FOLLOW A CULTURE
Find the world inside your next destination: a carpet, a garden, a manuscript, a neighbourhood—and the people and histories connecting them.
56 city connections · Sources included
Start with the Persian collection →
Accra
Brazil → Accra
Brazil House, Old Accra
Brazil House is linked to the Tabom community, whose ancestors returned from Brazil to Ghana in 1836. It connects Accra with Afro-Brazilian history and the movement of people across the Atlantic.
Read the return story and ask about Tabom family heritage and its place in present-day Accra.
Amsterdam
Japan and wider Asia → Amsterdam
Rijksmuseum, Asian Pavilion
The Asian Pavilion’s collection spans China, Japan, Indonesia, India, Vietnam and Thailand. Japanese temple guardians provide one starting point for exploring the different traditions represented here.
Check the museum’s current display and maintenance notices; part of the pavilion was listed as closed at review.
Athens
Cairo, Egypt → Athens
Benaki Museum of Islamic Art, Kerameikos
The Benaki Museum’s Islamic art collection includes the marble-faced interior of a reception room from a seventeenth-century Cairo mansion. It brings part of an Egyptian domestic setting into Athens.
Look at how the room’s marble surfaces create patterns; ask about its history and current gallery access.
Auckland
Fukuoka, Japan → Auckland
Fukuoka Garden, Western Springs
The Fukuoka Garden reflects Auckland’s relationship with its Japanese sister city. Its landscaping combines Japanese garden traditions with New Zealand planting.
Look for the stones, lanterns and water basin, and read the sister-city story.
Bangkok
Portuguese-Thai heritage → Bangkok
Kudi Chin and Santa Cruz Church
Kudi Chin preserves a Portuguese-Thai community’s history around Santa Cruz Church. Its story sits alongside Chinese, Thai and Muslim traditions in the same riverside area.
Follow a local heritage walk and ask about the community’s food traditions and family histories.
Barcelona
Ancient Egypt → Barcelona
Museu Egipci de Barcelona
The Egyptian Museum of Barcelona presents objects from the Jordi Clos collection. Its section on Egyptian deities includes representations of figures such as Anubis, Sekhmet and Bes, connecting the city with ancient Egyptian religious art.
Choose a deity and use the label to identify the attributes that distinguish it from the others.
Beijing
Nepal → Beijing
Miaoying Temple, White Dagoba
The Nepalese craftsman Anige, also known as Arniko, participated in the design and construction of the White Dagoba. Beijing’s official guide identifies it as a witness to cultural exchange between China and Nepal.
Compare its rounded form with the roofs of the surrounding temple buildings.
Berlin
Thailand → Berlin
Thai-Park, Wilmersdorf
Thai-Park is a meeting place for Thai food culture in Berlin. The tourism listing places its market on Württembergische Straße; older guides may still point only to the nearby park.
Ask a vendor about a dish’s regional roots. Check the current season and location first.
Bogotá
International modern art → Bogotá
Museo Botero
Fernando Botero donated works by international artists alongside his own art to create this museum. The collection connects Bogotá with a wider conversation about nineteenth- and twentieth-century art.
Choose a work by another artist and compare it with a Botero nearby, checking each label’s origin.
Budapest
Ottoman heritage → Budapest
Gül Baba’s Tomb
The shrine of Gül Baba, a dervish and poet associated with the Ottoman period, is a surviving link between Budapest and Turkish history. Its later restoration also reflects cooperation between Hungary and Türkiye.
Read the historical interpretation and treat the tomb as a place of remembrance.
Buenos Aires
Japan → Buenos Aires
Japanese Garden, Palermo
The Japanese Garden opened in 1967 to coincide with a visit by Akihito and Michiko. Its ponds, architecture and cultural spaces connect Buenos Aires with Japan.
Look at the bridges and planted views, then check for current cultural activities.
Cairo
South and Southeast Asian inspiration → Cairo
Baron Empain Palace, Heliopolis
Baron Empain Palace draws on Hindu temple imagery, including inspiration from Angkor Wat in Cambodia. The building is an example of architectural borrowing in Heliopolis, rather than an ancient Asian temple moved to Egypt.
Compare the exterior’s sculptural details with the palace’s construction story.
Cape Town
Indonesia and other Indian Ocean communities → Cape Town
Bo-Kaap
Bo-Kaap’s community history includes people enslaved and exiled from Dutch-controlled territories, including parts of present-day Indonesia. Its food, faith and family traditions developed in Cape Town through that history.
Choose a community-led visit and learn the history behind the colourful houses; respect residents’ doorways.
Chicago
Mexican and Mexican-American art → Chicago
National Museum of Mexican Art, Pilsen
The National Museum of Mexican Art is a cultural anchor in Pilsen. Its exhibitions connect Mexican artistic traditions with the experiences and creative life of Mexican communities in the United States.
