The most interesting and famous museums in the world that you should visit at least once in your life. The greatest museums in the world: description and photos The most famous museums in the world list

Would you like to see a 12-meter-long skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex? And how about beautiful paintings, painted by such great masters as Van Gogh, Salvador Dali ( Salvador Dali) and Leonardo da Vinci? All these collections of artifacts and art help tell the story of life on this planet. This story is truly exciting, full of drama, miracles, beauty and mysteries. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that so many people visit museums! Below are the twenty-five most visited museums in the world.

25. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2.5 million visitors annually)

The Rijksmuseum, located on Museum Square in Amsterdam, is a museum dedicated to the art and history of the Netherlands. The entire museum collection numbers a million items, spanning the time period from 1200 to the present. However, visitors can only view 8,000 items at a time.

24. National Folk Museum of Korea, Seoul, South Korea(2.7 million visitors annually)


The National Folk Museum of Korea, founded by the US government in 1945, boasts an impressive collection of items illustrating history and tradition. Korean people. The museum, located in Seoul, is divided into three main exhibition halls.

23. " State Hermitage Museum", St. Petersburg, Russia (2.9 million visitors annually)


The State Hermitage, founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great, is one of the largest and oldest museums in the world. His collections, of which only small part on public display, there are more than three million items, including works by such masters as Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh, Velázquez, Michelangelo and Goya.

22. "New York Museum" contemporary art» (Museum of Modern Art), New York, USA (3.1 million visitors annually)


The New York Museum of Modern Art, located in Manhattan, New York, is considered the most influential museum of modern art in the world. The museum has extensive collections of paintings, books, sculptures, photographs, architectural masterpieces and so on. More than 3 million people visit it annually.

21. Reina Sofia National Museum, Madrid, Spain (3.2 million visitors annually)


The National Museum of the Reina Sofia Center for the Arts, officially known as the " Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía" is the largest and most visited museum in Spain. It is located in Madrid and is dedicated mostly to Spanish art. In particular, the museum boasts an amazing collection of works by Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali.

20. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK (3.2 million visitors annually)


The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design. The museum covers more than 5,000 years of art history. It houses a permanent collection of 4.5 million items.

19. Science Museum, London, UK (3.4 million visitors annually)


Founded in 1857, the Science Museum is another famous museum located in London. The Science Museum has a collection of over 300,000 objects and is the fifth most visited museum in the UK. More than 3.4 million people visit it annually.

18. Orsay Museum (Musée d´Orsay), Paris, France (3.5 million visitors annually)


The Musée d'Orsay, originally built as a railway station, houses the largest collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist masterpieces in the world. Among them are works by such artists as Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Gauguin and Van Gogh. It is the third most visited in France, attracting over 3.5 million visitors a year.

17. National Museum of Korea, Seoul, South Korea (3.5 million visitors annually)


The National Museum of Korea, established in 1945, is the most important museum in Korea and a major attraction in Seoul as well as the entire country. This museum, dedicated to Korean history and art, has a collection of more than 310,000 unique objects.

16. "French State Museum of Modern Art" (Musée National d´Art Moderne), Paris, France (3.7 million visitors annually)


The French State Museum of Modern Art, part of the Georges Pompidou cultural center, is a museum of modern French art. This museum has a collection of more than 100,000 works by 6,400 artists, and the second largest collection of modern art in the world, after the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

15. National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA (3.9 million visitors annually)


The National Gallery of Art, located in Washington DC, houses a vast collection of paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculptures, medals, and decorative arts. The museum is open to the public and admission is free. Here is the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the Americas.

14. National Museum American history» (National Museum of American History), Washington DC, USA (4 million visitors annually)


The National Museum of American History, part of the Smithsonian Institution, collects, preserves and displays the United States' wealth of heritage. It receives 4 million visitors annually. It is the fourth most visited museum in the country.

13. Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, Shanghai, China (4.2 million visitors annually)


The Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, located in Shanghai, is a major museum offering visitors 13 major exhibitions and 4 science theaters. It covers an area of ​​almost 100 thousand square meters and is the second largest museum in China.

