Museums and galleries offer us a glimpse into worlds and lives; cultures and worlds that can seem stranger than fiction. And unlike the dusty, gloomy halls of old, with their scruffy, sad-looking stuffed animals, today\u2019s best museums are immersive, high-tech, multimedia marvels. Serving more than 160 destinations around the world from their Doha hub, Hamad International Airport, Qatar Airways\u2019 crew get to go lots of places, often. They share some views about their favourite museums:<\/p>\n
The Smithsonian Institution<\/strong><\/a>, Washington DC and Chantilly, VA, USA:<\/strong> The world\u2019s biggest museum, education, and research complex, including 19 museums and the National Zoo. It\u2019s so vast that it can be overwhelming. How big, exactly? Spend one minute, 24\/7 looking at objects on display and in 10 years you\u2019ll only have seen 10% of the facility, so it\u2019s simply impossible to see everything on display. Not surprisingly, the Qatar team recommend the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum<\/a>, which includes air- and spacecraft that changed the world, like the Wright Brothers\u2019 1903 Wright Flyer, the Apollo 11 command module Columbia and a Lockheed SR71 Blackbird. The Commercial Aviation exhibition includes an Air France Concorde, the world’s first supersonic airliner, and the space shuttle Discovery<\/em>. The permanent \u201cAmerica by Air\u201d exhibition traces the role of aviation in the country\u2019s development. Take a virtual tour<\/a>.<\/p>\n The National Museum of Qatar<\/strong><\/a>: Designed by architect Jean Nouvell, the museum is built in the shape of a desert rose crystal, which is found in the surrounding desert. The exhibitions follow roughly chronological order, dealing with the natural history of the Gulf region, and traces the Qatari nation\u2019s evolution and heritage: in essence, a tiny population of mostly Bedouin fishing communities, through the pearl-diving boom and its subsequent decline due to the development of cultured pearls, then the discovery of oil and natural gas, and the massive development and investment that\u2019s borne of the state with Singapore. The Qatar crew\u2019s tip: make a point of seeing the Pearl Carpet of Baroda, woven with 1.5m pearls harvested from the Gulf, as well as rubies, emeralds, sapphires, diamonds and gold thread. The carpet was originally intended to adorn the Prophet\u2019s tomb in Medina. Take a virtual tour<\/a>.<\/p>\n Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA)<\/strong><\/a>, Cape Town: <\/strong>The largest museum of contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora is housed in a former grain silo in the city\u2019s waterfront, with the distinctive massif of Table Mountain as a backdrop. The nine-storey structure and the 56 internal siloes were carved out using steel cables and industrial-diamond to sculpt its concrete interior cut into soaring, fluid shapes. Massive geodesic windows were installed, lending its vast central atrium and surrounding 80 galleries and 100 exhibition areas a cathedral-like air. Exhibitions include the collection of co-founder and co-chair, philanthropist and former Puma CEO Jochen Zeitz, which is on permanent loan. Other must-see attractions include a sculpture garden on the roof overlooking the city, waterfront, the mountain and Robben Island, where liberation icon Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years.\u00a0 Take a virtual tour<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Mus\u00e9e de Louvre, Paris:<\/strong> Built in 1793 as a medieval fortress, then the palace of French kings, the Louvre is home to many of art\u2019s canonical masterpieces, including the Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, Psyche Revived by Cupid\u2019s Kiss, and the Raft of the Medusa. The collection consists of eight curatorial departments: Egyptian antiquities, Near Eastern antiquities, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman antiquities, Islamic art, sculpture, decorative arts, paintings prints and drawings. There are also petite galerie<\/em> exhibitions centred around a specific theme. The facility has around 380\u00a0000 objects from prehistory to the 21st Century, of which around 38\u00a0000 are on display at any time. The Louvre is the world\u2019s biggest and most-visited museum, with 7.8m visitors last year, so the Qatar team advises joining the queue early, or better yet, booking a private tour.<\/p>\n