If you’re a fan of art or history, museums are sure to be a must-see on any vacation. But with hundreds of museums around the world, it can be hard to know where to begin.Museums are often a must-see for lovers of art and culture. They provide an insight into our history and cultural evolution that is almost impossible to see elsewhere.
This list compiles 22 of the most magnificent museums and art galleries from around the world, filled with incredible collections that are sure to take your breath away. With some of the largest andmost important art and antiquities collections on the planet, these museums are well worth a trip.
Tate Britain, London
Together with the Tate Modern, Tate Britan holds much of thenational collection of British art from the 1500s to the present, including a large collection of the works of William Turner.
LOOK OUT FOR:Millais’ Ophelia,Waterhouse’s The Lady of Shallott, Rossetti’s The Beloved, Turner’sSnow Storm – Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouthand A Disaster at Sea
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
Opened in 1879,The Art Institute of Chicago has over 300,000 pieces of art in its permanent collection. One of the oldest museums in the country, it houses the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries of art history and architecture.It also hosts a variety ofrotating exhibitions and hundreds of gallery performances.
LOOK OUT FOR: Grant Wood’s American Gothic,Chagall’s America Windows,Toft’s The Solitude of the Soul,Dzeron’sA Daughter of Armenia, Picasso’sThe Old Guitarist, Seurat’sA Sunday on La Grande Jatte (pictured), van Gogh’sBedroom in Arles,and Edward Hopper’sNighthawks
National Palace Museum, Taipei
This museum houses apermanent collection of nearly 700,000 ancientChineseimperial art and artefacts. Many of thesewere evacuated to Taiwanafter World War II, and are connected to thePalace Museumin Beijing’s Forbidden City.
LOOK OUT FOR:TheZong Zhou Zhong (Bell of Zhou),Guo Xi’s Early Spring,andHuang Gongwang’sDwelling in the Fuchun Mountains.
Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo
The oldest Japanese museum, theTokyo National Museum houses collection of artand archaeology from all over Asia. It has one of the best collections of Greco-Buddhist art, as well asancientJapanese art.
LOOK OUT FOR: Gandhara Standing Buddha, Calligraphy in theNational Treasure Gallery, and Samurai Armor in theHonkan Japanese Gallery.
Musée d’Orsay, Paris
Housed in a former railway station, Paris‘ Musée d’Orsay is known for its vast collection of impressionist andpost-impressionist works. Seminal artists likeVan Gogh, Cezanne, Rodin, Renoir, and Monet are displayed here.
LOOK OUT FOR: Whistler’s Mother, van Gogh’s Self-portrait(1889), Manet’s Olympia, Renoir’s Bal du Moulin de la Galette, Monet’s Women in the Garden, Cézanne’s The Card Players, Courbet’s The Artist’s Studio, and Degas’ The Ballet Class.
National Museum, New Delhi
Established in 1949, New Delhi’s National Museum chronicles the history of the Indian subcontinent from the Indus Valley Civilization to modern times. It includespersonal effects of Gautama Buddha,jewellery, antique coins, arms,and armour.
LOOK OUT FOR:Harappan Bronze Dancing Girl,CholaNataraja in Bronze (pictured), Buddha’s relics, and the Gupta statues of the Goddesses Ganga and Yamuna
Natural History Museum, London
In the late 19th century, Britain’s collection of artefacts were split into theBritish Museum andthe Natural History Museum. The former focused on human history, while the latter featured natural history. Today it houses the Geological Museum, the Darwin Center,and the Attenborough Studio. Its collection includes well as over70 million specimens.
LOOK OUT FOR:“Dippy” theDiplodocus, theArcheopteryx, the animatronic T-Rex, The 3DVirtual Reality experience, Archie the Giant Squid, and the life-size model of a blue whale.
Museum of Modern Art, New York City
Popularly known as MoMA, thisart museum located in Midtown Manhattan has one of the most comprehensive collections ofmodern art in the world. Van Gogh, Cézanne, Matisse, Magritte, Picasso, Pollock, Dali, and Warhol are all represented here.
LOOK OUT FOR:van Gogh’sThe Starry Night(pictured), Picasso’sLes Demoiselles d’Avignon, Cezanne’sThe Bather,Matisse’s The Dance (I),Monet’sWater Lilies,Salvador Dali’sThe Persistence of Memory,Warhol’sCampbell’s Soup Cans, and Roy Lichtenstein’sDrowning Girl.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
The Rijksmuseum displays thousands of objects of Dutch art and history. 8,000 objects of art and history are generally on display here — just a fraction of the museum’s collection of 1 million objects. It is Located in Amsterdam‘s Museum Square (Museumplein) near theVan Gogh Museum and theStedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Among its masterpieces lies a vast library, and a collection of exquisite doll houses and porcelain.
