Many museums publish beautiful paper books on art collections, historical objects and exhibitions they have. Print books, however, only have a limited life span. When books become too costly to print and keep in stock, they become unavailable. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has solved the availability problem of old books elegantly: the museum has released books older than 50 years as free ebooks.

You can explore the collection of free art and history ebooks here. Ebooks are available as PDF downloads, or you can read them online. Online reading seems to be more convenient option, because downloads are very, very slow.

We are always looking for travel tips, and Metropolitan Museum’s free ebook collection didn’t disappoint. For instance, book titled Al-Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain shows many magnificent historical destinations in Spain that can be visited today.