virtual tour guggenheim museum new york

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Virtual Tour: The Guggenheim

Even though many museums remain closed or at limited capacity, remember that you can still get your fill of art, history, and culture online. Take a “visit” to iconic museums like the Louvre and The Met , and explore some of the world’s greatest masterpieces from the comfort of home. (And with no lines or admission fees!) We’ve come across virtual exhibitions in all different forms—videos, 3D walking tours, interactive shows, and zoomable artwork images that allow you to see the most minute details.

Today, we’re highlighting the virtual experience of The Guggenheim in New York City.

Did we mention the 360 degree views? Direct your view upward in the lobby, and you are met with the famous Guggenheim architecture. You’ll notice the numbers 1-6 on the right hand side of the screen. These will transport you to each individual level. The photos along the bottom will take you directly to those specific pieces. The virtual navigation is almost more simple than physically walking through the museum.

You might lose track of time while you virtually wander The Guggenheim, nearly forgetting you aren’t actually there! There are all types of exhibits to enjoy, from installation pieces to photography collections.

Pawel Althamer |  Almech

One exhibition which stands out in particular is Pawel Althamer’s Almech on level 5. It is a series of figures sculpted from pigment plastic, plaster, paint, and steel armature. The series was created in 2011 for the Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin. There, Althamer transformed the exhibition space into an active factory. He moved a portion of his father’s plastics manufacturing firm to the gallery where he and his team would produce sculptures of the visitors, live on site!

The pieces within Almech have a very unique quality to them. They are both haunting and beautiful with a bit of mystery that draws you in.

Explore our figurative sculpture artists:

Sheila Ganch | Larry Schueckler | Tolla | Don Wilks 

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Tour the Guggenheim from the Comfort of Your Own Home

You can now mosey up the winding ramp in the Guggenheim Museum’s rotunda, stare through the unmistakable webbed oculus, and browse more than 120 items from its collection and exhibitions without ever leaving your home. The Frank Lloyd Wright–designed museum in New York is the latest major arts institution to partner with Google Cultural Institute to make select shows and Google Street View shots of its interior available online. The museum—which also teamed with Google back in 2010 for the online video showcase “YouTube Play” —became interested in the project after seeing the historic Grand Palais in Paris’s Street View photos on Google Cultural Institute. “Our Frank Lloyd Wright building would be perfect for something similar,” says the museum’s director of marketing, Laura Miller, who initiated the Guggenheim’s participation. “There’s a huge appetite online for what we're doing.”

Another view of the exhibition, as seen through the Google Cultural Institute.

With the interior views of the iconic landmark as the starting point, the museum then determined which artworks it would feature on the site. The dozens of pieces now on virtual view are from the 2013 show “No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia”—the first Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative exhibition—and the 2015 collection show “Storylines: Contemporary Art at the Guggenheim.”

Works such as Morning Glory, 2011, by Sopheap Pich are also virtually viewable through Google.

Miller intimates that there’s more to come from the Google/Guggenheim partnership. In addition to the possibility of expanding on its online offerings on Google Cultural Institute, the museum is currently developing a virtual reality project with the tech giant. The aim of the VR devices, Miller says, will be to offer middle and high school students who may never visit the museum in person a chance to experience the rotunda. More details on the VR initiative are expected to be released in the coming months.

Take a 360-degree tour of New York's Guggenheim Museum

Because it's too snowy (and expensive) to visit new york this winter....

Social Sharing

Nobody wants to visit a post-snowpocalyptic disaster zone — especially when the loonie's so low you could blow your life savings on a long-weekend Air BnB stay.  

Nope, you're not going to New York this week. 

But thanks to Google, you can at least imagine you're hanging out on the Upper West Side, and we don't mean that the complete filmography of Woody Allen is now available on YouTube.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is the latest addition to the Google Cultural Institute , and using Google Street View, anyone can walk Frank Lloyd Wright's famous spiral ramp, while exploring more than 120 artworks from the Guggenheim's collection. 

We like to imagine one of those Google Maps camera cars spiraling from ramp to ramp, like the museum was the world's fanciest parkade — though apparently the challenging project was executed with a little more TLC. (The 360-degree map of the Guggenheim's rotunda galleries was captured by small drones, tripods and trollies.) 

Visit the Google Guggenheim here , and once you're done getting dizzy while poking (and pointing and clicking) around the virtual architecture, you can visit exhibits — including  Storylines: Contemporary Art at the Guggenheim — which will get you closer to the art inside.

More than 60 cultural institutions were recently added to Google's virtual collection, the Guggenheim being one of the most famous additions. Explore them all at Google Cultural Institute .

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The guggenheim museum tour.

Housed in Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic, spiraling structure, The Guggenheim Museum is as much about its unique space as it is about its abstract paintings and thematic exhibitions.

Private Guided Tours of the Guggenheim Museum

Housed in Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic, spiraling architectural landmark, The Guggenheim Museum is as much about its unique space as it is about its abstract paintings and thematic exhibitions.  An ART SMART tour will help you discover the intricacies of the building and appreciate the premier works of art it showcases. Along the way, we’ll explore the Guggenheim’s current special exhibition that fills the rotunda space.

The Details

Upon booking, you’ll be able to share what you are most interested in exploring at the Guggenheim. Choose the day and time that you’d like to tour and tell us how many are in your group. With that, we’ll start creating your ideal Guggenheim guided art tour. We’ll confirm the tour within 24 hours and provide your meeting location. Your private guide will meet you at the museum with your tickets in hand — so you won’t have to wait in line to get your tickets.

You can combine this with a private tour of other modern art venues along NYC’s museum mile. Check out our tailor-made tours to inspire yours.

Museum Details

Sunday–Friday 11am – 6pm

Saturday 11am – 8pm

Admission $25 per adult, $18 per senior, $18 ages 12-18, and children under 12 are free.

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2. select tour length.

3. Booking Summary

4. payment details, pricing questions.

Private tours for 1 – 4 people in your group booked online* start at $225 per hour (a 5% discount over tours booked via email or phone). All tours have a two-hour minimum. Additional people and/or additional time have an additional fee. Museum admission needs to be added for each person. This is added during your booking. We will get your tickets ahead of time for you. So you can skip the lines!

* For those who need a bit more service via email and phone, our pricing begins at $225 per hour for 1 – 4 people. Larger groups are $50 per adult, $25 per child.

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Check out these virtual tours of museums around the world

Take a trip through some of the world’s greatest collections on these virtual museum and gallery tours, no queuing necessary

Photograph: Kit Leong / Shutterstock.com

While a virtual tour doesn’t quite compare to being able to make your way down Frank Lloyd Wright’s winding curves of the Guggenheim or strolling under the stunningly intricate arch of the Musée d’Orsay, exploring online means art buffs can experience u ninhibited, uninterrupted, intimate views of the artworks. Plus, you can enjoy exhibits from famed artists in renowned museums from across the world – all from the comfort of your sofa, or even bed.

Get ready to feed your cultural fix and indulge in a few armchair travels; here are the best virtual tours across the globe from classical Dutch art and history to Cézanne, Keith Haring to Picasso. Looking for something a little more eccentric? Check out the Museum of Broken Relationships. Afterwards, peruse these street artists who capture the spirit of their city and ‘Faces of Frida,’ which holds over 800 works from 33 museums and art centres. You can never have enough art in your life, after all.

Been there, done that? Think again, my friend.

Virtual museum tours around the world

British museum, london.

