10 World Museums & Galleries to Visit at Least Once
10 World Museums & Galleries
A museum is an institution that collects and preserves archaeological materials, old relics, works of art, and the like. Because it lets us glimpse a slice of history — from prehistoric times, when the earliest humans began shaping and using tools, all the way to today — a museum is an essential facility for academic research and educational purposes. For that reason, places that hold large collections or boast a deep history are counted among the world’s must-visit museums and galleries. The Louvre in Paris, France, and the Vatican Museums in Vatican City, in particular, are said to give you artistic inspiration simply by visiting.
The content I’ve prepared this time is a list of the world’s most famous museums and galleries — the ones worth visiting at least once. With so many institutions in the world, picking just 10 was no easy task. I’ll focus mainly on the most frequently mentioned places and those tied to interesting anecdotes, so please read along just for fun!
Table of Contents
10 Famous World Museums & Galleries
1. Athens, Greece: Acropolis Museum
The first world museum I’ll introduce is the Acropolis Museum, owned by Athens, Greece. Ever since it was first shown to the public in the 1880s, right up to today, great efforts have been made to preserve the relics excavated from the Parthenon. While it’s highly valued for its history and worth as a home to Parthenon artifacts, its interior is quite refined and modern, providing a pleasant exhibition space. Beyond the Parthenon relics, it also houses ancient artifacts and relics from the Byzantine city.
2. Netherlands: Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
The Rijksmuseum, located in the Netherlands, is also counted among the world’s must-visit museums and galleries. It owns 40 works by the Baroque-era painter Rembrandt and 4 works by Vermeer. It’s a gallery anyone who loves the dark yet still, quiet art characteristic of the 17th century can enjoy. Beyond these, the Rijksmuseum holds over a million works of art. It’s also said to ease children’s boredom by adding hands-on activities to a gallery that might otherwise feel a bit stale and quiet. As a result, it tends to draw many family visitors.
3. Vatican City: Vatican Museums
The Vatican Museums in Vatican City are counted as a place that even people with no interest in museums should visit at least once before they die — because the world’s most famous Roman Catholic collection is on display there. Being Catholic, the Vatican Museums exhibit collections that popes have gathered over many years. These include famous Roman sculptures and Renaissance masterpieces. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo himself between 1508 and 1512, is said to go beyond simply astonishing. Not only the artworks but also the chapel’s interior and the sculptures and architecture in the gardens are said to be quite beautiful — so I’ll definitely have to visit if I get the chance!
4. Florence, Italy: Uffizi Gallery
The Uffizi Gallery, first opened to the public in 1865, is also counted among the world’s museums and galleries — because it’s one of the oldest museums in the world. It holds artworks from the Italian Renaissance and parts of the Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci collections. The Uffizi is also where the famous yet rarely-seen-in-person “Birth of Venus” is actually on display. I’m not sure if it’s true, but one visitor is said to have been so overwhelmed with emotion that they fainted and had to be taken to the hospital. That was reportedly the first time the term “Stendhal syndrome” was coined (the symptoms of momentary mental shock or breakdown felt when viewing historically famous artworks or works of art).
5. Paris, France: Louvre Museum
The Louvre in Paris, France, absolutely cannot be left off a list of the world’s museums and galleries. That’s because, more than its works or its scale, the glass pyramid that serves as the entrance to the museum is so famous. But once you really get to know the Louvre, you’ll realize this pyramid is just one part of an amazing collection.
First opened to the public in 1793, the Louvre boasts the largest scale in the world and is the most-visited of them all. It’s so enormous that some people claim you’d need 10 days to tour the entire museum. It also holds a wide range of collections, from ancient Egyptian relics to ancient Greece and Rome, medieval Europe, and the Napoleonic era. The most famous work among them is Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.
6. Paris, France: Musée d’Orsay
The Musée d’Orsay, one of the largest galleries in Europe, is also counted among the world’s museums and galleries. It’s housed in a railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The building is so beautiful and intricate that it’s said to be enough to inspire you artistically even without stepping inside. The gallery also exhibits a large number of 19th- and 20th-century artworks, and among them it holds what’s said to be the world’s largest collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces. A representative work is Van Gogh’s The Starry Night.
7. Washington, D.C., USA: National Museum of Natural History
I didn’t know exactly what “natural history” meant, so I looked it up. Natural history is the field of studying the kinds and properties of animals, plants, and minerals scientifically. In other words, the National Museum of Natural History is a facility that investigates and exhibits nature-related materials — animals, plants, minerals — rather than relics. The reason it’s counted among the world’s museums is that it offers both education and viewing enjoyment at any age. The museum displays a life-size dinosaur skeleton, and it’s said to hold collections of the Hope Diamond, sapphires, top-grade gemstones, minerals, and more.
8. New York, USA: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan, located in New York City, USA, boasts an enormous scale befitting a world-class museum. It includes Greek sculptures, medieval European and ancient Egyptian paintings, and has over 2 million works of art on display. For that reason, it’s counted as a place every art lover should visit at least once. Founded in 1870 and first opened to the public, the gallery’s exterior is intricate and beautiful, said to inspire both art and education.
9. Beijing, China: National Museum
The National Museum, which welcomes around 2 million visitors each year, is also counted among the world’s museums and galleries. Located in Beijing, China, it’s known as the facility that most comprehensively exhibits China’s storied culture and history. It holds so many exhibition halls that you can take a journey through Chinese history — from the Qing Empire, through the First Opium War, all the way to the modern era. The number of exhibition halls alone reaches 48. China’s scale really never disappoints, haha.
10. Xi’an, China: Terracotta Army Museum
The last world museum I’ll introduce is the Terracotta Army Museum, located in Xi’an, China. Often seen across all kinds of media but rarely in person, this place has a staggering 8,000 warrior and horse sculptures on display. It doesn’t seem to be precisely known when they were made, but the terracotta army was first discovered in 1974. In photos it looks amazing, yet somehow a little eerie too.
Beyond these, places like Egypt’s “Egyptian Museum,” Russia’s “State Historical Museum,” and Germany’s “Jewish Museum” were also named among the world’s museums and galleries. As I mentioned earlier, I left them out because they aren’t mentioned as often. Personally, once I’m there I do enjoy it, but I’m not the type to go out of my way on foot to seek out museums or galleries. Even so, the places I introduced today have so many interesting works and such beautiful architecture that they made me want to go if I ever get the chance. Which one would you most want to visit? The Louvre? The Vatican? Wherever it is, I think visiting would give you an experience beyond anything you could imagine, haha.