LOOK OUT FOR:Rembrandt’sThe Night Watch andEarly Self Portrait, Vermeer’sThe Milkmaid, The Doll’s House of Petronella Oortman, the Cuypers Library,Anthonius Mor’sPortrait of Sir Thomas GreshamFranz Hals’ Wedding Portrait Of Isaac Massa and Beatrix Van Der Laen AndVan Gogh’s Self Portrait (1887).
The National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City
InChapultepec Park, Mexico‘sNational Museum of Anthropology has a definitive collection ofarchaeological artefacts (originals or replicas) from the many pre-Columbian Mexican cultures like theOlmec, Mayans and the Aztecs, among others.
LOOK OUT FOR:the Aztec calendar stone (pictured), Pakal’s tomb, the mask of the Zapotec Bat God,Moctezuma II’s Headdress,Statue of Xochipilli, and the Codex Borbonicus
The Vatican Museums, Vatican City
Perhaps most famous for Michaelangelo’sSistine Chapel, the Vatican Museums house some of the finest works of the Italian Renaissance in thePinacoteca with works by Italian masters.It also has the Gregorian Egyptian Museum, the Pio Clementino Museum,the Map Gallery, and the Raphael Rooms.
LOOK OUT FOR: The Bramante Spiral Staircase, The Laocoon, Apollo delBelvedere, The Sala Rotonda,The Borgia Apartments,Raphael’sThe School of Athens,The Transfiguration, and Adoration of the Magi,Caravaggio’sEntombment, Michaelangelo’s The Last Judgement (pictured) and thePietà (inSt. Peter’s Basilica)
National Gallery, London
Founded in 1824, the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square has acollection of over 2,300 paintings dating back to the 13th century. Though a comparatively small collection, itfeatures representations ofmost major developments in Western painting. Its lack of space led to theestablishment of theTate in 1897.
LOOK OUT FOR:Titian’sDiana and Actaeon,van Eyck’sThe Arnolfini Portrait,da Vinci’sThe Virgin of the Rocks,van Gogh’sSunflowers,Botticelli’sVenus and Mars,Rubens’Le Chapeau de Paille,Seurat’sBathers at Asnières, andVelazquez’s Rokeby Venus.
The Acropolis Museum, Athens
Built to house artefacts found on the slopes of the Acropolis of Athens (which is undergoing renovation), the New Acropolis Museum is built over Roman and Byzantine ruins revealing layers of history. It has one of the greatest collections of ancient Greek statues in the world. But, onlyhalf of the pieces on display are originals. The rest are plaster copies. These missing pieces currently sit in theBritish Museum in London.
LOOK OUT FOR: TheCaryatids of Erechtheum (pictured),Goddess Nike, and theParthenon Frieze
Egyptian Museum, Cairo
Cario’s Egyptian Museum features some of the greatest archaeological finds from all over Egypt. It istechnically known as theMuseum of Egyptian Antiquities. It has over120,000 items, though only a fraction is on display at any given point. However, by November 2018, many of these will be relocated to the newGrand Egyptian Museumnear Giza.
LOOK OUT FOR:Tutankhamun’s Mask (pictured),The Narmer Palette,Statue ofMenkaure, Bust ofAkhenaten, TheSeneb Statue, Mummy of Hatshepsut, TheMerneptah Stele, and The Statue ofAmenhotep III and Tiye
Hermitage Museum,St. Petersburg
This vast museum has over two million items, though only a small part is on display. Spread out over five palaces, it would take you weeks to cover the entire collection. Apart from the displays of coins, antiques, sculptures, and artefacts, it houses the largest collection of paintings in the world.
LOOK OUT FOR: Titian’sPenitent Magdalene,Matisse’s The Dance and Music,the Kolyvan Vase,Raphael’s Madonna Conestabile, da Vinci’s Madonna Litta,Canova’sThree Graces, and the Hermitage cats.
The Prado, Madrid
TheMuseo Nacional Del Prado commonly referred to as just “The Prado,” contains the world’s greatest collection of Spanish art. Based on the former Spanish Royal Collection, it has works by masters such asVelasquez, Goya,and El Greco. It also has an excellent collection of other European art.
