While the pandemic has posed a major challenge to cultural and social organizations, delaying new projects and severely affecting revenue, it has also been an opportunity to recognize the important role that museums play in society. They are not only useful in education, but also in bringing people together.
MagazineTravel + Leisurehas compiled nine of the most notable new museums around the world with themes ranging from medieval art to blockchain-based digital technology collections to help visitors have more interesting trips in 2022.
Grand Egyptian Museum (Egypt)
The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), designed in a modern style by Irish architectural firm Heneghan Peng for about $1 billion, is located on the edge of the Giza plateau, about 1.2 km drive from the ancient Pyramids. It will be considered the cultural site of the Egyptian Museum currently open in Cairo.
Source: Grand Egyptian Museum
The Grand Egyptian Museum will house around 100,000 ancient artifacts, including items from the tomb of King Tutankhamun and a massive 3,200-year-old statue of Ramses II - one of the greatest pharaohs in Egyptian history. With an area of around 500,000 m2- twice the size of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) in New York, GEM is expected to welcome more than 15,000 visitors per day after opening in November 2022.
National Museum of the Middle Ages - Musée de Cluny (France)
It has been seven years since France began extensive renovations to the National Museum of the Middle Ages. Since September 29, 2020, the Museum has been completely closed to allow for the final phase of the project. Immediately following the change, visitors will discover a completely new museum, once again entering the grounds of the 15th-century residence of the abbots of Clunny, overwhelmed by the 1,800 works on display - including objects from Notre-Dame and Sainte-Chapelle.
Source: Michel Denance
Source: Gerard Blot
National Museum of Norway
Designed by German architect Kleihues Schuwerk, the National Museum of Norway will be the largest Nordic museum ever when it opens on June 11, 2022. The museum will house the National Gallery, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Design and Decorative Arts, and will also have an ideal view of the square in front of City Hall and the Oslo waterfront.
More than 5,000 works of architecture, design and art by Norwegian and international artists will be on display here. Some notable works include: Norway's most important painting, "Winter Night in the Mountains" by Harald Sohlberg, "The Scream" by Edvard Munch, and a self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh.
Source: Nasjonalmuseet
Sydney Modern Museum (Australia)
While the Sydney Modern isn't technically a new museum, the extension to the Art Gallery of New South Wales is sure to become a major draw, thanks to its new collection and the building's new design.
Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese studio SANAA, Sydney Modern comprises a series of interlocking rectangular pavilions overlooking Sydney Harbour, a public art garden and large outdoor spaces. The museum is expected to welcome more than 2 million visitors a year once it opens.
Source: Art Gallery of New South Wales
ReefLine Underwater Park (Miami Beach, USA)
Miami’s new ReefLine Underwater Park is sure to be a hit with scuba divers, as it’s a true 7-mile underwater sculpture park built by renowned architecture studio OMA. It consists of stacked concrete modules, approximately 10 feet off the Miami coast. Visitors will be able to enjoy the art installations among coral reefs and endangered marine life.
Source: OMA
“This series of artist-designed artificial reefs inspired by scientists’ research will demonstrate to the world how tourism, artistic expression and the creation of essential habitats for living things can work together,” said Ximena Caminos, curator of the Museum.
Museum of the Future (Dubai)
Dubai’s new Museum of the Future holds extraordinary values that visitors can admire from the outside. The entire building is a giant torus with the outer circle symbolizing humanity and knowledge, and the empty space in the middle symbolizing the unknown distant future.
Source: Visitdubai
The building's facade, designed by local architecture studio Killa Design, is covered with verses by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of Dubai and a renowned Nabati poet. Inside, each floor will host different interactive exhibitions on topics including climate change, space travel, health, spirituality and ecology. The museum is scheduled to open on February 22 and is now on sale.
Source: Killa Design
Source: Killa Design
Robot Science Museum (Korea)
Scheduled to open in late 2022, Seoul’s newest museum will be the first to showcase all things robotics. The futuristic, orb-like exterior of the building was designed by Turkey-based studio Melike Altinisik Architects (MAA). When the museum opens, visitors will be able to experience the latest in artificial intelligence, holograms, virtual reality, and robotics.
Source: Melike Altinisik Architects
Broadway Museum (New York, USA)
Music and theater fans are in for a treat because this summer, the first museum dedicated to Broadway will open in the heart of New York City's Theater District.
The Broadway Museum will offer "interactive experiences that relive groundbreaking moments in Broadway's history." Immersive videos performed by contemporary artists will tell the story of New York City's glamorous theater industry and highlight iconic Broadway musicals.
Source: Paul Bennett Architects
NFT Digital Museum (Washington, USA)
In March 2021, an NFT by digital artist Beeple fetched a staggering $69 million, putting Beeple in the company of artists like Claude Monet and Mark Rothko in terms of the value of his work.
Beeple's NFT artwork. Source: Beeple
According to Collins, NFT (non-fungible token) is"a unique digital certificate registered in a blockchain, used to record ownership of an asset such as a work of art or collectible".In 2021, the term NFT was used with great frequency, surpassing hot topics such as Covid-19, Crypto, Metaverse to become the prominent word of the year. Therefore, it is no surprise that the first NFT digital museum opened on January 27, 2022 in one of the largest technology centers in the United States - Seattle, and of course, this is a completely real museum and not based on metaverse technology.
Source: Seattle NFT Museum
The Museum’s vast space will house around 30 screens, each ranging from 43-85 inches, allowing visitors to view artworks by a variety of international and local artists. Highlights include a series of works by artist Blake Kathryn, the wildly popular CryptoPunks avatars by Larva Labs, and never-before-seen photos of Nirvana and singer Kurt Cobain as NFTs by photographer Charles Peterson.
