Lockdown: National Gallery of Modern Art celebrates foundation day with a virtual tour

The National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in Delhi, celebrated 66 years of its foundation by launching the virtual tour of its permanent collection for the visitors amid countrywide lockdown.

In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, the country has been observing a lockdown for three weeks as a precautionary measure to curtail the spread of the deadly virus. On this account, all museums and libraries under the Ministry of Culture have been closed for public visits until further orders.

Marking its 66th Foundation Day, the NGMA launched a virtual tour of its permanent collection for the visitors.

"NGMA'S virtual tour has plenty to explore and ponder over," said Adwaita Gadanayak, Director General, NGMA.

The Director General, NGMA said that the sculptures, paintings, and prints in the visual tour showcase the hidden treasures and the reserve collection at the Gallery.

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Museums around the world offer virtual tours

Amid the growing number of countries going into a lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak, the virtual tours of several museums and galleries can be taken from the ease of your homes. As per reports, musicians and theaters have already started to stream performances online as most of the live performances have been canceled or postponed. 

The Parisian museum offers three virtual tours, as per reports. The virtual visitors can explore the gallery’s Egyptian Antiquities collection of artifacts or can take a look at the Galerie d’Apollon. 

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The Vatican museum offers an online view of Michelangelo’s paintings in the Sistine Chapel. As per reports, visitors can also get a 360-degree tour of the Vatican’s collection of classical sculptures in its Pio Clementino and Chiaramonti museums. It offers a virtual tour around the Smithsonian’s gallery of 23,000 artworks which includes a collection of portraits of US presidents and first ladies. The gallery also includes photographic portraits of American cultural icons such as Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. 

It is the second-largest museum in the world and offers a one-take video journey of five hours. As per reports, the museum includes nearly three million art and culture artifacts, which includes paintings by 17th-century Dutch artist Rembrandt, such as “The Return of the Prodigal Son”.

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(With inputs from ANI)