LOOK OUT FOR:Velázquez’sThe Triumph of Bacchus (pictured)andLas Meninas,Goya’sThe Executions,Lamajadesnuda,andLamajavestida,El Greco’sThe FableandThe Flight into Egypt,Bosch’sThe Garden of Earthly Delights,Rubens’The Judgement of ParisandThe Three Graces,and Zurbarán’s Agnus Dei
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Sitting onNew York’s Upper East Side, the ‘Met’ contains works from the past50,000 years of human creativity. Its collection has paintings, sculptures, photographs, antiques, and costumes from all the continents and nearly every time period. Housing over 2 million pieces, it is also one of the largestmuseums in the world.
LOOK OUT FOR:Egyptian Temple of Dendur, Armor ofKing Henry VIII, Hokusai’sThe Great Wave off Kanagawa,Leutze’sWashington Crossing the Delaware,Canova’s Venus Italica,Sargent’sPortrait of Madame X,David’sThe Death of Socrates, Caravaggio’sThe Denial of Saint Peter, and theSphinx of Hatshepsut
Uffizi, Florence
The Uffizi Gallery is to Italian art what the Prado is to Spanish. It features a rich collection of Italian Renaissance art cultivated and curated by the Medici family over centuries. The Uffizi is one of the most celebrated art galleries in the world.
LOOK OUT FOR:Botticelli’s Primavera and Birth of Venus (pictured),da Vinci’sAnnunciation,Caravaggio’s Medusa,andBacchus,Raphael’s Pope Leo X and Cardinals andMadonna of the Goldfinch,Michelangelo’sDoniTondo,Titian’sVenus of Urbino,Fra Angelico’sCoronation of the Virgin,and numerous versions ofthe Adoration of the Magi
Museumplatz, Berlin
Berlin‘s “Museum Island” comprises of five large museums that are each spectacular in their own right. The Pergamon Museum housestreasures from the Ancient Near East and Islamic art; the Bode Museum exhibits late Antique and Byzantine art and sculpture; the Neues Museumholds Egyptian, and prehistoric collections; while the Altes Museumdisplays its Greek antiques. TheAlte Nationalgalerie serves as an art gallery.
LOOK OUT FOR: ThePergamon Altar, theIshtar Gateof Babylon (pictured),the Aleppo room, Robbia’sVirgin with Child,the‘Berlin Golden Hat’, Bust of Nefertiti, Portraits ofJulius Caesar and Cleopatra VII, Wounded Amazon, andFriedrich’sDer Mönch am Meer.
Also Read:8 Of The Best Museums You Must Explore in Berlin
The British Museum, London
Established in 1753, the British Museum is one of the largest in the world. Its collection of over 8 million objects is one of the most comprehensive ever. Focusing on human history and culture, its size is mostly due to the expansion of British colonization.
LOOK OUT FOR: The Rosetta Stone,Assyrian Lion Hunt reliefs,theNereid Monument, Lamassu ofKhorsabad (companion of one in the Louvre), the original Parthenon Marbles, the Standard of Ur, the Portland Vase, Cat Mummies,Granite Head of Amenhotep III, theHalikarnassos horse,Hoa Hakananai’a Easter Island Statue, andtheSutton Hoo Ship Burial.
The Smithsonian, Washington D.C.
Considered the world’s largest museum and “the nation’s attic,” the Smithsonian Institute houses almost 150 million items; in over 19 museums (and a zoo). Detailing American history and culture, it also serves as a research centre and a vast archive of books and films.
LOOK OUT FOR: The Apollo 11 command module and the Wright Brothers’1903 plane, the Spirit of St. Louis at theNational Air and Space Museum; the Hope Diamond and the Crystal Skull at the National Museum of Natural History; and the original Star-Spangled Banner and the dresses of the First Ladies at the National Museum of American History.
The Louvre, Paris
Once a medieval fortress and royal residence, The Louvre in Paris is now one of the most famous museums in the world. Its wealth of treasures include Classical sculptures, Egyptian relics, Mesopotamian antiquities,Renaissance paintings, and medieval artefacts.
LOOK OUT FOR: da Vinci’s Mona Lisa andThe Virgin of the Rocks, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace (pictured), The Seated ScribefromSaqqara,Botticelli’sVenus with Three Graces, TheCode of Hammurabi, Eugène Delacroix’sLiberty Leading the People,Great Sphinx of Tanis, andJan Vermeer’s The Lacemaker
Of course, there are tons of other magnificent museums around the world. If we’ve missed any, do share them in the comments below.