Combine the museum with nearby public murals, while checking the artists and stories behind them.
Copenhagen
Kashan, Iran → Copenhagen
The David Collection
A lustre-painted bowl in the David Collection is signed by the potter Abu Zayd of Kashan and dated February–March 1204. Its figures and dense decoration offer another Iranian connection beyond the better-known carpets.
Open inventory 45/2001 and look for the two figures among the scrolling ornament.
Delhi
Persian and Indian traditions → Delhi
Humayun’s Tomb
Humayun’s Tomb combines Persian architectural ideas with Indian craftsmanship. Its geometric garden and water channels help explain how garden-tomb design developed in the Mughal world.
Trace the four-part garden plan and compare the arched forms with the rooftop kiosks.
Dubai
Sikh heritage → Dubai
Guru Nanak Darbar
Guru Nanak Darbar is a living centre of Sikh faith and community life. It gives visitors a way to encounter a tradition rooted in Punjab within Dubai’s diverse population.
Read the gurdwara’s visitor guidance for head covering, footwear and respectful entry.
Dublin
Iran → Dublin
Chester Beatty
Chester Beatty’s Persian manuscript collection includes illustrated versions of the Shahnameh. These books connect Dublin with Persian storytelling and the skills of calligraphers, painters and illuminators.
Compare a painted scene with its surrounding script in the digital catalogue; paper displays rotate.
Edinburgh
China, Japan and Korea → Edinburgh
National Museum of Scotland
The Exploring East Asia gallery brings together material from China, Japan and Korea. Its arrangement invites comparison while keeping the cultures’ different histories visible.
Choose one shared material, such as ceramic, and compare how it is used across the gallery.
Florence
Japan → Florence
Stibbert Museum
Frederick Stibbert’s collecting interests expanded to Japanese arms and armour around 1880, after Japan reopened to outside markets. The museum’s Japanese armoury tells a different story from the Renaissance art usually associated with Florence.
Compare a helmet’s silhouette and decorative details with the European armour nearby.
Hong Kong
Muslim community heritage → Hong Kong
Kowloon Mosque and Islamic Centre
The mosque’s origins are linked to a Muslim garrison in the area now known as Kowloon Park. It remains part of Hong Kong’s living Muslim community, adding another layer to Tsim Sha Tsui’s history.
Read the community history and ask about visitor access rather than entering prayer areas uninvited.
Istanbul
Polish heritage → Istanbul region
Polonezköy
Polonezköy provides a different cultural excursion within the Istanbul region. Its Polish heritage offers a way to explore the city’s links beyond the familiar Ottoman and Byzantine landmarks.
Treat it as a separate outing from central Istanbul and confirm the heritage sites you want to visit.
Kuala Lumpur
Mughal India → Kuala Lumpur
Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia, India Gallery
The India Gallery explores public and private life in the Mughal world. It offers a specific South Asian connection within a museum that presents many distinct Islamic artistic traditions.
Choose an object and compare the practical purpose on its label with its decorative detail.
Lima
Chinese-Peruvian food culture → Lima
Chifas across Lima
Lima’s food culture includes chifas, restaurants rooted in Chinese cooking within Peru. They offer a way to explore cultural exchange through everyday food, alongside the city’s other culinary traditions.
Choose a chifa and ask about a dish’s ingredients and family recipe; tell staff about allergies.
Lisbon
Safavid Iran → Lisbon
Calouste Gulbenkian Museum
The museum’s seventeenth-century “Polonaise” carpet was made in Persia, not Poland. The label reflects the European associations of carpets that sometimes bore Polish coats of arms, showing how an object’s name can obscure its origin.
Look for the arabesques, palm forms and shield-shaped central motif.
London
Iran → London
Victoria and Albert Museum
The V&A’s celebrated Iranian carpet is dated 1539–1540 by its inscription. It connects London with Safavid-era weaving, poetry and the shrine at Ardabil; the museum discusses the uncertainties around its original commission.
Find the date and signature in the border, then compare the two hanging-lamp motifs.
Madrid
Egypt → Madrid
Temple of Debod
Egypt donated the Temple of Debod to Spain in thanks for help rescuing threatened Nubian monuments. Its relocation connects Madrid with both ancient Egyptian worship and modern international conservation.
Look for the temple’s dedication to Amun and Isis in the interpretation; check interior access before visiting.
Marrakech
Jewish Moroccan heritage → Marrakech
Salat Al-Azama Synagogue, Mellah
The synagogue is a place to explore Marrakech’s Jewish heritage within the medina. Start with this specific institution and its interpretation rather than treating the city’s cultural history as a single tradition.
