The world’s best new museums
Photograph: Shutterstock
1. Stonewall National Monument Visitor Centre, New York City
2024 marks 55 years since the Stonewall Riots began in New York, and eight years since former US President Barack Obama officially designated Manhattan’s Stonewall Inn as a national monument. On June 28, on the exact anniversary that the Inn was raided back in the ’60s, a visitor centre documenting the LGBTQ+ rights movement will open to the public next door to the Inn. Talks, musical performances, onsite tours and an inspiring collection of works will fill this brand-new inclusive space, and we can’t wait to check it out.
Opens June 28, 2024
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Photograph: Leigh Mitchell-Anyon
2. Sarjeant Gallery, New Zealand
New Zealand’s Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua Whanganui will be reopening after a four-year redevelopment – and there are some pretty major changes. The gallery is perched right by the Whanganui River on New Zealand’s north island, and its OG building has been restored and improved to survive earthquakes. The museum has also gained an entirely new wing, which features black granite and glass and mimics the light of the river. With more than 9,000 pieces in the museum’s collection, spanning over 400 years of art from New Zealand and around the world, the collection will dazzle in its restored home.
Opens later in 2024
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Photograph: Hill International
3. Grand Egyptian Museum, Cairo
We don’t want to jinx it, but it looks like the Grand Egyptian Museum, which was slated to open late last year, will finally welcome visitors in 2024. It’s been a work in progress for over 10 years, and is set to be the world’s biggest archeological museum, with a colossal collection of over 100,000 artefacts. Not only will there be a viewing gallery overlooking the Pyramids, but also objects from Tutankhamun’s tomb, which haven’t been on display to the public before. Fingers crossed it finally opens its doors.
Opens late spring 2024
4. The Nintendo Museum, Kyoto
Since its announcement in June 2021, there hasn’t been much shared about Japan’s new Nintendo Museum – but now that the opening date is approaching (thought to be around the end of March), we know a little more. It will take over the site of a former Nintendo factory in Kyoto, which used to be where toys and products were repaired, and will feature old consoles, games, and plenty of other little remnants from the brand’s history – sounds like the perfect excuse for a walk (or Mario Kart ride) down memory lane.
Opens March / April 2024
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Photograph: Matt Turtle
5. The Museum of Homelessness, London
It’s an organisation that’s been going for a decade, but this year the Museum of Homelessness will finally move into its first permanent home in London. The museum is housed in an old gatekeeper’s cottage in Finsbury Park, so expect an intimate space (there will only be room for around 25 people at a time). The MoH will be a creative hub for performances, talks and workshops developed by people who have experienced homelessness and strive to change its perception.
Opens May 24, 2024
Image: MASP
6. Pietro Maria Bardi building at Museu de Arte de São Paulo, São Paulo
The São Paulo Museum of Art – aka the ‘Masp’ – is getting a major extension this year: an underground tunnel will link the existing museum with a new 14-storey tower block over the road. Currently, only around 1 percent of the collection’s 11,000 items are on display, but five floors of this extra building will be new gallery space. The site will even be renamed – the original building after Lina Bo Bardi, who was its architect, and the new partner building after her husband, Pietro Maria Bardi.
Opens late 2024
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Photograph: SAKA Museum
7. SAKA Museum, Bali
Named after the Balinese Saka calendar, this museum has curated its collection to connect Bali’s past, present, and future. When it opens to the public in 2024, the new cultural centre will guide visitors on a captivating journey through various Balinese cultural practices and expressions. Visit when it opens in the spring and learn all about Nyepi, the Balinese Day of Silence, where the people of Bali practice quiet, fasting and meditation.
Opens early 2024
Photograph: Margo Pfeiff
8. Canadian Canoe Museum, Ontario
Yes, you read that right. Perched on a lakeside in Peterborough (about an hour and a half drive from Toronto) will be a stylish, boat-shaped canoe museum that will house the largest collection of canoes and kayaks in the world – over 600 in total. And while that’s a fair few quirky rafts to admire, it’s not even the best part: visitors can not only turn their hand to some paddle-carving, but will even be able to take a canoe out for a spin from the onsite dock. Pretty cool, right?
Opens May 11, 2024
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9. Universal Wine Museum, Beijing
The world’s second-largest wine museum will open this year in the Fangshan Valley just southwest of Beijing. It’s set to be so much more than just its collection: in partnership with the Cité du Vin de Bordeaux (the world’s largest wine museum), this project will not only lead visitors through the history and process of making wine, but it’ll also host restaurants, a wine school, workshops and conferences.
Opens sometime in 2024
Photograph: Mestres Wåge/BAX/Mendoza Partida
10. Kunstsilo Nordic Art Museum, Norway
Plenty of galleries found their homes in repurposed buildings – the Musée d’Orsay used to be a train station, and the Tate Modern a power station. Now – and not for the first time – it’s the turn of a flour mill. Kunstsilo, a brand-new art museum perched on the quayside in the Norwegian city of Kristiansand, is set to welcome visitors to a world of Nordic art from May – all housed inside a mill that dates back to 1934. Originally a silo for grains, it won a national prize for its modern functionalist architecture, and the museum will now have three floors of exhibition space.