The British Museum is the OG national museum. When it opened in 1759, it was the first of its kind to open to the public in the entire world, and they’re still showing us how it’s done today. The graphics on this tour are impressive—think an intergalactic guitar fretboard. Tap through a musical guide to Africa, the Americas, Asia, Oceania, and Europe, and play a little tune along the way.

Virtual tour of the British Museum

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

Thousands visit the Gugg every day just to explore its epic Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building, and thanks to this Google Street View tour, you can wander its halls from your couch in four unique virtual tours. Peruse the museum’s most significant offerings of postmodern, conceptual, and installation art, then head to the homepage for a bumper database of its entire collection, or check out the online exhibits.

Virtual tour of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Over in the Netherlands, the Rijksmuseum is an oasis of classical Dutch art and history, Asian artefacts, and 17th century silver and porcelain spanning 80 galleries. The Street View-style tour is fine (there is eight total), but the online exhibitions are brilliant, like the interactive guide to the master of throwing shade, Rembrandt. You can even get up close and personal with The Night Watch and Vermeer’s Milkmaid .

Virtual tour of the Rijksmuseum

Musée d’Orsay, Paris

Fancy a trip to Paris? Oui oui! This grand museum holds the largest collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works in the world, and you can click your way through the very best among them thanks to interactive galleries featuring van Gogh, Cézanne, Degas, and more. Or, learn more about the architecture of the building in the online exhibit; did you know it was installed in the former Orsay railway station, designed by architect Victor Laloux?

Virtual tour of the Musée d’Orsay

Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia

Philadelphia art collector Albert C. Barnes founded this museum in 1922 to show people how to observe and appreciate art. His collection boasts works from Renoir, Cézanne, and Matisse and features African masks, Native American jewellery, Greek antiquities, and more. Their online collection allows viewers to filter through pieces by colour, lines, light, and space, as inspired by Dr Barnes’ approach to looking at art. 

Virtual Tour of the Barnes Foundation

The Broad, Los Angeles

Forty-five seconds. That’s how long you normally have to bathe in the twinkling, reflective abyss of Yayoi Kusama’s ‘Infinity Mirrored Room’ at the Broad. Currently, the exhibit is closed, so while you won’t be able to snag the ever-popular selfie in the signature exhibit, you can explore her groundbreaking role as an artist a la the #infiniteLA videos. You can also traverse a range of exhibits with a deep dive into artists like Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and Kara Walking via the Up Close series; or enjoy performances, talks and conversations, and workshops. 

Virtual experiences of Broad From Home .

Uffizi Gallery, Florence

You can scroll through more than 300,000 works in the digital archives of the Uffizi, Florence’s treasure chest of Renaissance art. All the big boys are here—Botticelli, Titian, and Canaletto. Click on the HyperVisions tab for thoughtfully curated tours around themes such as angels, epiphany and intercultural vision. Deep. You can even stroll through the Buantalenti Grotti in the Boboli Gardens in a 360 virtual tour, or review the new digital archives .

Virtual tour of the Uffizi Gallery

National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul

Opened in 1969, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) has established itself as the representative institute of Korean art. The MMCA has four different locations, all of which can be viewed on Google for free, that specialize in architecture and design, contemporary art, modern art, and art education. With such a vast and diverse collection, you can spend an entire afternoon marvelling at paintings and sculptures. 

Virtual Tour of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

MASP, São Paulo

The Museu de Arte de São Paulo has a very particular way of displaying artwork in their galleries: paintings are hung on crystal easels that make them look like they’re floating mid-air. Check it out on their virtual gallery, which also features online exhibits of art from Brazil and beyond including Picture Gallery in Transformation; Art in Fashion: MASP's Rhodia Collection; and Art from Italy: from Rafael to Titian.

Virtual tour of MASP

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Like most museums around the world, the National Gallery of Victoria has temporarily closed its doors. But those who missed out on its big-hitting ‘Keith Haring | Jean-Michel Basquiat: Crossing Lines ’ show are in luck: the free multimedia guide is available to listen to, in addition to a wide assortment of virtual self-guided tours ranging from Japanese modernism to the We Change the World exhibit, exploring how art and design can create change.

Virtual tour of the National Gallery of Victoria

Museo Frida Kahlo, Ciudad de Mexico

The Museo de Frida Kahlo is located in La Casa Azul, the home and studio where Kahlo entered and exited this world. It showcases paintings by Kahlo and her husband and artist, Diego Rivero, as well as popular artworks, pre-Columbian sculptures, and personal possessions. Get a real sense of Kahlo’s daily life and the culture she came from by exploring her preserved space. 

Virtual tour of the Museo Frida Kahlo

Picasso Museum, Barcelona

As well as a vast online catalogue of Pablo’s finest with 4,251 works , this temple to all things Picasso offers a 360-degree tour of some of the best-preserved medieval architecture in Barcelona. When you’re done perusing the courtyards, you can tour the Ontology “Picasso 1936 Exhibition” to explore how the event was put together and the artist’s connection with Barcelona, or the houses that Picasso lived and worked in, as well as the places he frequented. 

Virtual tour of Picasso Museum

Museum of Broken Relationships, Zagreb and Los Angeles

This could be a touchy subject for quarantining couples, but the Museum of Broken Relationships takes a nostalgic look at old flames, and it’s really quite beautiful. Each item on display represents the donor’s ex, and the stories behind them range from uplifting to heartbreaking. Who knew an old toaster could be so poignant? Other quirky items include belly button lint, an empty bag of fortune cookies attached to a Starbucks cup, and a 27-year old crust from the wound of first love (each with a powerful story). 

Virtual tour of the Museum of Broken Relationships

More museum tours

Virtual tours of london museums and galleries.

It’s good to know that way before everything went crazy, most of London’s museums digitised their collections and even created virtual tours of their spaces. From Tate Modern through to the Natural History Museum, here are our favourite virtual tours of our most beloved London cultural institutions.

Virtual tours of NYC museums

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Available in partnership with Google Arts & Culture, the tours feature images from various collections and, in some cases, walkabouts through parts of the museum via street view.

Virtual tours of L.A. museums

You may not be able to visit L.A.’s best museums right now as they’re all temporarily closed, but you can bring a little piece of them home with you. And no, we’re not encouraging art theft.

Virtual tours of Boston museums

Who among us couldn't use a classy, calming dose of fine art? Boston's museums are up there with the best, and you can explore most of them online for free.

Virtual tours of museums around the USA

While you could spend this time time streaming or navigating social media, you might want to consider using the opportunity to up your cultural game by virtually touring the best online museum experiences in the United States.

Virtual tours of museums and galleries in Spain

In Madrid, Barcelona and beyond, museums and art galleries are contributing to helping us get our art fix by providing online versions of their collections for us to enjoy.

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The Guggenheim New York | Virtual Tour

The Guggenheim New York

View The Guggenheim New York virtual tour here

Check out The Guggenheim in New York City virtual tour. You can walk around the museum using Street View via Google Arts and Culture. See the famous staircase and walk the museum’s halls to explore the great artworks.

Apart from that, there are also virtual performances, talks, and classes, as well as lesson plans, family-friendly activity ideas and information on virtual group tours. Engage with the Guggenheim Museum’s iconic art and architecture no matter where you are.

Critics compared the style of the building to a laundry machine, an upright oatmeal dish, and “an oversized and indigestible hot cross bun,”.  However, nowadays it has become one of the most beloved architectural landmarks of New York City. 

Crafted by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the Guggenheim is a concrete masterpiece with a top-heavy spiral structure. It looks quirky, which makes it a perfect to host art works. However, Guggenheim wasn’t so keen on the location.

