The largest museums The biggest museums in the world

Each country has its own history. But cities are gradually changing their appearance. Old buildings are becoming less and less, or they are in a deplorable state. But in every country there are museums in which this history can be seen with your own eyes. There are many museums, but there are some that are known all over the world. When people come to France, they certainly want to visit the Louvre, in Russia obligatory item for tourists is visiting the Hermitage. Why are they so distinguished from the rest of the many thousands? Top 10 especially for you most visited museums in the world.

Taipei National Palace Museum

The largest museum in China, located on the island of Taiwan. There are many monuments of culture and history, bronze figurines, rare books. Many of these items belonged to the emperor and his family members. In total, the museum has 697,490 items. Of course, it is impossible to place everything. Exhibitions are organized in turn, usually items of great interest are chosen, the rest are kept indoors.

But the museum is not only rooms filled with exhibits. Gardens are laid out on the territory of the Taipei Palace, everything is done there for a comfortable stay for visitors. Ponds, bridges, various trees and flowers, gazebos. The average number of visitors per year is 6 million people.

Musee d'Orsay, Paris

The museum is located on the left bank of the Seine River. Its very not only foreigners but also French. In the museum you can see how the fine arts developed in France from 1850 to 1910. Painting, photography, musical works, decoration, architecture is not all the areas of art that are presented in the museum. Concerts and performances are often held here. In addition, a film festival is held annually. The building of the museum is also of interest - it is a former railway station. Annual average number of visitors 3 million people.

Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York

It belongs to the largest art museums in the world. The museum has a variety of exhibits. All of them are located in different sections. There is an American art section where you can admire the paintings famous artists, sculptures. Weapon lovers will appreciate the section, which has an abundance of collections of European and Middle Eastern weapons and armor.

Everyone will find what he likes: modern art, drawings and photographs, objects of ancient Egyptian and medieval art, libraries, costume institute. It is noteworthy that the museum operates on donations from sponsors, the state allocates only a small part. The average number of visitors per year is 7 million people.

National Gallery of Art, Washington

The National Gallery in Washington DC contains the best works of art, not only in the United States, but throughout the world. The gallery owns two buildings. East building houses art collections contemporary art. Mostly works of the late 19th century (Picasso, Lichtenstein and other famous artists) are presented here. There is also an exposition of sculpture, as well as a large fountain. The western building houses collections of paintings and sculptures by eminent masters from Europe and America (Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci). About 4 million people visit the art gallery every year.

National Museum of Korea, Seoul

The museum attracts attention with its unusualness; it is divided into two wings. They symbolize the past and future of Korea. The museum has a wide range of architectural and historical monuments. The first floor is suitable for those who are interested ancient history Korean Peninsula. On the upper floors there are private collections: furniture, household items, dishes.

The museum has a well-developed infrastructure. There is a special room for children. There is an opportunity to walk in the garden, sit in a cafe, visit shops, and all this on the territory of the museum. About 3 million people visit the National Museum of Korea every year..

British Museum, London

The museum is considered one of the largest museums in the world. Its main assets are archaeological finds and objects of art of ancient Rome and Ancient Greece. Here you will see stunning collections of old coins, a collection of watches, works by Rembrandt, engravings by artists of the Renaissance. But, of course, most visitors come here to see the Greco-Roman collection, exhibitions of Egyptian artifacts. The pride of the museum is also called, located in the same building. Attendance 6.7 million people per year.

State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

The history of the largest museum in Russia began during the reign of Catherine the Great. Its emissaries traveled all over the world in search of collections of paintings by famous artists. In addition to them, the museum could see collections of rare coins and medals. There were many drawings and engravings, rare sculptures and, of course, books. Unfortunately, when Soviet power came, many paintings were stolen and sold abroad.

The Hermitage museum complex consists of 5 buildings. You are unlikely to see such rich collections of paintings anywhere else, definitely not in Russia. The time period is very large - from the beginning of the Stone Age to 2000. About 5.3 million people visit the museum every year.

