List of most visited art museums in the world

The Louvre palace (Richelieu wing)
British Museum, London, United Kingdom
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, United States

This article lists the most visited art museums in the world. This list of 100 is based on an attendance survey compiled by The Art Newspaper published in April 2013.[1]

The country with the highest number of visitors in the top 100 is the United Kingdom. The country with the most museums appearing in the list is the United States.

The list also includes exhibition centers organizing temporary art displays. Several major art museums, such as the Palace Museum in Beijing, which annually draw close to 12 million visitors,[2] the Museo del Prado in Madrid, with 2,800,000 visitors in 2012,[3] and the National Museum of Anthropology of Mexico City, with 1,767,092 visitors in 2011,[4] were not included.

Annual fluctuations occur due to the popularity of special exhibitions and improved collections. For example, the National Gallery of Victoria 2,800,000 visitors in 2017, placing it well into the top 20.

Rank Museum City Country Visitor Count
1
Louvre Paris France France 9,720,260
2
Metropolitan Museum of Art New York United States USA 6,115,881
3
British Museum London United Kingdom UK 5,575,946
4
Tate Modern London United Kingdom UK 5,304,710
5
National Gallery London United Kingdom UK 5,163,902
6
Vatican Museums Vatican City  Vatican City 5,064,546
7
National Palace Museum Taipei  Taiwan 4,360,815
8
National Gallery of Art Washington United States USA 4,200,000
9
Centre Pompidou Paris France France 3,800,000
10
Musée d'Orsay Paris France France 3,600,000
11
Victoria & Albert Museum London United Kingdom UK 3,231,700
12
National Museum of Korea Seoul South Korea South Korea 3,128,550
13
Hermitage Museum St Petersburg Russia Russia 2,882,385
14
Museum of Modern Art New York United States USA 2,805,659
15
Museo del Prado Madrid Spain Spain 2,800,000
16
National Folk Museum of Korea Seoul South Korea South Korea 2,640,264
17
Museo Reina Sofía Madrid Spain Spain 2,565,000
18
Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil Rio de Janeiro Brazil Brazil 2,235,354
19
National Portrait Gallery London United Kingdom UK 2,096,858
20
Shanghai Museum Shanghai People's Republic of China China 1,944,820
21
National Museum of Scotland Edinburgh  United Kingdom 1,893,521
22
Galleria degli Uffizi Florence Italy Italy 1,769,217
23
Moscow Kremlin Moscow  Russia 1,735,600
24
National Galleries of Scotland[a] Edinburgh  United Kingdom 1,604,105
25
J. Paul Getty Museum[b] Los Angeles  United States 1,590,608

List Of Most Visited Art Museums In The World Media

References

  1. "Visitor Figures 2012" (PDF). London: The Art Newspaper. April 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 January 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
  2. Clough, G. Wayne. "A Better Space". Smithsonian Magazine. Archived from the original on 2013-04-08. Retrieved 2013-11-06. Three museums are by far and away in a league of their own for "world's most-visited museum." Beijing's Palace Museum hosts almost 12 million visitors annually...
  3. "Five years after completing its extension the Prado receives more than 3 million visitors and achieves 60% self-funding". Museo Nacional del Prado. 2 January 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  4. "Turismo cultural supera 18 millones de visitantes" (in español). El Economista. 2012-01-16. Retrieved 2013-08-10.