He wrote in a 1949 letter, “I can think of several more desirable places in the world to build this great museum, but we will have to try New York.”

A compromise? Wright chose a location next to Central Park, linking the museum to nature, a key aspect of his architectural designs ethos.

The Google Arts and Culture tour is free. However, if you want a more in depth experience for you, your child or a whole class, there is a group tour option. The group virtual tour is about one hour long and will highlight three to five works of art. You can expect open-ended questions and some incorporated activities, based on things such as drawing, to encourage exploration and discovery of art.

Some more of New York – check out The Met virtual tour .

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• Smart Living

10 Incredible Museums Around the World You Can Virtually Visit Right Now

If you're self-isolating at home right now and getting a bit stir crazy, we feel you. Fortunately, so many museums also feel you , which is why these closed-down buildings are offering virtual tours of many of their exhibits through Google. Without ever leaving your home, you can see art literally all over the world. Museums from Tokyo to Los Angeles to Amsterdam to São Paulo have opened their (virtual) doors to the public so you can get some culture while you're stuck inside. Check out 10 of our favorites ahead, then head over to Google Arts & Culture to find even more.

Guggenheim Museum — New York City

New York City's Guggenheim Museum features an abundance of modern and contemporary art. You can virtually tour some of the current exhibits as well as other areas of the building.

Go on a virtual tour of the Guggenheim Museum.

Musee d'Orsay — Paris

View some of the most prolific pieces of art at Paris's Musee d'Orsay.

Go on a virtual tour of the Musee d'Orsay.

Uffizi Gallery — Florence, Italy

Now is a great time to show some love for Italy's Uffizi Gallery, which is chock-full of gorgeous art.

Go on a virtual tour of the Uffizi Gallery.

Van Gogh Museum — Amsterdam, Netherlands

You can check out a wide selection of Vincent van Gogh's work at this Amsterdam museum.

Go on a virtual tour of the Van Gogh Museum.

National Gallery of Art —Washington DC

This museum offers online access to a few popular exhibits as well as other pieces of art.

Go on a virtual tour of the National Gallery of Art.

Pergamonmuseum — Berlin

Go online to visit some of Berlin's most fascinating art and artifacts at this museum.

Go on a virtual tour of the Pergamonmuseum.

Louvre — Paris

Paris's most famous museum is offering online access to some of its iconic art on its website.

Go on a virtual tour of the Louvre.

British Museum — London

London's famed museum offers a huge amount of online access to its art exhibits, including the highly popular Rosetta Stone.

Go on a virtual tour of the British Museum.

The J. Paul Getty Museum — Los Angeles

View European art at LA's famous museum, including many iconic pieces on display in a few different collections.

Go on a virtual tour of the J. Paul Getty Museum.

The National Museum of Western Art — Tokyo

This Tokyo museum offers a ton of art online as well as videos with curators.

Go on a virtual tour of The National Museum of Western Art.

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Critic’s Notebook

Take a Virtual Tour of New York’s Museum District

With the Metropolitan Museum shut during its anniversary, our critic strolls with a historian along a posh stretch of Fifth Avenue called Museum Mile.

By Michael Kimmelman

The Metropolitan Museum was preparing to celebrate its 150th anniversary right about now. But with Covid-19, it has closed along with the Guggenheim, the Neue Galerie, the Cooper Hewitt and all the other museums along the tony stretch of the Upper East Side known as Museum Mile.

This is the second in a series of strolls exploring the city, a project that originated before New Yorkers went on pause and started sheltering at home, when taking a walk was still prescribed. Back then, I canvassed architects, historians and others for suggested routes, with the goal of distracting readers and reminding everyone that, though shuttered, the city remains glorious and isn’t going anywhere.

Andrew Dolkart is a professor of historic preservation at Columbia University and an architectural historian. He volunteered to talk about Museum Mile. With all that he had to say, we managed to cover about half a mile, keeping the recommended distance from each other and everyone else.

Like every installment in this series, what follows is edited, condensed and, for the time being, intended to be consumed at home, not on foot. Upcoming walks may be virtual. Mr. Dolkart and I met in mid-March at the corner of 78th and Fifth Avenue, outside the Institute of Fine Arts, one of the city’s most refined landmarks, a mansion modeled after an 18th-century chateau in Bordeaux, France.

Andrew Dolkart The plaque on the building calls it the James B. Duke House, though we should call it the James and Nanaline Duke House because not only men were involved in the design decisions.

James Duke was a self-made American, born a poor farm boy. He ended up running the tobacco industry. When he moved to New York he bought this plot and between 1909 and 1912 built a free-standing house, with a little moat in the front and a garden in the back. It’s very, very rare today to see a free-standing house in the middle of Manhattan. I chose to meet here because the whole block is unusual. For years, while this neighborhood was being developed, the owner of the block, Henry Cook, chose not to develop.

Then around the turn of the last century, he decided to divide his property up into lots, which meant the site was developed more or less at once, albeit by different designers and clients, making it one of the most architecturally cohesive and remarkable blocks in the city. Along Fifth Avenue between 78th and 79th Streets alone, there are four mansions and townhouses, all distinguished works by very important architects.

Michael Kimmelman Including 972 Fifth Avenue, the Beaux-Arts townhouse with the bowed facade next to the Duke House.

Dolkart Yes, it was designed by Stanford White as a wedding gift for Payne and Helen Whitney. It belongs to the French Embassy.

Duke hired Horace Trumbauer from Philadelphia to design his house. It’s a masterpiece. I love the winged female figures in diaphanous clothing carved into the spandrels at the entrance. We owe a debt to the anonymous, immigrant stone carvers who did this work. I should note many of Trumbauer’s best-known works were designed by the chief designer in his firm, Julian Abele , one of the first African-American architects in America. Abele designed the Duke campus, for example, although he by some accounts was never allowed to set foot on it.

I’ve read that Abele worked on the Duke house, interestingly — an African-American architect at the turn of the last century designing for a Southern-born tobacco baron on the Upper East Side.

The Upper East Side, even then, was not quite as homogeneous as some people think. Immigrant communities later established themselves further east. But more than just the superrich lived around Fifth Avenue. Predating the mansions, during the late 1860s, ’70s and ’80s, speculative developers built housing for middle- and upper-middle-class residents, like the brownstone rowhouses on the south side of 78th Street between Fifth and Madison. You see that side of the street looks very erratic today. That’s because later owners ripped off the old facades, many of which had stoops, so they could build fashionable townhouses out to the lot line.

Like Gilded Age proto-McMansions.

Before we leave here, I don’t want to forget another masterpiece, the Colonial Revival house on the southwest corner of Madison at 78th, No. 28. McKim, Mead & White designed it for Philip A. Rollins, who spent years out west, collected western art and wrote about cowboys. At a glance, somebody might think the house is less grand because the facade isn’t all stone. It’s red brick. But check out the brick. It’s in at least three different shades, some glazed — exquisitely crafted, with a rusticated limestone base and a glorious entry portico.

OK, we’ve now moved to 79th Street, between Fifth and Madison.

In “House of Mirth,” Edith Wharton’s heroine turns a corner and sees grand new houses, “fantastically varied, in obedience to the American craving for novelty.” Americans at the turn of the century felt they had inherited the whole of Western civilization, that it was theirs to do with as they wished.

So you get the Acquavella Galleries at 18 East 79th, designed in 1908 by Ogden Codman Jr., a Francophile, next to a building that looks like it was shipped from Bedford Square in London, next to two buildings that could have arrived straight from Beacon Hill, Boston. Then the block ends at the corner of 79th and Fifth with a chateau from the Loire Valley. Crazy and wonderful.

