For the last few stay-at-home days, watching the various “epic fail compilations” or videos of dogs doing absurd things, staying hours on Netflix or reading a book has bored me.
After the implications of the last few weeks, our team has thought a lot about how to entertain you. We could write “How to wash your hands properly” or something about the fact that China, at the peak of Covid-19, has banned the use of cash, favouring mobile, online and card payments. Instead, in this short read, we want you to travel – not in the literary sense of the word but with your heart and mind.
Besides taking down the streets of Google Maps and Google Earth, you have the option to visit Virtual tours or museum exhibits at famous destinations. We selected 5 of the most visited places in the world, with their vivid browser-based presentations and expositions.
“Painting is a silent poem, and poetry is a blind painting”, this famous phrase is found in the “Treatise on Painting”. It is a 16th-century code based on the annotations of Leonardo Da Vinci. This is where our journey begins. It starts with the house of the most famous portrait in the world, as well as one of the most famous works of art in the world: The Louvre.
1. The Louvre
Click on a photo to visit the virtual exhibit:
The Egyptian Antiquities sector
A unique collection from the Pharaohs period
Remains of the Louvre moat
The Louvre was originally a fortress built by the French king Philippe Auguste as a way to strengthen the defences. The king ordered the start of this project in the year 1190, to protect Paris from attacks across the Seine.
Galerie d’Apollon
The Galerie d’Apollon, located above the Petite Galerie, was destroyed by fire in 1661 and rebuilt by Le Vau. It’s a fantastic exposition of art anyone should see.
Click on the picture to visit. Keep in mind that the Louvre virtual tour requires Adobe Flash installed.
2. The British Museum
It houses one of the biggest collections in the world that reveal the amazing development of humanity. You can get a glimpse at the first remnants of humanity, found in Africa approximately 1.5 million years ago, through Sumerians and Babylonian artefacts found in Asia, approximately 5,000 years ago.
The virtual museum tour offers a fantastic user experience and exposes thousands of amazing discoveries and the stories they tell about lost empires civilizations.
You can dive into the history of the world and discover interesting objects even up to the almost present year 1900.
Click the picture or click here to visit the British Museum.
3. Eiffel Tower
Let’s go back to Paris, exactly 3 km from the Louvre. Is it a “monstrous work” or an “original metal masterpiece”? During its creation (1887-1889), public opinion was divided into 2 factions. The Eiffel Tower was criticized because of the total lack of artistic sense. Some French people even believed the tower was a threat to their history. Yet, 121 years after its inauguration, Gustave Eiffel’s work had become the most famous monument in Paris and a symbol of France.
Click on the photo to visit the Eiffel Tower.
4. NASA
Raise your hand if you have not dreamed of becoming an astronaut as a child. Well, if your name is not Neil Armstrong, Yuri Gagarin or Valentina Tereshkova, it must have remained just that – a dream.
However, although you are not one of the many who have become astronauts, we offer you the opportunity to visit the famous “Flight Research Hangar”. It would be very cool if you visit NASA virtually and listen to the soundtrack of Back to the Future or Star Wars.
Click on the photo to start the interactive tour.
5. The Colosseum
The poet Anneo Lucano was the first to use the expression “Roma Caput Mundi”.
All the splendour of the Roman Empire can be contained in one place: the Colosseum. Originally known as Amphitheatrum, it is the largest amphitheatre in the world capable of holding between 50 and 87 thousand people. Symbol of Rome, and of Italy as a whole, with its area of 3,357m², the Colosseum is the second most visited attraction in the world, after the Eiffel Tower and before Central Park in New York.
To end this tour, you can’t miss the wonderful Gladiator soundtrack.
Click on the photo and choose whether to visit the Colosseum, the Pantheon or the Roman Forum.
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We are all going through something unimaginable until a few months ago.
Stay safe, order online and make the most of your time at home. Read a book, take an online course or simply write your thoughts.
The world will resume but until then iCard will remain by your side. You have entrusted us with your personal and professional finances, therefore it is our duty to support you with the things we do best.
We hope this article has made you travel with your mind and why not even smile.
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