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With more than 50 art museums and hundreds of galleries, New York City is a mecca for art lovers. Venerable institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim share city space with upstarts displaying the avant-garde and museums that celebrate a single culture or art form. Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum The Cooper-Hewitt, part of the Smithsonian Institution, is exclusively dedicated to historic and contemporary design. Twenty-four centuries of human design are exhibited in the museum, which is housed in the Andrew Carnegie Mansion. Admission as of 2010 is $15 for adults, and $10 for senior citizens and students. There is no admission charge for children under 12. Cooper-Hewitt is open daily. Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum 2 East 91st St. New York, NY 10128 212-849-8400 cooperhewitt.org Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art's mission is to educate the public about cartoon and comic art, how it’s made a...

Ireland witnessed its own small renaissance in the 17th century, with a resurgence of homegrown artists and this spirit is preserved in several museums that are dedicated to both local and international works. From modern art to Dutch masters, Ireland's museums, centered in Dublin, are dedicated to preserving great works of art, particularly those by native artists, and to educating the public. National Gallery of Ireland The home of Ireland's national art collection, this museum houses an impressive collection, featuring not only a substantial collection of Irish art, dating from the 17th century to the present, but also significant Italian, Dutch and French works as well. Significant pieces in the collection include renaissance altarpieces by Fra Angelico, a recently rediscovered Caravaggio, and paintings by Titian, Poussin, Vermeer and Ireland's own Jack B. Yeats. In addition to art, the museum also offers classes in various art forms, including drawing and pa...

In Paris, museums most often mean art. And so it follows that famous museums in Paris are of that type. The major ones are so large that it would take many hours and cause much aching of feet to see all they have on display. If you're an art lover, though, this scenario sounds like serious fun--enough to make that flight over the Atlantic worth it. The Louvre The Louvre Museum began as a fortification in the 12th century and grew into a palace that ultimately was the grand home of King Louis XIV. Its beginnings as a museum can be traced to 1793, when the Museum Central des Arts opened in a part of the palace. By 1882, it had been entirely transformed into the Louvre as we know it. This greatest of art museums owns a collection of 35,000 works, with paintings dating from the 12th century to the present, covering all European schools and sculpture from antiquity to the mid-19th century. Its most iconic works include "Winged Victory," "Venus de Milo" and ...

Since the Byzantine era, Russian art has been as dramatic and distinguished as the country's literature, playing a significant global role in the arts and reflecting important social and cultural changes throughout the centuries. Russian art of the 17th and 18th centuries demonstrates European and western influence, but the social reform and more liberal forces of the 19th century re-shaped Russian art into a unique body of artistic styles. Exploring Russian culture and history through the collections and exhibitions of the country's most famous museums provides a stimulating and awe-inspiring educational experience. Russia's famous art museums are found in the capital city of Moscow, as well as the country's second largest city of St. Petersburg.   Moscow Museum of Modern Art The Moscow Museum of Modern Art (MMoMA), situated in the historical Tverskoy District of Moscow, is the first Russian state museum centered exclusively on 20th and 21st-century art, and p...

For most visitors to Russia, its rivers are noticed only while crossing a bridge or strolling along an embankment, as pleasant backdrops to sights that command more attention. To experience Russia only from the land, however, is to miss a central feature of its character, for river travel has stood at the heart of Russian life for millenia. All of the greatest cities of European Russia have since their foundation been intimately associated with the rivers that they adjoin. Moscow, for example, sits at the confluence of the Moskva and the Neglina, and St. Petersburg and Novgorod lay on the Volhov. The greatest of Russia's rivers, however, is the Volga. At 2,300 miles (3,700 km), it is the longest river in Europe, navigable for virtually its entire length. It was along the Volga that the ancient trade routes of Russia were developed, giving rise to a whole string of trading posts, fortresses, and towns during medieval times. Yaroslavl, Uglich, Kostroma, and Nizhni Novgorod, fo...

From icons and onion domes to suprematism and the Stalin baroque, Russian art and architecture seems to many visitors to Russia to be a rather baffling array of exotic forms and alien sensibilities. Without any sense of the rich tradition of Russian culture, an appreciation of the country's enormous artistic wealth becomes a game of historical anecdote--"the church where so-and-so took refuge from what's-his-name"--or a meaningless collection of aesthetic baubles--"I like the blue domes the best." In fact, Russian art and architecture are not nearly so difficult to understand as many people think, and knowing even a little bit about why they look the way they do and what they mean brings to life the culture and personality of the entire country.  ICONS The tradition of icon painting was inherited by the Russians from Byzantium, where it began as an offshoot of the mosaic and fresco tradition of early Byzantine churches. During the 8th and 9th cen...