And it works together.

I think of this variety as Americanness. The corner chateau, for example, both fits in and stands out. It was designed by C.P.H. Gilbert, who studied architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, came back to the U.S., worked in mining towns, then became an architect for the very wealthy. He particularly loved this French chateau style, which he also used at the Warburg mansion, now the Jewish Museum, further up Museum Mile.

Today this is the Ukrainian Institute. Just stop and look at all the whimsical details, like the carved dragon fish in the railings and those figures in funny hats holding up the windows.

They’re facing north, across Fifth Avenue, toward the Met Museum.

Which of course is a building that, as much as any other, represents the optimism New York felt during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Wealthy New Yorkers had traveled to Europe, doing what tourists do today: going to museums, opera houses, zoos, botanical gardens. They realized if New York was going to become a great international capital it needed these things too. So, for several decades beginning in the 1880s, Carnegie Hall and the original Metropolitan Opera House were constructed, Columbia and City College established new campuses, the New York Public Library at 42nd Street was built, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art expanded along Fifth Avenue.

It moved from Midtown to downtown to a small building in Central Park designed by Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould, then to this site, which, significantly, looks out from the park onto the city. Richard Morris Hunt, the most prestigious architect in America, was hired to do the new building. Except for the stairs, which were enlarged 50 years ago, Hunt designed the central portion of what we see now, with the immense free-standing columns and arches and pedimented windows, including the three-bay wings to either side and the caryatid sculptures — allegories of painting, sculpture, architecture and music.

Hunt imagined lots of other sculptural ornaments that were never completed because the museum ran out of money. You notice those huge piles of stone on top of the columns? Hunt conceived them to be carved into allegorical sculptures. They never were but clearly the building announced its ambition. As the collection expanded, McKim, Mead & White added the wings to the north and south of Hunt’s building.

We’re walked a little further up Museum Mile, to 86th Street and Fifth.

To the Neue Galerie, which opened in 2001 in a mansion built in 1914 by William Starr Miller and Edith Warren Miller. Carrère and Hastings were the architects.

They designed the great 42nd Street Library.

Their masterpiece. Like the library, the Miller House is modeled on French precedents, in this case the Place des Vosges in Paris, with all the architectural drama focused on the three central bays along 86th Street, capped by this mansard roof with round windows. In 1944, the mansion was sold to Grace Vanderbilt, the widow of Cornelius Vanderbilt III. It’s one of the last great houses to survive as a single-family home. Then in 1955 the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, which collected material about Yiddish culture, bought the house. There are wonderful photographs of Yiddish researchers working amid the old fireplaces and moldings.

Then Ronald [S.] Lauder bought the building in 1996 and founded the Neue Galerie as a museum of Central European modernism.

Annabelle Selldorf did the conversion.

A German-born, New York-based modernist architect, she seemed a curious choice to many people because she wasn’t known for renovating historic buildings, but she did an absolutely spectacular job, so subtle — a superb example of how to fit a modern institution into a historic building in a way that’s both contemporary and incredibly sensitive to history.

Andrew, we’re passing Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim now. We can’t not mention it.

The building is unavoidable. In a sense, that’s its glory. New York is a fabric of buildings and most of them you don’t necessarily notice. Then there are a few masterpieces that stand apart like the Public Library and the Woolworth Building. The Guggenheim is another.

It creates its own weather system.

I would love to go back 60 years to when the museum opened and see people’s scandalized reactions, because now we can’t imagine Fifth Avenue without it. I will say that after spending my entire career in New York, involved with preservation and researching the history of buildings, the worst thing to happen to architecture in the city during that time is the addition the Guggenheim added in the 1990s.

Note to self: potential Twitter thread, #worstthingtohappentoarchitectureinthecity. One last stop?

The Cooper Hewitt. It is Andrew and Louise Carnegie’s former house, and the template for transforming Museum Mile mansions into modern museums. During the 1970s, Hugh Hardy did the conversion, a model of adaptive reuse.

The conversion preserved the great staircase inside and also the yellow herringbone bricks on the sidewalk outside the entrance. A few years ago the museum also revamped the garden and opened it free to the public. I believe Walter Hood led the design team.

Carnegie purchased the entire blockfront along Fifth Avenue between 90th and 91st Streets in 1898. Back then people thought he had moved to the country, this was still so far uptown and largely undeveloped. But he wanted room for a garden and he also bought up all the land around the house so he could sell it only to people whom he approved of, who would design buildings that complemented his.

He gerrymandered his own neighborhood .

With his house in the middle. The architects were Babb, Cook & Willard. The firm was more famous for doing commercial buildings than for residential ones, and some architect quipped at the time that Carnegie hired Babb, Cook because it was the only firm that didn’t solicit the job.

It’s not a masterpiece, in my opinion, but it has memorable details like the bronze-and-glass canopy and the enormous urns and chimneys that agitate the skyline.

We can’t leave before you explain those yellow herringbone bricks.

That was the vehicular entrance to the house for horse-drawn carriages. Note how the curbs are canted. The bricks held onto horses’ hooves, so the horses wouldn’t slip.

That’s the thing about looking at buildings in the city. You may not know why something looks the way it does. But there’s always a reason.

Michael Kimmelman is the architecture critic. He has reported from more than 40 countries, was previously The Times's chief art critic and, based in Berlin, created the Abroad column, covering cultural and political affairs across Europe and the Middle East. More about Michael Kimmelman

Art and Museums in New York City

A guide to the shows, exhibitions and artists shaping the city’s cultural landscape..

The Underground in the Gallery: Reynaldo Rivera’s indispensable archive of queer and Latino life on display at MoMA PS 1 leaves us intoxicated by the energy  of a world too long under the radar.

Hiroshige’s ‘100 Famous Views of Edo’: These vivid color woodblocks  at the Brooklyn Museum have much to teach Instagram, and even Murakami.

The Urge to Submerge: In New York’s art show of the summer, paint and prose meet in “The Swimmer,”  a psychoanalysis of John Cheever’s suburban nightmare of 1964.

The Graffiti Twins Take New York: Their street murals, monumental sculptures, intricate drawings and vivid paintings pop up at Lehmann Maupin gallery  on the eve of their Hirshhorn debut.

Looking For More Art?:  Here are the gallery shows not to miss in July .

The 11 Best NYC Virtual Tours and Concerts

Tour the city from the comfort of your home.

Are you stuck inside and missing New York City? We’ve got you! Despite widespread closures, there is a way for you to experience New York from the comfort of your home! Enjoy these virtual tours, exhibits, and concerts of cultural institutions for free.

You'll also love this:

• Museums in New York
• Free Museums in NYC
• NYC Live Cams

1. The Met 360° Project

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has offered virtual tours since 2016. The Met 360 Project lets you explore The Great Hall, the Temple of Dendur and even the Met Cloisters Garden from your couch. While the videos are playing, you are invited to actively participate. Instead of just watching a video, you can change the direction of the camera by clicking or tapping your finger and explore at your own leisure.

TOUR THE MET

2. American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History lets you explore different halls through Google. Seeing the American Museum of Natural History like this will remind you of “Night at the Museum” because you’ll have it all to yourself!

Tour the AMNH

3. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

In the same way that the American Museum of Natural History lets you tour the museum, New York’s Guggenheim Museum has also partnered with Google to bring you into the museum using the “Street View” mode. You can also walk the famous snail-shell-shaped corridor from the entrance to the very top!