National Gallery, London

The location of the museum is Trafalgar Square. Here are the best masterpieces visual arts Western Europe. There are about 2 thousand of them in total, they are located in chronological order. And the time period is very large - from the XII to the XX centuries.

As already noted, there are a lot of paintings in the gallery, you won’t be able to see them all in one day. Therefore, it is better to think in advance what you would like to see first. On the territory of the museum, you can comfortably relax in a cafe, in souvenir shops, buy something for yourself as a keepsake of visiting this beautiful place. Museum attendance 6 million per year.

Museum of Contemporary Art Reina Sofia, Madrid

The museum was opened by King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia in the old hospital. They decided that works of art of the 20th century would be presented here. The museum provides an opportunity to admire the paintings of such great artists as Picasso, Dali. Many masterpieces of painting of the twentieth century of different trends: avant-garde, surrealism, abstractionism. Here you can see not only finished paintings, but also to see sketches and unfinished works of some artists. Museum attendance 3.6 million per year.

Louvre, Paris

The art museum of the world, which is rightfully considered the most popular. It is well located in the center of Paris. This is a real royal palace. In the Louvre you will find collections and exhibits from different times, peoples and eras. Everything is here: sculptures, paintings, figurines, furniture, engravings, books, weapons. The museum has a lot of masterpieces of art, but tourists are often unable to appreciate even a small part of them, the museum is so huge.

People tend to see only what they know: the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, the pyramid made famous by the film The Da Vinci Code. Museum attendance is about 9 million per year.

Art museums are mostly paintings, but more often they contain various works of art. In this article, we will look at the most big museums in the world. These buildings can be owned by both states and private individuals. IN currently Museum premises are increasingly being used not only for exhibitions, but also for concerts and various performances.

10. Art Institute of Chicago

Founded in 1879. Initially, it was conceived as a school, which will later host an exhibition of paintings and works of art. The building was designed by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge. From the moment of construction, the institution began to regularly receive awards and prizes. In museums, along with an exhibition of paintings, an exhibition of weapons covering 400 years is presented. Museum area 26,000 m²

9. National Museum of Korea

Most big museum was established in Korea in 1945. In 2005, it expanded to its current size and its area is 27,009 m². The museum is divided into 6 galleries and has over 310,000 pieces of art. In addition to the excursion orientation, various educational programs and cultural events are held here.

8. Victoria and Albert Museum

The world's largest museum of decorative applied arts and design, founded in 1852 under the influence of the World Exhibition in 1851. On display are collections of glass art spanning 4,000 years of glassmaking. It has over 6000 items from Africa, Great Britain, Europe, America and Asia. We can say that this museum has one of the best collections of colored glass.

The objects presented in museums represent the history of mankind for over 300 years. IN Lately many of the objects have been restored and restored.

7. National Museum of Anthropology

The National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City is located on Paseo de la Reforma and Calzada Gandi. It presents the largest collections of ancient Mexican art, as well as ethnographic exhibits about Mexico and the modern population. There is a hall dedicated to each of the cultural areas of Mesoamerica. The museum has 23 exhibition halls. Archaeological exhibits are located on the ground floor, ethnographic exhibits about contemporary groups Mexico's population are on the second floor. The museum houses more than 600,000 art objects, the total area of ​​the museum is 33,000 m².

6. Tokyo National Museum

Consists of three buildings: Honkan, Toyokan, Heiseikan

Honkan, this majestic building is the face of the Tokyo National Museum. Built in 1937, it combines Japanese and European features. Architectural design by Jin Watanabe was selected for open competition. The marble staircase leading to the halls of the museum forms a dramatic central part. On one of the floors there is an exhibition “Peculiarities Japanese art” ideal for those who visit the museum for the first time. Here are works of art from all periods Japanese history starting from 10,000 BC ending with early modernity. A toyokan journey into the art of Asia. This building was designed by Tanguchi Yoshiro. January 02, 2013, it reopened with new galleries, after two and a half years repair work to strengthen it against earthquakes. With exhibits from Egypt, China and the Korean Peninsula, the East, this gallery takes you on a journey around the world of art. Indian paintings, Indonesian textiles, Kuhmer sculptures, and much more. Nowhere else in Japan will you find another place that highlights such a diversity of cultures. The world class collection includes Chinese paintings, calligraphy and ceramics.
Heiseikan was opened in 1999 in honor of the marriage of the heir prince. The entire second floor of the building is occupied by the Gallery of Special Exhibitions. In April 2015, all exhibition cases and lighting fixtures were upgraded. This allowed visitors to see the art in a more voluminous way. On the ground floor is the Japanese Archaeological Gallery. The gallery presents the history of Japan, from the Paleolithic era to the Edo period. There is also a room on the ground floor where guests can relax and auditorium where lectures and concerts are held.