Check visitor access and photography rules; ask about the community stories presented on site.
Melbourne
Chinese-Australian heritage → Melbourne
Chinese Museum, Cohen Place
The Chinese Museum explores the history of Chinese Australia within Melbourne’s Chinatown. It gives context to the nearby food and shopping streets through the experiences of a long-established community.
Start with the museum’s migration stories before exploring Little Bourke Street.
Mexico City
Korea → Mexico City
Museo Nacional de las Culturas del Mundo
The museum’s Korea gallery explores daily life and religious traditions through furniture, vessels, paintings, sculpture and musical instruments. It offers a specific Korean connection within Mexico City’s world-cultures museum.
Compare a musical instrument with a domestic object and read how each was used.
Munich
Kashan, Iran → Bavaria, via Poland
Residenz Treasury
The Treasury catalogue identifies object 1240 as a silk-and-gold tapestry from Kashan, Iran, around 1600. It came to the Wittelsbach family through a Polish royal marriage in 1642, later travelling through Mannheim to Munich. This is a woven tapestry, rather than a knotted pile rug.
Ask about catalogue no. 1240, inventory ResMü.WC0001, and look for the hunting scenes.
Nairobi
Asian-African heritage → Nairobi
Nairobi National Museum
The Nairobi National Museum includes an Asian African Heritage gallery among its permanent displays. It is a starting point for exploring how communities with Asian roots have helped shape Kenyan life.
Look for individual people and everyday objects, and distinguish migration stories from general labels.
New York
Nubia, Egypt → New York
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Egypt gave the Temple of Dendur to the United States in recognition of help with the international campaign to save Nubian monuments threatened by the Aswan High Dam. The Met received the temple in 1967.
Read the rescue story before looking closely at the carved stone reliefs.
Osaka
Korean heritage → Osaka
Miyuki-dori, Ikuno Koreatown
Miyuki-dori’s Korean groceries, restaurants and clothing shops reflect the lives of Korean residents in Japan. This is a living shopping street with a community history, not simply a food attraction.
Notice Hangul signs and ask a shopkeeper about a food or ingredient you do not recognise.
Panama City
Caribbean communities → Panama City
Museo Afroantillano de Panamá
The museum uses objects and historical photographs to tell the stories of Caribbean migrants who came to work on Panama’s railway and canal. Their lives are an essential part of the city’s history.
Focus on family life and working conditions, alongside the better-known engineering story.
Paris
Ancient Assyria, present-day Iraq → Paris
Louvre, Cour Khorsabad
The Louvre’s Cour Khorsabad presents monumental remains from the palace of Assyrian king Sargon II. Its lamassu combine human heads, winged bodies and protective symbolism. Read the collection history alongside the ancient story.
Compare the guardian’s appearance from the front and from the side.
Prague
Tibet, Mongolia and China → Prague
Náprstek Museum
The Náprstek Museum holds a collection of Tibetan Buddhist paintings, sculptures and ritual objects acquired in Tibet, China and especially Mongolia. Collection histories reveal the difference between a tradition’s origin and the place an object was collected.
Use the catalogue to compare a painting and a ritual object; ask which are currently displayed.
Reykjavík
Yoko Ono’s international art → Reykjavík
Imagine Peace Tower, Viðey
Yoko Ono created the Imagine Peace Tower in memory of John Lennon. This international artwork gives a small island off Reykjavík a role in a wider conversation about peace and remembrance.
Check the lighting calendar and boat arrangements; the light is not on every night.
Rio de Janeiro
Portugal → Rio de Janeiro
Real Gabinete Português de Leitura
Portuguese immigrants founded the reading institution in 1837. Its library and architecture preserve a literary connection between Portugal and Brazil that continued after Brazilian independence.
Look for the writers’ names in the reading room and read the founders’ story.
Rome
Ancient Egypt → Rome
Piazza del Popolo
Egyptian obelisks were brought to Rome under imperial rule. The obelisk in Piazza del Popolo is one visible link to that history; its movement belongs to the story of Roman power as well as artistic exchange.
Look for hieroglyphs, then read about the monument’s earlier setting in Egypt.
San Francisco
Japanese heritage → San Francisco
Japanese Tea Garden, Golden Gate Park
The Japanese Tea Garden has welcomed visitors since 1894. Its garden forms and later history connect San Francisco with Japanese and Japanese-American cultural life.
Look beyond the postcard view: read about the people who developed and cared for the garden.
San José
Chinese heritage → San José
Barrio Chino
San José’s municipal planning records describe Barrio Chino as a multicultural and commercial area. It provides a starting point for exploring Chinese connections within the Costa Rican capital.
Walk the public boulevard and ask local businesses about the neighbourhood’s cultural activities.
