8 world-famous museums you can visit today – from the comfort of your sofa

We are facing into a week of a lot of indoor time.

And I am sure, you, like me, are wondering how you are going to fill the hours. I know we'll be doing a little bit of school work, a lot of arts and crafts, some baking – and also going for hikes and walks on the beach if the weather allows it – fresh air is more important than ever right now. But I reckon we'll still have some hours to fill. Luckily, I recently discovered that you can visit all these amazing world-class museums online – all from the comfort of your own home. So while the world at the minute is pretty much closed off, and all our dreams of travel will remain just that for a while – a dream – that doesn't mean we can't take in some sights from around the world – and plan for a time when we can again take our kids and go explore the world. Are you ready? Here are eight museums to take a virtual tour of today: 1. THE LOUVRE

The Louvre is not only one of the world’s largest art museums, but it’s also one of Paris’ most iconic historic buildings. Lucky for us, the museum offers free online tours of some of its most important and popular exhibits, such as its Egyptian Antiquities and works from Michelangelo.

As well as this, you can take a 360-degree look at the museum, and click around the rare artefacts to get additional information on their histories.

2. THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART You might not be able to travel to New York City right now, but fear not – you can check out The Met and some of its most impressive pieces, including works from Vincent van Gogh, Jackson Pollock, and Giotto di Bondone, online.

The Met is home to over two million works of fine art, and the museum works with the Google Cultural Institute to make even more artwork (that’s not featured in its own online collection) available for view.

3. NASA Yep, that's right – you can take free virtual tours of NASA's Space Center in Houston, with a wise-cracking animated robot named “Audima” as your tour guide. 4. VATICAN MUSEUM Rome might be inaccessible to us right now, but this beautiful city is home to The Vatican and all the amazing pieces of art that live there – and lucky for us, you can take a virtual tour of the museum grounds and iconic exhibits, including Michelangelo’s ceiling of The Sistine Chapel. 5. GOOGLE ART PROJECT Google has partnered with more than 60 museums and galleries from around the world to archive and document priceless pieces of art and to provide virtual tours of museums using Google Street View technology. The Google Art Project features fine art from the White House, the Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar, and even São Paulo street art from Brazil. Check out a complete list of museums you can visit online through the Google Art Project and the Google Cultural Institute. 6. DALÍ THEATRE-MUSEUM A trip to Spain might not be on the cards right now, but right now, you can check out some of the amazing art at the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres in Catalonia – all from the comfort of your home. The Dalí Theatre-Museum is dedicated to the artwork of Salvador Dalí, and features many rooms and exhibits surrounding every era of Dalí’s life and career, and the artist himself is buried here. 7. BRITISH MUSEUM

London’s British Museum has made some of its pieces viewable online, and with a collection that totals more than eight million objects, there is plenty to see.

The museum also teamed up with the Google Cultural Institute to offer virtual tours using Google Street View technology.

8. SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM Not only is the building itself, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, absolutely amazing, but the works of art you find at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum are also world-famous and utterly priceless.

The museum makes some of its collections and exhibits available online for people and students who want to get a taste of what the museum can offer, including works from Franz Marc, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, and Jeff Koons.