5. Vatican Museums

The most interesting place is the museum called Pio Clementino, the building of which was rebuilt and expanded over the course of 15 years. Leading the restoration work famous masters Camporesi and Simonette. Today, this majestic institution includes many interesting halls, including the Rotunda, the Hall of the Muses, the Garden of Masks and the Hall of the Animals. Here you have exhibited wonderful exhibits that are masterpieces ancient art. It is worth visiting the Hall of Animals, where you will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the beautiful sculptures of animals. All statues are made of high quality marble. And in the hall of the Greek cross you can see the wonderful tiles of the ancient mosaic, which was created in the 2nd-3rd century. Ancient sarcophagi are also located here, in one of which the ashes of the mother of the famous emperor of the Christian world, Constantine, are kept to this day.
To date, there is a huge catalog of this museum, which was created by Giovanni Battista Visconti. By the way, the description of all exhibits occupies seven full volumes.
But, unfortunately, in 1797 a huge number of valuable exhibits were taken to France. That is why Pope Pius the Seventh began to actively collect masterpieces of ancient art. During this period, a new building called "Braccio Nuovo" was created, where all these exhibits are stored to this day.
Already in 1816, all the previous exhibits were transported from France back to the territory of the Vatican. Most of these were wonderful paintings, which were subsequently placed on the territory of the Borgia apartments. Raphael's works were also collected here, including the famous painting "Madonna Foligno" and a work called "Transfiguration". There is also a wonderful collection of tapestries by this author, which at one time was made to decorate the Sistine Chapel.
And already in 1837, the Etruscan Museum was opened on the territory of the Vatican, where all the archaeological finds were collected, found during excavations near Cerveteri. The fact is that the Etruscans are the most mysterious people, whose culture and history still remain a mystery to scientists from all over the world. Unfortunately, we have not reached today monumental monuments the history of this people, since temples and buildings were built in most cases from wood. But, nevertheless, on the territory of nine large halls of the museum, a huge number of exhibits are exhibited, including sarcophagi, as well as metal objects - candelabra, glasses, figurines, and mirrors that were made of gold and silver.
And on the lower floor of the same museum, the Museum of Egyptian Culture was opened, which contains wonderful exhibits, including a huge collection of scarab beetles.

4. Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is located in New York and covers an area of ​​58,820 m². It opened in February 1872 and is located on Fifth Avenue. The collection has more than 2 million pieces, which are located in 16 departments, covering everything from ancient egypt to Islamic art and European painting. In addition, he is known for a large collection musical instruments.

3. National Museum of China

The third largest museum in the world is located at the National Museum of China. Located along Beijing's Tiananmen Square, it covers an area of ​​65,000 m². This museum was created after the Museum of the Chinese Revolution and the Museum of Chinese History, which were merged in 1959. Its main purpose is to educate the public and popularize the history of China. The National Museum of China has over 1.05 million pieces in its collection.

2. State Hermitage

Located in the city of St. Petersburg, is the second largest art museum in the world. It has a total area of ​​66,842 m². This museum, one of the oldest in the world, was established in 1754 and opened to the public in 1852. It consists of 6 historical buildings which are located along the Palace Embankment on the Neva. Buildings that are open to the public include the Hermitage Theatre, the Small Hermitage, the Old Hermitage, New Hermitage and the Winter Palace. State Hermitage has a collection of works of more than 3 million pieces, including the most big collection painting in the world.