Tour the Guggenheim

4. Nighly Met Opera Streams

Live events, including concerts, are affected by current regulations and cannot take place at all – kind of! Until the Metropolitan Opera reopens, it will stream its award-winning live-in HD series “Nightly Met Opera Streams” on their website. Attend the concerts live at 7:30 pm EDT or watch them within 20 hours.

Here’s the program:

• March 19: Verdi’s La Traviata
• March 20: Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment
• March 21: Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor
• March 22: Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin
• March 23: Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde
• March 24: Wagner’s Das Rheingold
• March 25: Wagner’s The Valkyrie
• March 26: Wagner’s Siegfried
• March 27: Wagner’s Twilight of the Gods
• March 28: Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
• March 29: Wagner’s Tannhäuseren

Attend a Met concert

5. Grand Central Terminal

The Grand Central Terminal is truly one of the most impressive buildings in New York and the whole world. It’s full of secrets, too. If you want to explore the famous train station yourself, you can do so with this interactive, virtual tour anytime.

Tour Grand Central Terminal

6. MoMA Online Exhibit

The Museum of Modern Art shares exhibits with you online. Sculptures, contemporary art, modern art, cubism – what are you going to admire first?

Tour the MoMA

7. Online Exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York

The Museum of the City of New York has now exhibited many of his works online, which you can view here. If you’ve already explored the MoMA, you should already be an expert at navigating Google Arts and Culture.

Tour the museum

8. Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Video Gallery

The aircraft carrier U.S.S. Intrepid does not offer a virtual tour in the same way that other cultural institutions do but their website offers a comprehensive video gallery. Some of the videos feature tour guides and behind-the-scenes footage.

tour the video gallery

9. Audio Tour of the 9/11 Memorial Museum (narrated by Robert de Niro)

A virtual tour of the 9/11 Memorial Museum is available to members only and a membership costs $75 a year. If you do not want to spend the money but still explore the museum, there is another option. I just downloaded their audio guide via the app (190 MB). It guides its listeners through the most important parts of the museum. The app is available for both iOS and for Android.

iOS or Android

10. Watch & Listen by Lincoln Center

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center has decided to live stream concerts to audiences at home. You can access a variety of concerts, even after they have been broadcast. Check out the list below.

Watch live streams

11. Stars in the House

As Broadway went dark, The Actors Fund quickly acted and created a mini-show called “Stars in the House” on Youtube. Every day, you get insight into Broadway actors’ lives and careers. Of course, the streams wouldn’t be complete without a live performance.

Stars in the House

The 36 Absolute Best Museums in New York

40 Free Museums in NYC – Free Museum Days in NYC

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These 12 Famous Museums Offer Virtual Tours You Can Take on Your Couch

Experience the best museums — from London to Seoul — from the comfort of your own home.

While there's nothing like setting foot inside an iconic museum and laying eyes on a world-famous sculpture created by a renowned artist centuries ago, it's not always possible to hop on a plane to New York City , Paris, or Florence to tour the gallery halls in person.

But there is a way to get a little culture and education while you're at home, gaining inspiration and intel for future trips as well. Google Arts & Culture has teamed up with more than 1,200 museums and galleries around the world to bring anyone and everyone virtual tours and online exhibits of some of the most famous museums around the world.

You get to "go to the museum" and never have to leave your couch.

Google Arts & Culture's collection includes The British Museum in London, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Guggenheim in New York City, and literally hundreds more places where you can gain knowledge about art, history, and science.

Take a look at just some of Google's top museums that are offering online tours and exhibits. And if you're seeking more thoughtful inspiration from the comfort of your own home, museums around the world are sharing their most zen art on social media . Or, for a dose of nature, you can go "outside" with incredible virtual tours of some of America's best national parks .

The British Museum, London

This iconic museum located in the heart of London allows virtual visitors to tour the Great Court and discover the ancient Rosetta Stone and Egyptian mummies. You can also find hundreds of artifacts on The Museum of the World interactive website, a collaboration between The British Museum and Google Cultural Institute.

Guggenheim, New York

Google's Street View feature lets visitors tour the Guggenheim's famous spiral staircase without ever leaving home. From there, you can discover incredible works of art from the impressionist, post-impressionist, modern, and contemporary eras.

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

This famous American art museum features two online exhibits through Google. The first is an exhibit of American fashion from 1740 to 1895, including many renderings of clothes from the colonial and Revolutionary eras. The second is a collection of works from Dutch baroque painter Johannes Vermeer.

Musée d’Orsay, Paris

You can virtually walk through this popular gallery that houses dozens of famous works from French artists who worked and lived between 1848 and 1914. Get a peek at artworks from Monet, Cézanne, and Gauguin, among others.

Don Eim/Travel + Leisure

National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul

One of Korea's popular museums can be accessed from anywhere around the world. Google's virtual tour takes you through six floors of contemporary art from Korea and all over the globe.

Pergamon Museum, Berlin

As one of Germany's largest museums, Pergamon has a lot to offer — even if you can't physically be there . This historical museum is home to plenty of ancient artifacts including the Ishtar Gate of Babylon and, of course, the Pergamon Altar.

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Explore masterpieces from the Dutch Golden Age, including works from Vermeer and Rembrandt. Google offers a Street View tour of this iconic museum, so you can feel as if you're actually wandering its halls.

Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Anyone who's a fan of this tragic, ingenious painter can see his works up close (or, almost up close ) by virtually visiting this museum, home to the largest collection of artworks by Vincent van Gogh, including more than 200 paintings, 500 drawings, and 750 personal letters.

The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

European artworks from as far back as the eighth century can be found in this California art museum. Take a Street View tour to discover a huge collection of paintings, drawings, sculptures, manuscripts, and photographs.

Uffizi Gallery, Florence

This less well-known gallery houses the art collection of one of Florence's most famous families, the de' Medicis. The building was designed by Giorgio Vasari in 1560 specifically for Cosimo I de' Medici, but anyone can wander its halls from anywhere in the world .

MASP, São Paulo

The Museu de Arte de São Paulo is a nonprofit and Brazil's first modern museum. Artworks placed on clear, raised frames make it seem like they're hovering in midair. Take a virtual tour to experience the wondrous display for yourself.

National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City

Built in 1964, this museum is dedicated to the archaeology and history of Mexico's pre-Hispanic heritage. There are 22 exhibit rooms filled with ancient artifacts, including some from the Maya civilization.

Not all popular art museums and galleries are included in Google Arts & Culture's collection, but some have taken it upon themselves to offer online visits. For example, the Louvre offers virtual tours on its website .

To see more of Google Arts & Culture's collection of museums, visit its website . There are thousands of museum Street Views on Google as well. Google Arts & Culture also has an online experience for exploring famous historic and cultural heritage sites .

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MOPD Virtual Activities Toolkit

This is a guide for people with disabilities on accessible things to do from home. It contains activities such as virtual events, museum tours, workouts, performances, podcasts and more. Some of the events are live on platforms such as Zoom or Google Meet, or through phone conferences. Others are recorded and can be experienced at any time. The majority of programs featured on this list are free while others have fees but use a sliding scale to accommodate attendees of all income levels.

Note: The City of New York does not endorse any programs or events highlighted in this guide.

Click a topic, or press the enter key on a topic, to reveal its answer.

Tech, Advocacy and Education

Future insights (live):.

