In 1519, an expedition commanded by Ferdinand Magellan set sail from the port of Seville, Spain. The approximately 245 crew members aboard the five ships went in search of a new western route to the Maluku Islands (formerly the Moluccas or Spice Islands) in Indonesia. The voyage ended three years later, with the return of a single ship captained by Juan Sebastián Elcano. He and the 17 survivors became the first people to circumnavigate the globe in a single expedition.

The new project tells the story of the Expedition, with the details of the journey; the Exploration, with the maps, the nautical tools, and new animal species encountered along the way; and the Transformation of the European understanding of the world, as the exploration confirmed that the Earth was round and that the oceans were made up of a single, interconnected body of water. Now there was a new route to the other side of the world.

“The First Journey Around the World,” available from today to everyone through the Google Arts & Culture site and via its iOS and Android apps, has been possible thanks to our partners, including the Spanish National Archives, Spanish Cultural Action, Seville's City Hall, the Naval Museum and the Elkano Foundation. 

So settle in and launch your own exploration of the world in the path of these sailors.

What do a manatee and a mermaid have in common? You can learn about their case of mistaken identity with the help of the Natural History Museum and Google Arts & Culture.  From unicorns to dragons, and flying snakes to shrinking lizards, mythical creatures are being united with their real-world cousins in a new project by London’s Natural History Museum, brought online for all to explore. With inspiration from the magical world of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the new exhibition and online highlights allow fans everywhere to discover the links between the real and the imagined.

Take a virtual stroll around and explore the installation in 360 degrees. The project shows off the real-life “magic” of the natural world: the incredible behaviors, traits and features that have evolved, enabling animals to survive and thrive in the wild. The exhibition also reveals some of the biggest threats they face, and hopes to inspire everyone to help save precious natural habitats and their residents.

There are20 new digital stories to explore, created with artifacts, specimens and videos selected with the help of some of the 300 scientists and curators from the Museum. They tell us fascinating tales about the complexity, wonder and fragility of the natural world. Find over 100 incredible specimens from the Natural History Museum collection, including the inquisitive pangolin and the vibrant creatures of the reef.  You’ll also find incredible artifacts from the Fantastic Beasts films, including tools used to capture and care for magical beasts.

Once you’ve learned about a mystery skull from the 1330s or a species of shrinking lizards, have some fun by challenging your friends to a multiplayer puzzle party,or create your own mythical beast with specially designed coloring books. 

Explore the magic at g.co/NHMFantasticBeasts online and with the Google Arts & Culture app for Android or iOS.

One of the highlights in Bonn’s Beethoven House is Ludwig van Beethoven’s iconic portrait by Joseph Karl Stieler. Silver gray mane tousled, scarlet scarf tied messily, a musical masterpiece in his hand--the portrait has shaped the composer’s image since it was created 200 years ago. Today, the painting is also part of “Beethoven Everywhere”, an extensive online collection that celebrates the master’s 250th anniversary on Google Arts & Culture.

As director of Beethoven House, I am particularly happy that the project unites so many cultural institutions of international renown in sharing their Beethoven stories: from Carnegie Hall to Deutsche Grammophon and Karajan-Akademie, from Chineke! Orchestra to Berlin’s State Library and Vienna’s Secession.

When the partnership between Beethoven House and Google was set up in late 2019, I was excited about the vast range of digital possibilities it offered to our ‘classical’ collection - with a virtual 360 tour through the newly renovated museum being a planned highlight. Then 2020 took a completely different route, and with it the course of the many live performances and events planned for the anniversary year - our planned Beethoven celebrations with audiences around the globe had suddenly become impossible. 

I therefore am all the happier that today, two weeks to Beethoven’s 250th birthday, we can publish a digital resource to bring the composer and his legacy to fans around the world. As impossible as it is to name all of the great projects I saw, I feel these highlights might surprise you as much as they did me:

A Global Ode To Joy: By reinventing a year-long concert series for a digital audience and asking musicians and users around the world to share what brings joy to them, the Global Ode to Joy video seriesbrings happiness to many! Conductor Marin Alsop, who initiated the project, will talk about her idea alongside wonderful artists such as Yo-Yo Ma and Daniel Hope in an official live event on December 3rd at Carnegie Hall. 

Beethoven, remixed:Deutsche Grammophon has digitised some of the oldest Beethoven records ever made. Electro musician Christian Löffler set them as the basis for a recomposition, creating small musical gems in their own right - fascinating and beautiful to hear.