1. Louvre

The Louvre, located in Paris, France, is the largest art museum in the world with an area of ​​72,735 m². This building is a historical monument in Paris and is part of the Palais des Congrès, which was built in the 12th century. The building originally served as a fortress before becoming a royal residence in 1546. Under King Louis XIV in 1692, this palace was used to house two art academies and 100 years later, an exhibition of 837 paintings was opened at the Louvre. Today it has 38,000 works of art. The Louvre has an annual attendance of 7.4 million, making it the most visited museum in the world.

Every year on 18 May, the world celebrates International Museum Day. It appeared in 1977, when at the next meeting of the International Council of Museums the proposal of the Russian organization to establish this cultural holiday was adopted. Since 1978, International Museum Day has been celebrated in more than 150 countries. Today we offer you to get acquainted with the 10 best museums in the world.

Louvre. Paris

This is one of the largest art museums in the world. Once the Louvre was an ancient castle of the French kings, built by Philip Augustus in 1190. As a museum, it was first opened to visitors on November 8, 1793. The Louvre occupies a space of approximately 195 thousand square meters, has a total exposition area of ​​60,600 square meters .m Today the museum's catalog contains 400,000 exhibits. For convenience, the exhibition is divided into seven large parts: the departments of applied art, painting, sculpture and graphics, the ancient Egyptian department, the department ancient east and Islamic Art, as well as the Department of the Art of Greece, Rome and the Etruscan Empire. In general, not even a week is enough to get around everything. Therefore, if you are an ordinary average tourist who has allocated only one day to visit the Louvre, then visit only its main masterpieces, to which special signs lead. Or purposefully come to the painting department - the most impressive - and look at the works of Rubens, Rembrandt, Titian, Caravaggio, Dürer, Goya, Vermeer and many others.

Museum of the Vatican. Rome

The Vatican Museum is the largest museum in the world: 1,400 rooms, 50,000 objects, and to get around all the exhibits presented, you need to walk 7 km. Of course, all visitors first of all seek to get into the Sistine Chapel. However, the structure of the museum is very peculiar: you can get to the farthest point - the Vatican Pinakothek - only by passing all the previous ones. So you need to calculate the forces. You should start with the Egyptian Museum, which is enough to go diagonally. and then run to the famous Belvedere, then to the Stanzas of Raphael. And, finally, to the Sistine Chapel, rightfully called the main local shrine.

British museum. London

The British Museum was founded on June 7, 1753 at the initiative of the government and on January 15, 1759 was officially opened to visitors. Thousands of people took part in its creation and development. The British Museum is also known as the Museum of Stolen Masterpieces or the Museum of All Civilizations. These names are justified. After all, the treasures presented in the museum were not obtained in the most honest way. For example, the Rosetta Stone, thanks to which scientists deciphered ancient hieroglyphs, as well as many ancient Egyptian monuments, was taken in Egypt from Napoleon's army. A similar story happened with the precious sculptural friezes of the Parthenon: the Englishman Lord Elgin took them out of Greece, having obtained written permission from the Turkish government. In the same way, the collection of the museum was replenished with sculptures of the mausoleum in Halicarnassus, the temple of Artemis in Ephesus and many other works of art. True, the exhibition of paintings in the museum is small - for that there is a National Gallery in London.

National Science Museum of Japan. Tokyo

This museum was founded in 1871. Most of its exposition is made up of natural science exhibits: stuffed animals, dinosaur remains and their modern models, etc. However, this museum is not only the largest museum in Tokyo and Japan, but also one of the best in the world. The museum has a "forest" hall and its own botanical garden, allowing you to appreciate all the wealth flora our planet. And huge toothy skeletons hovering under the ceiling and appearing from the blue twilight will not leave anyone indifferent. Of course, here you will also find traditional Japanese exhibits, because the inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun are very proud of their culture.

