Art Galleries around Europe!

Where better to stop first than the creative cultural epicentres of Greece, and the Tuscany region of Italy, featuring the additional artistic preserves of Pisa and Florence. The former of these two cities provided shelter to Romantic visionaries Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Bryon, the latter writing part of his defining poem, Don Juan, here. The latter, meanwhile, is the birthplace of Michelangelo Buonarroti – more specifically, in Caprese, Arezzo. Florence has also provided residence to renaissance art patron Lorenzo de Medici and architect Filippo Brunelleschi, whose buildings, in the Ospedale degli Innocenti (Foundling Hospital) and Basilica di San Lorenzo, major historical attractions themselves, have long shaped the seminal Florentine landscape. Add Leonardo di Vinci Raphael sculptor Donatello and architect Giorgio Vasari, and its clear that you have a Whos Who. In tribute to these greats, don’t forget to visit a Florence art gallery before you leave – of which the city alone has over 60.

Or take a flight to France, where you can browse museums in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of southern France. And with Languedoc museums encompassing such peculiarities as a dinosaur museum and hat museum, why not bring along the children! For these family-friendly attractions offer interactive experiences to suit gallery-goers of any age. If traditional Flemish paintings, ceramics and tapestries are your thing, drop in at the lovely Sandelin Museum in Saint-Omer, a soulful eighteenth century building spared from the bombs that struck this area of northern France in both World Wars. Spanning an even broader time frame, from antiquity to the twentieth century, are the art collections, which include triptychs, mosaics and sculptures, of the Rolin Museum, the European museum of Celtic civilization over in Burgundy. Museums in Le Havre include the Musée des Beaux-Arts André Malraux and the pick of the Normandy museums. And lastly, the cultural benefits of a trip to the capital need no introduction. Paris has the Musée d Orsay, the Louvre and the Art Gallery of Brasilier – namely, that of painter André Brasilier – at 23 rue du Bac.

For something a little different, cross the border to explore the Deutsches Apotheken-Museum, Heidelberg (German Pharmacy Museum), showcasing, through exhibitions of equipment, medications and furniture, the history and progress of modern pharmacy. There’s also the Palatinate Museum, and the University Collections to be wooed by, of the ancient University of Heidelberg. Nor is that the last of the museum attractions on the continent. Walk around the Goreme Open Air Museum, Cappadocia, Turkey, for more historical thrills, browse The Hemp Museum in Berlin or visit the Royal Fine Art gallery, Belgium, to make the most of a break in Brussels. Or save some time to embrace the joys of the 'Golden Triangle of Art' in Madrid, of the Museo del Prado, Museo Reina Sofía and Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, or the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Europe has all your cultural tastes covered!