This study examined the effectiveness of virtual reality (VR) as an extension of museum exhibitions, exploring its impact on learning and the aesthetic experience of art. Three research questions addressed whether VR-replicas—VR copies of physical exhibition rooms—can achieve learning and aesthetic experiences comparable to physical exhibitions, whether integrating photorealistic 360° images into VR-replicas enhances these experiences, and whether the museum location positively influences them. Two within-subjects studies (N = 81) tested these effects using a highly embodied VR-replica of two physical exhibition rooms of an art-historic museum. Participants subsequently experienced either two VR-replicas with and without 360°-images at a laboratory-location (Study 1) or a physical exhibition room and a VR-replica without 360°-images at the museum-location (Study 2). Dependent variables included knowledge-gains, sense of presence, motivation, situational-interest, motion-sickness and aesthetic experience of art. Results indicated that the VR was able to achieve similar results concerning learning and aesthetic experience of artworks compared to the physical exhibition room. Further, results showed that 360°-images caused significantly worse learning gains in VR when experienced in the first room. It is theorised that a negative novelty effect occurred due to the greater control-complexity in the 360°-VR. Lastly, analyses revealed no significant positive effect of the museum-location on learning and aesthetic experience in VR. The findings provide empirical backing for employing VRs as accessible and remote museum extensions that may be able to deliver museum-like experiences, while identifying further research gaps in confirming why exactly 360°-images had a negative effect on learning in VR.