Metropolitan Museum. NY

You have probably heard of the Museum Mile, which is located in New York between Fifth Avenue and 57th Street. It is here that the best museums United States, the largest of which is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In this museum you can find almost everything: from Paleolithic artifacts to pop art objects. There are also collections of art from Africa and Oceania, the Middle East and Egypt, which can safely be called a rarity. Here you will find a special hall that has collected clothes worn by the inhabitants of all five continents for seven centuries. There is also an exhibition of art and architecture. medieval Europe, painting of the 12th - 19th centuries, as well as musical instruments different countries. However, the main place here is still given to American art.

Prado Museum. Madrid

Madrid can safely boast of having one of the largest museums of European fine art. It was founded in 1819. However, the building continued to be completed until 1830. If we recall the history of Spain, for several centuries art in the country developed under the patronage of the church and the elite. This explains the appearance of most of the museum's exposition, which was collected by the royal family and the church. Here you will find paintings by the well-known Raphael and the brilliant Hieronymus Bosch. The latter was very fond of Philip II: the artist's peculiar fantasy was able to fascinate the monarch so much that he even placed several paintings on the walls in his own bedroom.

Guggenheim Museum. Bilbao

This museum is located in the city of Bilbao, in northern Spain. It is just one of the branches of the Solomon Guggenheim Museum of Contemporary Art, located in the USA, and the most striking of them, because it is recognized as the most outstanding architectural project in the world. There are thematic halls in the museum: the hall of surrealism, in which Dali, Magritte, Delvaux and Tanguy are represented, the hall of cubism, topped with masterpieces by Picasso, Léger and Chagall, the hall of futurism and abstractionism - Braque, Kandinsky. Its collection also includes works by Andy Warhol, Fernand Leger, Kandinsky and others. And here you can also see the collection of one of the most significant and extravagant collectors of avant-garde art - Peggy Guggenheim.

State Hermitage. Saint Petersburg

The State Hermitage is the largest art and cultural-historical museum not only in Russia, but throughout the world. It owes its origins private collection Russian empress Catherine II. When the collection was already large enough, the Hermitage was formed and opened to visitors in 1852, being at that time the Imperial Museum. However, the founding date of the museum is considered to be 1764, because it was then that the Empress acquired a large collection Western European painting. Today the museum has more than three million works of art and monuments of world culture. Its device is rather complicated. It is a complex complex: six majestic buildings, headed by the well-known winter palace, which are occupied by the main exposition of the museum, are located along the embankment of the Neva River.

State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow

State Tretyakov Gallery is one of the most significant collections of Russian fine art on a global scale. The Russians owe the presence of such a rich gallery to the merchant Pavel Tretyakov, because it is from his collection of works Russian art- the largest in the world - the history of the gallery began. The Tretyakov Gallery is famous for its exposition in the engineering building Russian Painting of the 11th - early 20th centuries, which is part of the All-Russian Museum Association of the State Tretyakov Gallery, formed already in 1986. It also includes: the Exhibition Hall in Tomachi, the House-Museum of P.D. Korina and V.M. Vasnetsov, A.M. Vasnetsov and the Museum-workshop of the sculptor A.S. Golubkina.

Rijksmuseum. Amsterdam

The Rijksmuseum is the main state museum in Holland. It is housed in a huge old Neo-Gothic palace with Burgundian towers and sculptural reliefs, which was built back in 1885. Its main exposition is dedicated to the great Dutch artists of the 15th-17th centuries. Among them you will meet such world names as Rembrandt, Vermeer and de Hooch. The size of the museum is impressive and it is also impossible to get around it in one day, because the Rijksmuseum has 200 rooms. However, the main exhibitions can be quickly viewed, starting with the main exhibit - the famous work of art by Rembrandt's hands. The night Watch. Allotted to him place of honor in the Hall of Fame. And at the end of the museum marathon, you can go to the Museumplein - a huge lawn square with a wonderful view of the Museum Quarter.

The Louvre, invariably for many decades the most visited museum in the world, is famous for its wonderful collection of masterpieces. But the vast majority of tourists travel to the Louvre from all over the world, only to personally see the two great works of art of our world. First of all, this great work Leonardo de Vinci "Mona Lisa", and then go to look at ancient Greek sculpture"Venus Milo", a statue of Alexander of Antioch (presumably), which dates from the 1st century BC and only then follow the rest of the masterpieces of this wonderful museum.