Future In Sight is a nonprofit providing a full array of services for those with vision loss.  We are featuring opportunities on Zoom for those who are blind and visually impaired to bring accessibility to activities and technology workshops over Zoom.  Activities vary from examples of book club discussions, TV theme songs trivia to a virtual visit to Greece.  Our technology workshops open doors to every day living, work and play by learning everything from accessible games, Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, social platforms, podcasting, Siri and VoiceOver and more.  They are all about how to access your computer, smart phone or tablet with magnification options, speech capabilities and bringing confidence, ease of access and skills to build success.  Again, they are open to those with vision loss.  Please contact Stephanie Hurd, Assistive Technology/Activities Specialist. [email protected]

Visions Workshops and Classes (Live):

Visions Services for the Blind has weekly events open to individuals with vision loss. The events include workshops for job seekers. Guest speakers include hiring managers, diversity and inclusion specialists, recruiters, Workforce One and other community partners. They also have classes on assistive technology. To learn more and be added to the email list, contact Michael Cush.   [email protected]

Disability History NYC (Virtual Gallery):

This site is dedicated to the tales, the accomplishments, the leaders and the legends of the disability community in the City of New York. It is a little-known but ever-evolving chronicle as old as the City itself.

On the site you will find profiles of the pioneers of the past and present, the sites of great human rights battles, stories of struggle, persistence and eventual success. The New York City Disability Rights Movement is the work of generations past, present and future.

The website is accessible to screen readers and other assistive technologies. All images have detailed image descriptions and the content is available in both text and audio formats. Checkout the website for more. Disability History NYC Website

Our History - Gaining Access (Virtual Gallery):

In honor of the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities has assembled and digitized a virtual exhibit on the disability rights movement. This virtual gallery is based on the first museum exhibition about the New York City Disability Rights Movement presented at the Brooklyn Historical Society on July 1, 2015 in honor of the 25th anniversary of the ADA and curated by Warren Shaw. Our History Virtual Exhibit

Microsoft Ability Summit 2021:

Ability Summit is a two-day, free digital event experience that brings together people with disabilities, allies, and accessibility professionals to Imagine, Build, Include, and Empower the future of disability inclusion and accessibility. We encourage all to join on May 5-6, 2021 and spread the word throughout your internal and external communities! Microsoft Ability Summit 2021 Page Watch the Ability Summit Announcement Video on YouTube

Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library (Live)

The Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library is offering one-on-one tech coaching, a weekly Braille study group, virtual visits where your class or company team can learn about accessible technology, virtual tactile graphics design lessons and a range of online gatherings including tech workshops and book groups.

Email [email protected] if you would like to receive announcements about upcoming activities.

To arrange one-on-one coaching, suggest a workshop, volunteer your time or learn more about the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library Tech Team, please email [email protected] or call them at 212-621-0627.

American Foundation for the Blind

Afb virtual conference (live/recorded):.

The American Foundation for the Blind has moved their annual conference to virtual space. This conference features sessions on remote learning, inclusive remote working, assistive technology and more. Sessions are live and then archived for you to listen at your convenience. All sessions are audio described and captioned. AFB Virtual Conference page .

AFB Hellen Keller Virtual Archive (Virtual gallery):

You can explore the first ever fully accessible Digital Helen Keller Archive — the world's largest repository of letters, speeches, press clippings, scrapbooks, photographs, architectural drawings, artifacts and audio-video materials relating to Helen Keller. Keller was a feminist, a suffragist, a social activist, and a pacifist, as well as a prolific writer and published author. May she continue to serve as an example to us all. Hellen Keller Virtual Archive

Museums and Art

Below is a selection of live and recorded museum tours. Live events are held on virtual platforms or on phone conferences. Recorded content can be accessed on the museum website or on platforms such as Sound Cloud.

Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum (Live)

The Intrepid Museum offers regularly scheduled programs for individuals with disabilities and their families and customized programs for schools and organizations. All Museum programs currently take place virtually, and include enhanced sensory opportunities and support social-emotional and academic goals. Programs relate to history and STEM. In 2021, programs include Access Family Programs for individuals with developmental disabilities; Not-So-Early Morning Openings and Sensory Friendly Evenings for individuals with autism; Verbal Description Tours for individuals who are blind or have low vision; Stories Within and Tea Dances for individuals with dementia; and All Access Maker Camp. For more information, please visit the website or email [email protected] . Intrepid Museum Access Overview Webpage

The Tenement Museum Verbal Description and ASL Tours (Live)

The Tenement Museum holds monthly verbal description tours via Zoom for visitors who are blind or have low vision. They will also host a few virtual ASL tours in 2021. To find out more and/or to be put on the email list for these tours please contact Julia Mushlako. Voice Phone: 646-518-3041 Email: [email protected]

Noguchi Museum (Virtual):

Seen and Unseen is a monthly series of virtual tours for adults who are blind or have low vision, leading participants through interactive experiences with Isamu Noguchi’s art. This month, join us in exploring sculptures Noguchi made inspired by his travels around the globe. Email [email protected] or visit the calendar of accessible events for more info. Noguchi Museum Access Calendar

The Museum of Modern Art (Live)

The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) has online verbal description tours, American Sign Language discussions as well as programming for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities. To find out more, visit their website or email [email protected] . MOMA Access Page

"The Journey" (Virtual Gallery):

In honor of the 30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities is proud to present "The Journey" a virtual exhibition of artists with disabilities. We received over 100 submissions of which we selected our favorite 30 submissions for the exhibition. Special thank you to our panel of judges from YAI Arts and Culture, The Met, Positive Exposure, Fountain House, Shield Institute and The League Center. “The Journey” Virtual Gallery

Poster House Remote Verbal Description Tours (Live):

Every month, Poster House offers Remote Vibrant Verbal Description Tours specifically for the low vision and blind community. Explore one of the museum's shows with our Chief Curator who is trained in the art of verbal description, and learn more about the history of printed posters.

Please email [email protected] or call 917-722-2439 x413 to sign up for these events. You will be emailed poster images for reference as well as information about accessing the teleconference the morning of the virtual tour. Tours start promptly and will last approximately 90 minutes with questions.

Park McArthur Fantasies Exhibit Essex Street (Virtual Gallery):

Park McArthur is a disabled artist that makes work that often responds to the institutional and architectural context of exhibition spaces. Park’s work is available on the Essex Street Gallery website as videos with audio description and captions as well as images with alt-text. Park McArthur Exhibition Page Audio Described and Captioned Videos of Park McArthur’s Exhibition Images with Alt-text of Park McArthur’s Exhibition

Smithsonian Museum’s Audio Description of Presidential Portraits (Recorded)

The Portrait Gallery has developed audio descriptions of select portraits from our signature exhibition, “America’s Presidents.” Designed for people who are blind or have low vision, these descriptions use precise, evocative language to convey the visual appearance of art, and are equally valuable for sighted visitors seeking closer observation. We will continue to add to this list over time. Audio Description of Presidential Portraits

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Live)

The Met will be holding tours for visitors who are blind or partially sighted, visitors with dementia and visitors with developmental disabilities and those on the autism spectrum. The programs are held live on virtual platforms. To find the next scheduled program visit the Met Access page . You can also checkout the Met Access Facebook page for more content.

Met Signs Tours (Live/Recorded):

Starting fall of 2021, join us online for Met Signs Tours. Explore works of art through engaging conversations with Met experts. Presented in American Sign Language with closed captioning. Visit the Met signs tours page for more details. The Met Signs Tours

The Guggenheim Museum

Guggenheim collection highlights in american sign language(recorded):.