Rediscovering a forgotten musician:The story of Black violin virtuoso George Bridgetower is not widely known, although he was the musician for whom Beethoven in 1802 composed the music that would later be famous as “Kreutzer Sonata”. Chineke! orchestra’s Chi-chi Nwanoku OBE tells this forgotten master’s story, and masterly violinist Randall Goosby pays homage with an incredible rendition of the piece itself.

Inspiring the fine arts: Beethoven and his music have inspired paintings, portraits, etchings, monuments and busts of all genres. One artwork surpasses them all: Gustav Klimt’s monumental Beethoven frieze, referring to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and located at Vienna’s Secession. Google Arts & Culture captured it with their super-high-definition robotic camera, allowing everyone to explore it to the last golden pigment. 

Odd Objects and love stories:The famous Beethoven portrait mentioned earlier is just one piece of the collection that our museum’s team showcases online - from his hearing aids, his desk and violin to autographs, letters and conversation booklets, Beethoven’s life can be discovered through the objects he was surrounded by. Another great way to start getting familiar with Beethoven is to explore  whyhis music is so fascinating, why his symphonies might remind you of some office colleagues, or how the composer, who was never lucky in love, expressed his affection. 

Beethoven’s Musical Secrets:We couldn’t perceive Beethoven as the composer he is without the musicians interpreting his compositions - a world renowned selection of artists including members of the Vienna Philharmonic, conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin or soprano Karita Mattila talk about their lives with Beethoven. 

I am inviting everyone to explore and discover all the content on “Beethoven Everywhere” on Google Arts & Culture - and join me in wishing him all the best for the next 250 years!

One of the highlights in Bonn’s Beethoven House is Ludwig van Beethoven’s iconic portrait by Joseph Karl Stieler. Silver gray mane tousled, scarlet scarf tied messily, a musical masterpiece in his hand--the portrait has shaped the composer’s image since it was created 200 years ago. Today, the painting is also part of “Beethoven Everywhere”, an extensive online collection that celebrates the master’s 250th anniversary on Google Arts & Culture.

As director of Beethoven House, I am particularly happy that the project unites so many cultural institutions of international renown in sharing their Beethoven stories: from Carnegie Hall to Deutsche Grammophon and Karajan-Akademie, from Chineke! Orchestra to Berlin’s State Library and Vienna’s Secession.

When the partnership between Beethoven House and Google was set up in late 2019, I was excited about the vast range of digital possibilities it offered to our ‘classical’ collection - with a virtual 360 tour through the newly renovated museum being a planned highlight. Then 2020 took a completely different route, and with it the course of the many live performances and events planned for the anniversary year - our planned Beethoven celebrations with audiences around the globe had suddenly become impossible. 

I therefore am all the happier that today, two weeks to Beethoven’s 250th birthday, we can publish a digital resource to bring the composer and his legacy to fans around the world. As impossible as it is to name all of the great projects I saw, I feel these highlights might surprise you as much as they did me:

A Global Ode To Joy: By reinventing a year-long concert series for a digital audience and asking musicians and users around the world to share what brings joy to them, the Global Ode to Joy video seriesbrings happiness to many! Conductor Marin Alsop, who initiated the project, will talk about her idea alongside wonderful artists such as Yo-Yo Ma and Daniel Hope in an official live event on December 3rd at Carnegie Hall. 

Beethoven, remixed:Deutsche Grammophon has digitised some of the oldest Beethoven records ever made. Electro musician Christian Löffler set them as the basis for a recomposition, creating small musical gems in their own right - fascinating and beautiful to hear.

Rediscovering a forgotten musician:The story of Black violin virtuoso George Bridgetower is not widely known, although he was the musician for whom Beethoven in 1802 composed the music that would later be famous as “Kreutzer Sonata”. Chineke! orchestra’s Chi-chi Nwanoku OBE tells this forgotten master’s story, and masterly violinist Randall Goosby pays homage with an incredible rendition of the piece itself.

Inspiring the fine arts: Beethoven and his music have inspired paintings, portraits, etchings, monuments and busts of all genres. One artwork surpasses them all: Gustav Klimt’s monumental Beethoven frieze, referring to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and located at Vienna’s Secession. Google Arts & Culture captured it with their super-high-definition robotic camera, allowing everyone to explore it to the last golden pigment. 