2. American Museum of Natural History, USA

American Museum natural history, which is located inNY, wasfounded in 1869, american museum Natural History Museum is the largest natural history museum in the world. He represents himself25 buildings, in which there are 46 exhibition halls containing more than 32 million samples and objects from various fields of science,including geology, zoology, astronomy, ecology, biology and anthropology.The museum has both classicas well as interactive exhibits,including the famous fossil collection, where you can seemassive dinosaur skeletons.

Founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great, the Hermitage is a huge museum of art and culture. The highlights of the collection include over 3 million works of art and world culture, thispaintings, graphic works, sculptures, works of applied art, archaeological artifacts and numismatic objects. The Hermitage is the most popular tourist attraction in Saint Petersburg andone of the largest and most prestigious museums in the world

The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo contains the most complete and important collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts in the world, with over 100,000 items and artifacts on display and in the museum's storerooms. From small items such as coins and pieces of papyrus to statues of pharaohs and entire rooms with eleven mummies. Here you cansee some of the most significant finds among the archaeological sites in Egypt.Perhaps the most famous partCairoMuseum of Egyptian Antiquities is its collection of Tutankhamen.

The Smithsonian Institution is the world's largest research and museum complex, it includes 19 museums and galleries, as well as the National Zoological Park and various research stations. The Smithsonian contains over 137 million items mostly related to the history of the United States of America.

The Uffizi Gallery is an art museum inFlorence, which has one of the best collections Italian painting Renaissance, especially the Florentine school. Even during the tour of the museum you will see a uniqueantiques, sculptures and over 100,000 drawings and prints. The pearls of the museum are the works of Leonardo de Vinci,Titian, Venetian works by Bellini and Michelangelo's portrait of the holy family.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is the largest museum in the Western Hemisphere. Its collection of more than two million exhibits covers the whole world, from antiquity to the present. It is worth noting the work of European masters, the stunning works of Botticelli, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas, Rodin and other geniuses. An excellent Egyptian collection, showcasing the tomb of Pernb (c. 2440 BC) and the exquisite Temple of Dendur (c. 23-10 BC). The American Wing contains one of the finest collections of American art.

The Vatican Museum exhibits works from the huge collection amassed by the popes over the centuries, including some of the most famous classical sculptures and the most important masterpieces of Renaissance art in the world. The museum contains about 70,000 works, of which 20,000 are on display and the rest in storerooms.

Pope Julius II founded the museum in the early 16th century. The Sistine Chapel, with a ceiling by Michelangelo and frescoes by Raphael, is on the visitor's path through the Vatican Museum. It had 6 million visitors in 2013, making it the 6th most visited art museum in the world.

The Spanish royal family has been collecting masterpieces for centuries with passion and good taste. In addition to the stars of Spanish painting such as Velazquez, Goya, Ribera and Zurbarana, the Prado Museum has a large collection of Italian (including Titian and Raphael) and Flemish artists. Fernando VII opened the museum to the public in 1819, in the same neoclassical building where it is now, designed by Juan de Villanueva. The main attraction of the Prado Museum: "Three Graces" by Rubens.

The largest museum in the UKhas a magnificent collection in the field of archeology and ethnography, more than eight million objects,ranging from prehistoric bones, parts of the Athenian Parthenon, and Assyrian palace chambers to exquisite gold jewelry.
The main attractions of the museum:Egyptian Gallery, the world's finest collection of Egyptian antiquities outside of Egypt, inincluding the Rosetta Stone of 196 B.C.

220 years ago, in November 1793, the most visited and one of the largest art museums in the world, the Louvre, opened to the general public. In honor of this event, we tell about it and other most popular museums peace.

1. Louvre, France.

This central landmark of Paris, located on the right bank of the River Seine, is visited annually by about 9.5 million people. Before becoming a museum, the Louvre was a fortress and palace of the French kings. However, during French Revolution The National Constituent Assembly decided that the Louvre would be used as a museum where national masterpieces would be exhibited.

