ME and Ophelia

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THE NATIONAL VIRTUAL MUSEUM
Gateway to over 2,500 UK museums, galleries and heritage attractions

No website ever provides a true alternative to visiting a museum for oneself, but if any site can genuinely be said to encourage and enhance such a visit, this www.24hourmuseum.org is it.

Navigating its database of 2,500 museums and galleries is now simplicity itself.

Type in "Edinburgh" and the site throws up the 12 most relevant museums or galleries, a host of related locations and articles, and eight "trails".

Culture vultures can pick over news stories, updated daily, detailing delights as varied as 17th-century fire-fighting techniques, and a Roman earring discovered in Leicestershire.

Parents with children to entertain can draw inspiration from the latest events around the country, such as a Viking festival in Chester, re-creating the hardships of life in Britain 1,100 years ago.

Dozens of "Exhibitions Online" provide a desktop alternative for those unable to visit in person.

Run as an independent charity funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, this gateway to the nation's heritage is taxpayers' money well spent.

[Courtesy of The Sunday Times]