Ocampo-Palisoc
This stunning science museum was only opened five years ago, but it is already considered a landmark of Macau thanks to the unique, asymmetrical and conical shape designed by Pei Partnership Architects. Inside the center, guests enter a large atrium before entering assorted galleries and exhibits off the main walkway, including a planetarium that also plays Omnimax films.
10. Virasat-e-Khalsa, India
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia user Sanyambahga
This museum, dedicated to the history of Sikhism, only opened about two years ago, but its unique, modern design earns it a place on this list. The complex consists of two buildings on each side of a ravine that are connected by a ceremonial bridge. The buildings, designed by Moshe Safdie and Associates, have stainless steel roves and are made from concrete with intentionally exposed columns and beams.
11. Design Museum Holon, Israel
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
The first Israeli museum dedicated to design, the Design Museum Holon was the first work planned and designed by architect Ron Arad. It’s even more amazing that the building was created as someone’s first design when you consider that since its construction in 2010, Conde Nast Traveler already named it as one of the new world wonders.
12. Science City, India
Photo courtesy of Biswarup Ganguly
As much an amusement park as it is a science museum, Science City teaches everything from marine biology and space travel to numerals and illusions. The outdoor gardens feature a musical fountain, a gravity coaster, a monorail cycle, a butterfly nursery and a walk-through exhibit on evolution. The complex was first opened in 1997 and it only continues to grow larger as time passes.
13. Meiji-mura, Japan
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia user danirubioperez
Most museums are housed inside one building, but the Meiji-mura is different since it is an open-air museum dedicated to preserving historic buildings from across Japan. The park includes over 60 historical buildings scattered along 250 acres of rolling hillside along Lake Iruka.
Since the protected buildings date from 1867 to 1989, there is impressive diversity in the scope of the pieces that make up the museum’s collection, the most famous of which is the main entrance and lobby of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Imperial Hotel, which was moved in 1967 to make way for a new, larger version of the hotel.
14. Kaichi School, Japan
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia user Wiiii
One of the first schools in Japan, the Kaichi School was established in 1873; it moved into this building featuring a distinct combination of western and Japanese style elements in 1876. The building was named an Important Cultural Property in 1961 and is now protected and maintained as a museum dedicated to the Japanese education system.
15. National Museum of Singapore
In 1849, the National Museum of Singapore was established as a small section of a library in the Singapore Institution. By 1887, the initial collection in Singapore’s museum was moved into the Neo-Palladian and Renaissance style building it now occupies. The building has been expanded five times in the past century in order to make room for the expanding collections, which are largely focused on the history of Singapore.
Think we missed one? Let us know about it in the comments, and feel free to share a link or picture as well!