9 Museums for a Winter's Day

The Hermitage Museum at the Winter Palace was first opened in 1852 by Tsar Nicholas I as Russia's first art gallery. The visitors were required by the Tsar to wear formal dress, as long coats were considered 'revolutionary'. Thankfully, today they have a more relaxed dresscode.

If you'd rather see a little more action, take yourself to the Lake Placid Olympic Museum. This small, sporting town in upstate New York has hosted not one, but two Olympic games, including the first winter games held in North America.

The island of Iceland rises dramatically out of the wild seas of the chilly North Atlantic Ocean, straddling the Arctic Circle. But for all the snow and ice, this small nation is also home to some of the world's most active, explosive volcanoes.

In the university city of Cambridge, England, you can travel to the ends of the Earth. The Polar Museum holds over a hundred years' worth of history relating to the Arctic and Antarctic. From penguins to paintings, sleeping bags to sextants, and Inuit art to explorers' diaries.

The building is also home to the Scott Polar Research Institute, which seeks to understand the polar regions and train the next generation of researchers.

Like the nearby Winter Palace, the Russian State Arctic and Antarctic Museum is also super-sized: it happens to be the largest polar museum in the world. The collection here dates back to the 1930s, when it was founded as the Soviet Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute

Throughout its history, the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute has organised more than a thousand Arctic expeditions, involving important research into the climate, geology, oceans, and meteorology of the polar regions.

Visitors to Arktikum in Rovaniemi, Finland are spoilt for choice. Here, you'll find the Arctic Centre and the Lapland Museum whose exhibitions examine culture, history, and modern life in the Arctic.

Arktikum's long, glass-roofed hall is known as 'the gateway to the north'. As you walk its entire 172 metre length, you head directly towards the north pole. At night, if the conditions are right, you can stand below the glass roof and watch the aurora borealis.

Polar expeditions may be exciting, but sometimes you'd rather sit down somewhere comfy with a warm mug of gluhwein. Thankfully, the German Christmas Museum in the picturesque city of Rothenburg ob der Tauber is open all year round. Let's gather round the fire and say Prost!