Museum Monday

Museum Monday: odd Amsterdam

February 22, 2016Harriet BaskasMuseum Monday, MuseumsAmsterdam, odd museums

Heading to Amsterdam?

Put the canal boat rides, flower markets, cheeses shops, (maybe some “coffee shops”) and tours of the recently-reopened Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank House on your list.

But for a taste of Amsterdam’s more offbeat side, give some of these museums I profiled for Mashable.com a try as well.

Sex and drugs are covered in the Sexmuseum and in its kissing-cousin, the Erotic Museum, in the Red Light District, while there’s also a museum exploring the history of hash, marijuana and hemp.

Feline fans will adore the Cat Cabinet (Katten Cabinet) – a museum filled with artwork devoted to cats – while the Museum of Bags and Purses tells the story of pouches, pockets, clutches, suitcases and bags through the ages.

Micropia is a museum that tells the story of microbes and bacteria in a way that will have you rushing home to replace your toothbrush and kitchen sponges, while the Dutch Funeral Museum and the Museum Vrolik (a medical museum filled with anatomical anomalies) may leave you a bit shaken, but happy to be alive.

For more details – and a bonus museum (the John & Yoko shrine at the Amsterdam Hilton) – see my full story – You can get weird in Amsterdam without getting high – on Mashable.com.

Museum Monday: suitcases in a museum

February 14, 2016Harriet BaskasMuseum Monday, MuseumsAmsterdam Museum of Bags and Purses

Spotted in Amsterdam’s Museum of Bags and Purses:

In addition to a large display of trunks and suitcases ( part of the “bags” part of the collection) the museum is a treasure trove of purses, clutches, wearable pockets, backpacks, satchels and other accessories people have used to carry their daily necessities around.

Here a few other bags and purses on view:

Classic football memorabilia at SFO Museum

October 1, 2015Harriet BaskasMuseum Monday, Museums, Sports

Helmet worn by Leo Nomellini (San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle, 1950-63) c. 1962 Pro Football Hall of Fame, Class of 1969 Courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame & SFO Museum

More than one million people are expected to attend the week-long festivities in the San Francisco Bay Area leading up to Super Bowl 50 on February 7, 2016, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

In preparation, the SFO Museum at San Francisco International Airport is hosting a football-themed exhibition featuring memorabilia and game-worn artifacts from each of the league’s thirty-two franchises, with most items on special loan from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Among the objects on display are items belonging to Hall of Famers – including Joe Montana’s home jersey, Walter Payton’s helmet and Jim Brown’s shoulder pads.

Shoulder pads worn by Jim Brown (Cleveland Browns running back 1957–65) c. 1963
Pro Football Hall of Fame, Class of 1971
Courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Collection & SFO Museum

Look for the exhibit: The Nation’s Game – The NFL from the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the Terminal 3 – post-security departures level through February 2016.

Cleats worn by Sam Huff (New York Giants linebacker, 1956–63) during his rookie season 1956
Pro Football Hall of Fame, Class of 1982
Courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Collection & SFO Museum

Museum Monday: Cancun’s underwater museum

August 31, 2015Harriet BaskasMuseum Monday, MuseumsCancun, Cancun Airport, diving, touruism, travel, underwater museum

It’s been far too long since I visited Cancun and the Cancun International Airport , but the news about a fresh set of sculptures being submerged at Cancun’s Underwater Museum of Art (MUSA) puts the area back on top of my “go soon” list.

Since 2010, some 500 sculptures have been submerged in the bottom of the ocean to create a marine life-friendly museum that can be visited only by divers, snorkelers, parasailers and those in glass-bottomed boats.

The sculptures are of everything from life-size humans to a full-size VW Beetle.

Here are two sculptures by Elier Amado Gil that will be submerged during September and October. The first is titled El Entendimiento (Understanding), the second is called Reposo (Rest).

Museum Monday: at the BEACH

July 13, 2015Harriet Baskasfamily travel, Museum MondayNational Building Museum, the BEACH

Courtesy San Diego Air & Space Museum Archive – via Flickr Common

Can’t make it to the beach this summer?

You’re in luck.

If you can make it to Washington, D.C.’s, there’s a temporary beach at the National Building Museum in the museum’s Great Hall.

Built in partnership with Snarkitecture, the BEACH covers 10,000 square feet and includes an “ocean” of nearly one million recyclable translucent plastic balls. Built inside an enclosure, the temporary beach has beach chairs and umbrellas along a 50-foot wide “shoreline” and a mirrored wall that creates “a seemingly infinite reflected expanse.”

Visitors can “swim” in the ocean, hang out on the “shore,” play beach games, or dangle their feet in the “ocean” off the pier. And like a real beach, there’s even a snack concession with cool treats.

Here’s a time-lapse of the beach being built:

The beach will be open through September 7, 2015 and tickets include admission to all museum exhibitions. More details about the National Building Museum and the BEACH here.