So, in 1793 the museum was opened to the general public with a collection of 537 paintings. Under Napoleon, the Louvre was renamed the Musée Napoleone, and its art collection was enlarged. However, the collection has been steadily growing ever since. And in 1989 the palace acquired an unusual architectural element- a glass pyramid, which today is the main entrance to the museum. It was designed by Chinese architect Yo Ming Pei.

The appearance of this pyramid in front of a medieval building shocked many people and caused violent criticism, however, despite this, the pyramid was destined to become part of architectural ensemble Louvre and one of the symbols of Paris. Today, the museum's collection consists of more than 350 thousand objects and works of art, which were created in the period from ancient times to the first half of the 19th century. The main attractions of the Louvre are the painting by Leonardo da Vinci "Mona Lisa", as well as the sculptures "Venus de Milo" and "Nike of Samothrace".

Sculpture "Nike of Samothrace". Photo credit: Thomas Ulrich .

2. Metropolitan Museum, USA.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, located in New York City, is the largest art museum in the United States with the largest collection of art in the world. Every year it is visited by about 6 million visitors.

Metropolitan Museum. Author of the photo: Arad Mojtahedi.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 by a group of American citizens. Among them were entrepreneurs and financiers, as well as leading artists and thinkers of the time, who wanted to open a museum to introduce art to the American people. The museum opened on February 20, 1872 and today occupies about 190 thousand m².

The main museum building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park, is one of the largest in the world. art galleries, while a smaller building in Upper Manhattan displays medieval art. The permanent collection of the museum contains works of art that were created in the period from antiquity to the present day. There you can see paintings and sculptures by almost all European masters, such as Botticelli, Rembrandt, Degas, Rodin and others, as well as get acquainted with an extensive collection of modern art.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is home to collections of musical instruments, vintage costumes, accessories and weapons collected from around the world. By the way, one of the many impressive masterpieces of the museum is the copper engraving "Adam and Eve" by Albrecht Dürer.

Engraving "Adam and Eve".
3. British Museum, UK.

This museum is located in London and it is dedicated to the history and culture of mankind. Its permanent collection of about 8 million items is one of the largest and most complete. About 5.5 million people visit the museum every year. Entrance to this museum is free.

The British Museum was established in 1753 and was formed primarily from the collections of its founder, physician and scientist Hans Sloan. The museum was opened to the public on January 15, 1759 at Montagu House, an aristocratic mansion located in the London Borough of Bloomsbury, where it remains today.

The largest museum in the UK exhibits archaeological and ethnographic collections, which number more than eight million objects. And the Museum's Egyptian Gallery boasts the world's second-best collection of Egyptian antiquities, including, for example, the Rosetta Stone with a thank you inscription carved on it in 196 BC. The Egyptian priests addressed this inscription to Ptolemy V Epiphanes, a monarch from the Ptolemaic dynasty.

4. Tate Modern, UK.

This gallery is located in London and is the most popular contemporary art gallery in the world. , because every year it is visited by about 5.3 million people.

The Tate Modern is housed in a former power plant on the south bank of the River Thames in Battersea, which was built between 1947 and 1963. Today, the gallery building in its appearance still resembles a 20th-century factory, both outside and inside. So when you enter the gallery space, you are greeted with dark gray walls, steel beams and concrete floors. The collections at the Tate Modern consist of works of contemporary art created from 1900 to the present day. The gallery building has 7 floors, numbered from 0 to 6. Moreover, each floor is divided into 4 wings, which correspond to certain topics or subjects.

So, for example, in 2012, exhibits on the following topics were presented on different floors. The "Poetry and Dreams" wing is dedicated to Surrealism, "Structure and Clarity" focuses on abstract art, the Transformed Vision wing focuses on expressionism, while the Energy and Process wing focuses on the art movement of arte povera and features works by artists such as Alighiero Boetti, Yannis Kounellis, Kazimir Malevich, Ana Mendieta and Mario Merz.

5. London National Gallery, UK.

It is located in Trafalgar Square and is visited annually by about 5 million people.