To continue celebrating the ideas, people, and art at the core of its mission, the Guggenheim invites you to enjoy new videos in American Sign Language on collection artworks. Featuring Alexandria Wailes, the closed caption videos discuss select works in the current exhibitions Knotted, Torn, Scattered: Sculpture after Abstract Expressionism, on view through August 2, and Off the Record, on view through September 27. To view the videos, check out the YouTube playlist below. Guggenheim Collection Highlights in ASL – YouTube Playlist

Guggenheim Verbal Description Tours (Live)

The Access department at the Guggenheim Museum has a series of upcoming virtual verbal description tours for folks who are blind or have low vision. Email: [email protected] Voice Phone: 212-360-4355. Guggenheim Website

Guggenheim Online Verbal Descriptions from the Thannhauser Collection (Recorded)

The Guggenheim has a Verbal Description audio guide of select works from the Thannhauser Collection on Guggenheim.org and SoundCloud. Designed for people who are blind or have low vision, Verbal Description uses precise, evocative language to convey the visual appearance of art, which is equally valuable for sighted visitors seeking closer observation of works of art. The Thannhauser guide includes descriptions, contextual information for key artworks from the Collection, a history of the collection and a description of the gallery space that holds it. The audio is freely available to stream from home. Verbal Description for the Guggenheim Thannhauser Collection

The Whitney Museum of American Art

The whitney museum verbal description calls (live).

The Access and Community Programs department at the Whitney holds verbal description tours over phone conferences once a month. Voice Phone: 646-666-5574 Email: [email protected] Whitney Access Programs Page

The Whitney Museum of American Art Audio Guides and ASL Videos (Recorded)

The Whitney Museum has online audio guides and videos in American Sign Language featuring insights from artists, curators, and other notable experts. With guides available for kids, videos in ASL, accessible transcripts, and Spanish translations, there's something for everyone to enjoy. Whitney Museum Audio Guides Whitney Museum ASL Information

New York City Parks (Virtual gallery)

Nyc parks public art map (virtual gallery).

New York City Parks has created a map of public art installations across NYC. The map has been enhanced for accessibility and parts of the collection have detailed descriptions of the art as well as rich historical facts. NYC Public Art Map

NYC Parks Disability Awareness Online Exhibition (Virtual gallery)

The Poe Park Visitor Center proudly presents a Disability Awareness Virtual Exhibition. The exhibition features moving, powerful, and thought-provoking works from emerging and established artists living with physical, mental, neurological, and/or emotional conditions. All works of art featured in this virtual exhibition are described for blind visitors using alt-text. NYC Parks Disability Awareness Virtual Exhibition

Deaf NYC List of ASL Tours (Live)

Deaf NYC has a list of ASL events and museum tours in ASL that is regularly updated. Deaf NYC All Events webpage

Performances and Podcasts

Below is a selection of recorded performances and podcasts. It includes audio productions made for radio, theater performances that were recorded live as well as disability talk shows. They are available on the publisher's website or on popular podcast platforms.

Daniel's Music Foundation Virtual Community (Live/recorded)

Daniel's Music Foundation (DMF) Virtual Live Events are a way to keep us all connected through music, regardless of where we are or what's happening in the world. We offer a variety of events, for all ages and abilities. New events are added constantly, so stop by often and sign up to attend. We invite you to explore all of our events and look forward to having you join us online. And if you miss an event, it will be recorded and available. Both live and recorded events can be found on the DMF virtual community page. DMF Virtual Community page

Music for Autism Virtual Concerts (Recorded)

Music for Autism is enhancing quality of life and raising public awareness through autism-friendly, interactive concerts developed specifically for individuals with autism and their families. The concerts feature professional musicians, including Tony Award winners, Grammy-nominated classical artists, and Pulitzer Prize winners. Welcome to our virtual concerts! Five performances are available on the Music for Autism YouTube Channel. Music for Autism YouTube Channel

Alvin Ailey's Revelations with Audio Description

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts has audio described Alvin Ailey’s signature masterpiece, 'Revelations.' It is available on their YouTube Channel for a limited time. The piece pays homage to and reflects African-American cultural heritage, which Ailey considered one of America’s richest treasures – "sometimes sorrowful, sometimes jubilant, but always hopeful." Alvin Ailey's Revelations Audio described on Youtube

WNYC Shakespeare's Richard II Radio Dramatization (Recorded)

In July of 2020, WNYC In Collaboration with The Public Theater aired Shakespeare's Richard II on the Radio. Saheem Ali directed this radio adaptation of Richard II, the Bard's take on how the title monarch lost his crown. André Holland (Moonlight) stars, and the supporting cast includes Oscar winner Estelle Parsons, Tony winner Phylicia Rashad and Tony nominee John Douglas Thompson. Audio recordings of the production are available as four podcast episodes on the WNYC website. Richard II on WNYC

Podcasts about NYC (Recorded)

NYC Go has created a website called Virtual NYC where folks can enjoy NYC attractions from home. The list can be filtered by podcasts. Topics include audio dramas, dance, comedy, script readings and public art. NYC Go List of Podcasts

Theatre Development Fund (Recorded)

TDF has put together a page of sources where people can listen to audio dramas. This includes performances on Audible Theatre, LA Theatre works and many podcasts available on your favorite podcast platform. Theatre Development Fund Audio Plays

At the Table - A Play Reading Series (Recorded)

This audio theatre series features new 10 to 20-minute plays by emerging playwrights starring New York stage vets such as Kristolyn Lloyd (Dear Evan Hansen) and Alyssa May Gold (How I Learned to Drive). Interviews with the artists are also available. New episodes are released every other Friday. Listen on their website or subscribe to their podcast on your favorite podcast streaming platform. Listen to At the Table audio plays online

Broadway Records Listening Parties (Recorded)

Broadway Records recently launched a series of online listening parties. Artists involved in original cast recordings and solo albums listen to tracks and then chat about them. While there is a visual component to these gatherings as the artists appear on screen, listening is what's key here. New listening parties are released on select Fridays Listen to Broadway Records Listening Parties on YouTube

BBC Radio 4 Audio Dramas (Recorded)

The BBC has free audio dramas for anyone to listen to. Audio dramas are performances with multiple voice actors, sound effects and music. Checkout their website and browse their collection. Collection of BBC Radio 4 Audio Dramas Online

Free Audio Dramas by L.A. Theatre Works (Recorded)

L.A. Theatre Works has some audio performances that are free and available online. Below is a list of some of their offerings. Note: for screen reader users, the play button does not have a label. M. Butterfly by L.A. Theatre Works A Raisin in the Sun by L.A. Theatre Works The Graduate by L.A. Theatre Works The Importance of being Earnest by L.A. Theatre Works Lost in Yonkers by L.A. Theatre Works Park your Car in Harvard Yard by L.A. Theatre Works Pride and Prejudice by L.A. Theatre Works Crumbs from the Table of Joy by L.A. Theatre Works The Hound of the Baskervilles by L.A. Theatre Works

The Accessible Stall – A disability Podcast

Emily Ladau and Kyle Khachadurian attempt to untangle the giant web of disability. Their podcast features interviews with disability advocates, discussions about accessibility and the disability community. Listen on their website or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. The Accessible Stall Website

The Bright Sessions Science fiction Podcast (Recorded)

The Bright Sessions is a science fiction podcast that follows a group of therapy patients. But these are not your typical patients - each has a unique supernatural ability. The show documents their struggles and discoveries as well as the motivations of their mysterious therapist, Dr. Bright.

You can listen for free on the Bright Sessions website or on most podcast platforms.

