A 'virtual museum' is to offer schools access to collections held in museums around the country.

The 24 Hour Museum, which brings together online images from the collections of 50 museums, links images to specific areas of the National Curriculum.

The museum is one of 15 education projects to be funded by £650,000, announced on Tuesday by the Schools Minister, Jacqui Smith.

The funding is the latest stage in the Museums and Galleries Programme, launched a year ago, which is intended to build up links between schools and museums.

"The programme shows that concentration on the basics does not have to be narrow or boring. This programme is helping raise standards of literacy and numeracy, but at the same time is instilling curiosity and enhancing awareness of diversity.

"Museums can inspire children and bring the curriculum to life, developing new ways of thinking and learning. Our programme aims to exploit to the full the creative potential of as many museums and galleries as possible across the country," said the minister.

The funding will support museums projects which helps to develop the use of information technology and which backs the campaigns to improve literacy and numeracy.

Other projects will include the placing of images onto a website of the collections at the Tiverton and Mid Devon Museum Trust, which is intended to make access easier and cheaper for rural schools.

The Museum of London will be supported in its work with 2,000 schools in the capital which are setting up "mini-museums" in the classroom.

In Preston, a football museum will be supported with a literacy and numeracy project based on football league tables and news reports.