Visiting museums isn’t just a great way to experience the culture of the city you’re visiting but also to get an enriching history lesson that’ll make your overall experience more memorable. Visiting museums is a popular choice of activity for tourists around the globe and many prominent museums make the list of must-visits! While these are some of the most popular museums in the world, many others evade the spotlight but are equally enlightening and fabulous. Here’s a list of the top 7 most underrated museums in the world.
The Museum of Pop Culture
The Museum of Pop Culture or MoPoP is where you should be at. This non-profit museum is located in Seattle, Washington, and is designed to feature and honor modern pop culture. Founded by Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, in 2000, the Museum of Pop Culture has since gone on to host numerous exhibitions, out of which 17 have toured nationally and internationally. The MoPoP was formerly known as the Experience Music Project and later the EMP Museum is amongst the most visited tourist attractions in Seattle.
Museo Reina Sofia
The Museo Reina Sofia is a renowned modern art museum showcasing a wide collection of Spanish art from the 20th century, including everyone from Picasso to Solana. Opening for visitors in 1990, the Museo Reina Sofía has stood tall as a museum for modern Spanish despite the many challenges, both monetary and structural, it had to face along the way. Some of the highlights of the museum are the fascinating exhibitions of the two greatest 20th-century masters associated with Spain, Salvador Dali, and Pablo Picasso. Arguably, the most well-known artwork housed in the museum is the 1937 painting by Picasso, Guernica.
Amongst the world's largest museums for modern art, the Museo Reina Sofia offers both national and international exhibitions in its many galleries, along with an extensive art collection. Holding the honor of being the 9th most visited art museum in the world, Museo Reina Sofia brought it approximately 4,425,000 visitors in 2019 alone. Apart from the art galleries and exhibitions, the museum also hosts a spectacular free-for-all library boasting an impressive collection of books, videos, and sound recordings.
Cancún Underwater Museum
Cancun Underwater Museum, originally known as Museo Subacuático de Arte (MUSA), is amongst the most popular tourist attractions in the area and welcomes approximately 750,000 visitors annually. Hidden between the islands of Isla Mujeres and Cancun on the Mexican coast, this beautiful underwater museum is unlike anything else you’ve seen before. Designed by Jason De Caires Taylor, a British sculptor, the museum features almost 500 life-size sculptures and installations submerged underwater on the stunning Caribbean island coast.
CosmoCaixa
CosmoCaixa is Barcelona's most renowned science museum and makes for an interesting visit for the entire family. The museum was created to make science fun and interesting through interactive exhibitions designed to capture your attention. CosmoCaixa opened for visitors in 1981 and holds the honor of being Spain's first interactive science museum and is housed in a modernista building perched at the top of the upper ring of the Collserola foothills in Barcelona. Designed by famous Catalan architect Josep Domenech, the museum building was meant to function as an asylum for the blind. While the asylum closed in 1979, it was renovated into the museum while maintaining the original facade of the building.
Aceh Tsunami Museum
Located in Banda Aceh, the Aceh Tsunami Museum is designed to function as a symbolic reminder of the 2004 tsunami disaster and an educational center. The museum building is structured similarly to the traditional raised Aceh House and resembles a ship with its protruding funnel. Designed by Indonesian architect Ridwan Kamil, the Aceh Tsunami Museum is spread across an area of 2,500 square meters. The four-story museum features long curving walls that are covered in geometric reliefs. The entrance interiors are designed to recreate the noise and panic of the tsunami and feature two high walls of water.
The Palestinian Museum
The most popular and respected project of the Welfare Association, the Palestinian Museum is many things, some entertaining, others informative. Designed and constructed to showcase the history, dreams, and aspirations of the people of Palestine, the museum is part of a concentrated effort to develop more humanitarian projects in Palestine. The Palestinian Museum attempts to feature the past, present, and future of Palestine through art galleries and exhibits.
The Tenement Museum
Housed in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, the Tenement Museum is a National Historic Site and worth your time even when you’ve none! The museum is made up of two dated tenement buildings that housed over 15,000 people between 1863 and 2011. What makes the Tenement Museum truly special is the fact that the buildings housed people from over 20 nations and promotes something the world sorely lacks now - empathy and tolerance. If you’re on the lookout for an authentic immigrant experience in New York City, the Tenement Museum is where you should be at.
