughout the 20th century and as such does not hold the center stage it deserves. However, we are here to just do the opposite. Ever since the beginning of the 21st century emerged many, many artists had, at last, the expression of the art form of expression through artwork and other masterpieces from pottery to surrealism. Of course, the Second World War played an important part in the country and its Capital having art reminders throughout the city.
Vienna, Austria
via Fred
The city of Vienna was essentially founded by the Ancient Romans and has a long tradition of art and therefore many museums throughout Prague. The collection has many traditional paintings to artifacts from ancient civilizations. One can see the works of Klimt, Schiele, and Kokoschka in the upper Belvedere from the 19th and 20th centuries. The Central Cemetery is worth a visit although not necessarily a museum, as you will find most of the federal chancellors and presidents, including the graves of Beethoven, Boltzmann, Brahms, and Hansen.
Budapest, Hungary
via Jon Reid
Eclectic, bohemian, and a rather vibrant city of art which is Budapest. It is home to world-class and famous museums, colorful street arts, and independent art galleries. One can accidentally look at art from the Jewish quarter’s murals simply by walking past. In brief, the entire city is built on art. Other forms of Hungarian art can better be seen and experienced within the Museum of Applied Arts, the Kunsthalle, and the Museum of Fine Arts. Mihaly Munkacsy and artist Karoly Marko can be admired there too.
Saint Petersburg, Russia
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Throughout history, Russia’s artists have proven themselves to be boundary-pushing pioneers and visionaries of the word. In the pursuit of challenging and testing artistic conventions, these artists have left their mark on the art world and influenced subsequent generations of creative minds wherever in the world they might be from. Worth mentioning are the likes of Wassily Kandinsky with his painting Black Square, Kazimir Malevich’s, and most recently, Marc Chagall with his painting, The Walk, who passed away in 1985. You can also see the beautiful painting of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Madonna Benoit.
Santiago de Compostela, Spain
via Carlos Gotay
This famous pilgrimage site in Northwest Spain became a symbol in the Spanish Christians’ struggle against Islam. Destroyed by the Muslims at the end of the 10th century but it was completely rebuilt in the following century to its glorious self once again. The Cathedral Museum hosts the likes of natural elements from archaeology, sculptures, paintings, metalwork, and tapestry to site some of the much more interesting and fascinating period art. Going there will take you through history, from the characters of the phenomenon of Pilgrimage along the Way to Saint James, from its beginnings to the present day.
Great top thanks for the idea