Unlike other major museums in continental Europe, the National Gallery was not formed through nationalization, that is, the transfer of the royal collection of art to the state. She appeared when in 1824 British government bought 38 paintings from the heirs of John Angerstein, an insurance broker and patron of the arts. After this acquisition, the gallery was replenished only by its directors, in particular the artist Charles Eastlake, and thanks to private donations, which make up two-thirds of the collection. Today the gallery is owned by the UK society and is therefore free to enter. Earlier in London National Gallery there was a permanent exhibition, but today it is constantly changing.

6. Vatican Museums.

The Vatican Museums have a huge collection of exhibits collected by the Roman Catholic Church over several centuries. About 5 million people visit museums every year.

The Vatican Museums have 22 separate art collections. And perhaps the most famous of them is kept in the Pius Clementine Museum, which presents magnificent classical sculptures. Pinacoteca Brera ( Art Gallery) houses medieval and renaissance masterpieces. In Gregorian Egyptian Museum ancient Egyptian exhibits are stored, and in the Gregorian Etruscan Museum there are numerous Etruscan household items. But, of course, the main attractions of the Vatican Museums are the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, and the stanzas of Raphael.

Raphael Stations.

7. Museum of the Imperial Palace, Taiwan.
This one of national museums The Republic of China has a permanent collection of approximately 696,000 ancient Chinese artefacts and works of art. The collection tells more than 8,000 years of Chinese history from the Neolithic to the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912). Most of the collection was formed by the emperors of China.

The Imperial Palace Museum is located in Taiwan's capital, Taipei, and is visited by about 4.4 million people annually. The main attractions of the museum are painting and calligraphy, as well as rare books, the number of which in the museum reaches 200 thousand volumes.

8. National Gallery of Art, USA.
This Washington, DC, gallery is visited by about 4.2 million people annually. It was founded in 1937 by the decision of the US Congress. A large collection of art objects, as well as funds for the construction of the gallery, was donated by the American banker and billionaire Andrew William Mellon.

Paintings, drawings, engravings, photographs, sculptures, medals, as well as arts and crafts tell gallery visitors about the development of Western art from the Middle Ages to the present day. In the National Gallery of Art you can see the only painting in America by Leonardo da Vinci, as well as the world's largest mobile ( kinetic sculpture) ever created by the American sculptor Alexander Calder.

Portrait of Ginevra de Benci.

9. Center Pompidou, France. Georges Pompidou National Center for Arts and Culture Cultural Center in the Beaubourg quarter of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, built in high-tech style. About 3.8 million people visit the Pompidou Center every year.

The center is named after Georges Pompidou, president who served from 1969 to 1974. He ordered the construction of this cultural center. The Pompidou Center officially opened on January 31, 1977. Today it contains a huge public library, State Museum contemporary art, which is the largest contemporary art museum in Europe, and the Institute for Research and Coordination of Acoustics and Music (IRCAM). Interestingly, according to the project of the architect, Alexander Calder's mobile was installed in front of the center building, the height of which is 7.62 meters.

10. Musee d'Orsay, France.
This museum, located on the left bank of the Seine River in Paris, is visited annually by about 3.6 million people.

It was created in a former railway station built in the Beaux Arts (eclectic style) between 1898 and 1900. By 1939, the station's short platforms became unsuitable for the large trains that then appeared, so the station was used only for suburban trains. Subsequently, the railway station was used only as a filming location for films, such as, for example, Orson Welles' "The Trial", based on novel of the same name Franz Kafka.

Main hall of the Musée d'Orsay. Photo credit: Benh Lieu Song .

And in 1970, it was decided to demolish the station, but Jacques Duhamel, the Minister of Culture, was against it, and the station added to the list historical monuments France. A few years later, a proposal was made to make a museum in the station building. And in the end, in July 1986, the museum was ready to receive exhibits. Another 6 months passed, and in December 1986 the doors of the museum opened to receive visitors.
Today, the museum displays mainly objects french art, dating from the period from 1848 to 1915. It houses the largest collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works in the world, including artists such as Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cezanne and Van Gogh.