Santiago
Japanese garden traditions → Santiago
Japanese Garden, Parque Metropolitano
The Japanese Garden is one of the cultural landscapes within Santiago’s Parque Metropolitano. It adds another perspective to a visit to Cerro San Cristóbal beyond the city panorama.
Seek out the garden deliberately and compare its close, framed views with the wider hilltop landscape.
Seoul
International Muslim communities → Seoul
Seoul Central Mosque, Hannam-dong
Opened in 1976, the mosque was built on land provided by Korea with support from Muslim-majority countries, including Saudi Arabia. It connects local religious life with an international community.
Notice the Arabic lettering and architectural forms; do not interrupt or photograph worshippers at prayer.
Shanghai
European Jewish refugees → Shanghai
Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum
The museum incorporates a former synagogue and tells the stories of Jewish refugees who lived in Shanghai during the 1930s and 1940s. Passports, tickets and family materials turn a large history into individual journeys.
Follow one person’s documents through the exhibition; this is a memorial as well as a museum.
Singapore
Tamil Hindu heritage → Singapore
Sri Mariamman Temple, Chinatown
Sri Mariamman Temple shows why a neighbourhood name never tells its whole cultural story. Founded by Narayana Pillay, it has served generations of Hindu worshippers and once helped newly arrived immigrants.
Look at the sculpted entrance tower from outside; follow temple dress and photography rules.
Stockholm
China → Stockholm
Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities
The museum’s Chinese archaeological collections are a starting point for learning about links between East Asia and Sweden. Its current interpretation also examines how objects crossed borders and how those histories are understood today.
Check the reopening information and current displays before planning a visit.
Sydney
Chinese garden traditions → Sydney
Chinese Garden of Friendship, Darling Harbour
The Chinese Garden of Friendship offers a sequence of pavilions, water, planting and paths within Darling Harbour. It is a place to look closely at Chinese garden design within an Australian city.
Pause at one pavilion and compare the view ahead with the view behind you.
Taipei
Japanese-period history → Taipei
Beitou Museum
Beitou Museum occupies a Japanese occupation-era building once used as the Koyama Hotel. The architecture and building-history display connect present-day Taipei with its complex colonial past.
Look at the wooden structure and courtyard, then read how the building’s use changed after the war.
Tehran
Armenian heritage → Tehran
Saint Sarkis Cathedral
Saint Sarkis Cathedral is a landmark of Tehran’s Armenian community. Its presence is a reminder that the city’s cultural and religious histories contain many intertwined traditions.
Explore the building’s history online; the guide’s virtual-first travel context still applies.
Tokyo
China, Korea and wider Asia → Tokyo
Tokyo National Museum, Toyokan
The Toyokan brings together art from China, Korea, India, Southeast Asia and other regions. Its Chinese and Korean Buddhist sculptures offer a way to follow how religious ideas and artistic forms travelled across Asia.
Compare sculpture labels from two regions; individual displays rotate.
Toronto
Safavid Iran → Toronto
Aga Khan Museum
The museum holds The Court of Kayumars, a painting from the Shahnameh made for Shah Tahmasp. The page connects Toronto with Persian epic storytelling and Safavid book arts.
Open the collection record and look at how people, animals and landscape gather around the king; confirm display status.
Vancouver
Chinese garden traditions → Vancouver
Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden
The garden brings classical Chinese design into Vancouver’s Chinatown. Its pond, miniature trees and rocks imported from China make an architectural and horticultural connection visible.
Notice how rocks, water and framed views work together; distinguish the garden from the adjacent public park.
Venice
Armenian heritage → Venice
San Lazzaro degli Armeni
San Lazzaro degli Armeni offers a different perspective on the Venetian lagoon through its Armenian library and museum. It is a place to learn about a community’s cultural life, not just another island viewpoint.
Arrange access with the institution and ask about its manuscript and printing heritage.
Vienna
Setagaya, Tokyo → Vienna
Setagayapark, Döbling
Designed by Japanese landscape gardener Ken Nakajima, Setagayapark reflects the cultural relationship between Vienna’s Döbling district and Tokyo’s Setagaya district. Ponds and streams make the connection tangible.
Notice how water, planting and small structures frame a sequence of views.
Zurich
Kunming, China → Zürich
Chinagarten
Kunming gave Zürich its Chinese Garden in thanks for assistance with drinking-water supply and drainage. Opened in 1994, it turns a practical partnership between two cities into a cultural place beside the lake.
Look at the entrance, pavilions and water together rather than as isolated decorations.
Gifts, migration, trade, artistic influence, empire and collecting all leave different traces. Read the source and the object label together. These themes are starting points for discovery; a single object or place cannot represent a whole culture.
Prepare for your visit →