Dance, Fitness and Yoga

Below is a selection of workouts for various disability groups. The list includes dance classes, audio described workouts for people who are blind or have low vision as well as workouts modified for people with mobility disabilities. Some programs are recorded and can be accessed on the website of the publisher while others are reoccurring live events that take place on virtual conference platforms.

NYC Parks Fitness for All (Live):

Starting Monday April 12th at 8 AM, NYC Department of Parks and Recreation will be hosting a free five week virtual adaptive fitness class! Classes will be 30 minutes long and all exercises can be done from a seated position. Classes will be every Monday at 8 AM. Learn more by checking out the Parks events calendar. NYC Parks Events Calendar  

Dances for a Variable Population (Live/Recorded):

Founded in 2005 by dancer / choreographer/ master teacher Naomi Goldberg Haas, Dances for a Variable Population (DVP) is a multi-generational dance company and educational organization promoting strong and creative movement among all people with a special focus on older adults. Using the power of dance to build community, DVP creates lively, fun and beautifully executed theatrical dance with diverse individuals and professional dancers. Their live and recorded remote programming includes classes on movement and fitness. To find out more, visit their remote programs page. DVP Remote Programs Page

New Victory Dance (Recorded):

New Victory Theater shares recorded dance performances from New York City's most exciting dance companies, along with home activities that are accessible to view. The videos are recommended for kids age 8 years and up. Each chapter is 20 to 25 minutes long, audio described, captioned and is available in American Sign Language. Find out more information on the New Victory Theater website. New Victory Dance

Daniel’s Music Foundation On Demand (Recorded):

Daniel’s Music Foundation (DMF) On-Demand is a free online resource within our Online Community for fun, interactive, recreational music and movement activities for people of all abilities and skills (including anyone with no prior musical experience). We encourage everyone to explore all of the videos from the comfort of your home to learn and enjoy music on your own schedule. Content is updated weekly, so be sure to visit us regularly to check out what’s new from DMF. Daniel’s Music Foundation On Demand page

Krishna Washburn's Dark Room Ballet (Live)

Krishna Christine Washburn's Dark Room is a Ballet class for people who are blind or have low vision. It is held on Zoom every Monday evening from 8 PM to 9:30 PM Eastern Time. Classes are currently in session and will be held for the foreseeable future.

Participants are welcome regardless of previous dance experience! Krishna is a professional dancer and instructor, with plenty of experience accommodating the needs of a variety of students. While “ballet” is in the name, and the classes are ballet-based, Dark Room Ballet participants develop a broad toolbox of critical skills that prepare them to sign up for an intro dance class in any style elsewhere in the future.

Classes are currently available at no charge. If you would like to join the class or have any questions, please contact Krishna directly at the email listed below. [email protected]

Access Dance Company (Live)

Learn AXIS repertoire, deepen your yoga practice, discover new wheelchair skills and more with AXIS Workshops Online! We are thrilled to expand our online offerings with these weekly workshops on a variety of subjects, all available for you for you to participate in at home via Zoom. Cost is sliding-scale $0, $5 or $10 per workshop. All classes will be held on Wednesdays from 2:30 - 4:00pm, PST. Access Dance Company Online Events page

Heidi Latsky Dance Virtual Events (Live)

HLD is a mixed dance company and they are holding multiple events and classes every week. Their events are live and held on platforms such as Instagram Live and Zoom Meetings. Heidi Latsky Dance Virtual Events page

Accessible Fitness with Jonathon

Every Sunday from 11:00am to noon, Jonathon Epstein facilitates an Accessible Workout on Zoom.  All you need for these audio-described, adaptable, FREE, at-home workouts is space to move and some water.  Sessions include stretching, yoga, cardio and core strength exercises.  Jonathon suggests modifications for each movement and makes accommodations for the needs of each participant.  Some folks stay on the call after to socialize and catch up with the community. To learn more, email Jonathon at [email protected] or visit the Facebook page listed below. Accessible Fitness with Jonathon Facebook Page

Intandem Bike (Live)

A group that provides cycling opportunities for people with disabilities has put together a calendar of online exercises, discussions, information sessions and educational opportunities. Checkout their calendar to learn more. List of InTandem Virtual Events

The Axis Project (Live)

The Axis Project is an initiative that promotes the health and fitness of people with mobility disabilities. They hold weekly virtual events and workshops on Facebook live. Examples include adaptive workouts, yoga, cooking classes and more. Axis Project on Facebook

Adaptive Climbing Group (Live)

Adaptive Climbing Group is holding weekly events on Instagram live which include adaptive workouts, guest speakers and Netflix movie nights. ACG Online Registration Form

Blind Alive Audio Workouts (Recorded)

Blind Alive is the home of a complete set of an Eyes-Free Fitness audio exercise program. All programs are completely free for your downloading pleasure -- no strings attached. These programs allow you to stretch, strengthen, condition, and tone your body, all without the benefit of eyesight. All of these programs are thoroughly described with extra supplementary audio and text materials, should they be needed. Blind Alive Website

Achilles International Virtual Workouts (Recorded)

Achilles International is offering at-home workouts led by an all-star coaching duo, Michael Anderson, (NYC Chapter Director and RRCA Certified Coach) and Francesco Magisano (Para-triathlete and Director of the Achilles Triathlon program). Workouts are posted to the Achilles Facebook Page five times per week and include sessions that emphasize cardio, strength training, stretching and yoga. Workouts are accessible and, whenever possible, feature descriptive video. Achilles YouTube Channel Achilles Virtual Training Programs Webpage

Adapt to Perform YouTube Channel (Recorded)

Ben Clark is a YouTuber that has created video workouts that are adapted for people with mobility disabilities. Adapt to Perform YouTube Channel

New York City Parks Adaptive Workouts (Recorded)

NYC Parks has recorded a workout that is both descriptive and modified for folks with mobility disabilities. NYC Parks @ Home: Adaptive Workouts with Household Items on Twitter NYC Parks @ Home: Adaptive Workouts with Household Items on Facebook

Suggest a Virtual Event to be added to this list

If you have suggestions for virtual events that are free and accessible, you can Contact the Digital Accessibility Coordinator

Exploring the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Celebrate the guggenheim museum bilbao in its 25th anniversary, in collaboration with, discover "artetik: from the art", an online experiment and a physical installation on art and emotions., feel art with the guggenheim museum bilbao collection, can art help us better understand our emotions, choose your way to explore the museum, never-before-seen ways to explore the icon of bilbao, explore the collection in new ways, the architecture, new perspectives of the museum, a crossword puzzle, test your knowledge, highlights from the collection, modern and contemporary art: from 1950 to the present, discover the masterpieces from the collection, explore the works of mark rothko or yves klein among others., the hidden details, take a guided tour through seven outstanding paintings from the museum's collection, kathreiner’s morgenlatte, the land of the two rivers, mrs lenin and the nightingale, flamingo capsule, man from naples, pick your favorite color, the guggenheim museum bilbao rainbow, the guggenheim museum bilbao as you've never seen it, a pinnacle in frank gehry’s outstanding architectural career, "bending gravity at the guggenheim museum bilbao", a freerunner in the museum, behind-the-scenes, the story behind the film, two contemporary talents, trashhand and johan tonnoir, through an artist's eye, breathtaking images from the perspective of two amazing photographers, the construction of the museum, aitor ortiz, an urban photographer's eye, take a virtual tour around the guggenheim museum bilbao, walk through the interior of the museum and its terraces with a 360° view, crosswords: test your guggenheim museum bilbao knowledge, cultural crosswords, get cultured through word puzzles, street views.