Odd Objects and love stories:The famous Beethoven portrait mentioned earlier is just one piece of the collection that our museum’s team showcases online - from his hearing aids, his desk and violin to autographs, letters and conversation booklets, Beethoven’s life can be discovered through the objects he was surrounded by. Another great way to start getting familiar with Beethoven is to explore  whyhis music is so fascinating, why his symphonies might remind you of some office colleagues, or how the composer, who was never lucky in love, expressed his affection. 

Beethoven’s Musical Secrets:We couldn’t perceive Beethoven as the composer he is without the musicians interpreting his compositions - a world renowned selection of artists including members of the Vienna Philharmonic, conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin or soprano Karita Mattila talk about their lives with Beethoven. 

I am inviting everyone to explore and discover all the content on “Beethoven Everywhere” on Google Arts & Culture - and join me in wishing him all the best for the next 250 years!

One of the highlights in Bonn’s Beethoven House is Ludwig van Beethoven’s iconic portrait by Joseph Karl Stieler. Silver gray mane tousled, scarlet scarf tied messily, a musical masterpiece in his hand--the portrait has shaped the composer’s image since it was created 200 years ago. Today, the painting is also part of “Beethoven Everywhere”, an extensive online collection that celebrates the master’s 250th anniversary on Google Arts & Culture.

As director of Beethoven House, I am particularly happy that the project unites so many cultural institutions of international renown in sharing their Beethoven stories: from Carnegie Hall to Deutsche Grammophon and Karajan-Akademie, from Chineke! Orchestra to Berlin’s State Library and Vienna’s Secession.

When the partnership between Beethoven House and Google was set up in late 2019, I was excited about the vast range of digital possibilities it offered to our ‘classical’ collection - with a virtual 360 tour through the newly renovated museum being a planned highlight. Then 2020 took a completely different route, and with it the course of the many live performances and events planned for the anniversary year - our planned Beethoven celebrations with audiences around the globe had suddenly become impossible. 

I therefore am all the happier that today, two weeks to Beethoven’s 250th birthday, we can publish a digital resource to bring the composer and his legacy to fans around the world. As impossible as it is to name all of the great projects I saw, I feel these highlights might surprise you as much as they did me:

A Global Ode To Joy: By reinventing a year-long concert series for a digital audience and asking musicians and users around the world to share what brings joy to them, the Global Ode to Joy video seriesbrings happiness to many! Conductor Marin Alsop, who initiated the project, will talk about her idea alongside wonderful artists such as Yo-Yo Ma and Daniel Hope in an official live event on December 3rd at Carnegie Hall. 

Beethoven, remixed:Deutsche Grammophon has digitised some of the oldest Beethoven records ever made. Electro musician Christian Löffler set them as the basis for a recomposition, creating small musical gems in their own right - fascinating and beautiful to hear.

Rediscovering a forgotten musician:The story of Black violin virtuoso George Bridgetower is not widely known, although he was the musician for whom Beethoven in 1802 composed the music that would later be famous as “Kreutzer Sonata”. Chineke! orchestra’s Chi-chi Nwanoku OBE tells this forgotten master’s story, and masterly violinist Randall Goosby pays homage with an incredible rendition of the piece itself.

Inspiring the fine arts: Beethoven and his music have inspired paintings, portraits, etchings, monuments and busts of all genres. One artwork surpasses them all: Gustav Klimt’s monumental Beethoven frieze, referring to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and located at Vienna’s Secession. Google Arts & Culture captured it with their super-high-definition robotic camera, allowing everyone to explore it to the last golden pigment. 

Odd Objects and love stories:The famous Beethoven portrait mentioned earlier is just one piece of the collection that our museum’s team showcases online - from his hearing aids, his desk and violin to autographs, letters and conversation booklets, Beethoven’s life can be discovered through the objects he was surrounded by. Another great way to start getting familiar with Beethoven is to explore  whyhis music is so fascinating, why his symphonies might remind you of some office colleagues, or how the composer, who was never lucky in love, expressed his affection. 

Beethoven’s Musical Secrets:We couldn’t perceive Beethoven as the composer he is without the musicians interpreting his compositions - a world renowned selection of artists including members of the Vienna Philharmonic, conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin or soprano Karita Mattila talk about their lives with Beethoven. 

I am inviting everyone to explore and discover all the content on “Beethoven Everywhere” on Google Arts & Culture - and join me in wishing him all the best for the next 250 years!