12. " American Museum natural history» (American Museum of Natural History), New York, USA (5 million visitors annually)


The American Museum of Natural History, located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York, has enormous collections containing more than 32 million specimens of plants, human remains, animals, fossils, rocks and more. It consists of 27 interconnected buildings and is one of the largest museums in the world.

11. Natural History Museum, London, UK (5.4 million visitors annually)


With 80 million specimens from the scientific fields of botany, entomology, mineralogy, palaeontology and zoology, the Natural History Museum London is the fourth most visited museum in the UK. Founded in 1881, this museum is particularly famous for its display of dinosaur skeletons.

10. National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan (5.4 million visitors annually)


The Imperial Palace Museum in Taipei City, originally founded as the Imperial Palace Museum in Beijing's Forbidden City in 1925, on this moment is the most important national museum in Taiwan. This museum spans over 10,000 years Chinese history, has a permanent collection of 700,000 ancient Chinese artifacts and art objects.

9. Tate Modern, London, UK (5.8 million visitors annually)


Tate Modern, located in the London Borough of Southwark, is Britain's national gallery of international contemporary art. The gallery's exhibition spaces span seven floors, attracting almost 5.8 million visitors a year, making it the third most visited museum in the UK and the ninth most visited in the world.

8. Vatican Museums, Vatican City (5.9 million visitors annually)


Vatican Museums founded by Pope Julius II in early XVI centuries, boast huge collections of works and artifacts collected over many centuries by the Roman Catholic Church. The collections include some of the most famous classical sculptures, as well as works of fine art from the Renaissance.

7. "Metropolitan Museum" ( Metropolitan Museum of Art), New York, USA (6.1 million visitors annually)


Founded in 1870, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a permanent collection of more than 2 million works, divided into seventeen curatorial departments. With an area of ​​approximately 190,000 square meters, it is the largest museum in the United States and one of the largest in the world.

6. London National Gallery, London, UK (6.4 million visitors annually)


The London National Gallery, located in Trafalgar Square in the heart of London, is an art museum with a collection of over 2,300 paintings ranging in age from the mid-13th century to the 1900s. The gallery boasts works of art painted by some of the most famous artists, including Leonardo da Vinci and Van Gogh.

5. National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC, USA (6.7 million visitors annually)


The National Air and Space Museum, part of the Smithsonian Institution, boasts the most extensive collection of historic aircraft in the world. Founded in 1946, this museum receives 6.7 million visitors annually. In 2014, it became the fifth most visited museum in the world.

4. " British museum» (British Museum), London, UK (6.7 million visitors annually)


The British Museum, founded in 1753, is dedicated to human history and culture. Its permanent collection numbers approximately 8 million works and is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. As the most visited museum in the UK, this museum displays and documents the history of human culture from its beginnings to the present day.

3. National Museum of Natural History, Washington DC, USA (7.3 million visitors annually)


The National Museum of Natural History is the most visited museum in the United States. It has a stunning collection of 126 million specimens of plants, animals, fossils, rocks, meteorites, human artifacts and other objects. It is open 364 days a year and is free to visit. There are 185 professional natural history scientists working here.

2. National Museum of China, Beijing, China (7.5 million visitors annually)


The National Museum of China, dedicated to its art and history, is only 12 years old, but the museum has already amassed a collection of more than 1 million objects. It is the second most visited museum in the world with 28 new exhibition halls. In 2013, 7.5 million people visited this museum.

The Rijksmuseum is a national art museum located on Museum Square in the city of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It is one of the main attractions of the city. It was founded in The Hague in 1800, but by order of the King of Holland Louis Bonaparte (brother of Napoleon I Bonaparte) in 1808 it was transported to Amsterdam. The museum exhibits 8 thousand objects of art and history, including famous paintings by Jan Wermeer, Frans Hals, Rembrandt and his students. The main place in the exhibition is given to one of the most famous paintings in the world - “ The night Watch» Rembrandt. It also contains a small Asian collection.

The New York Museum of Modern Art is an art museum founded in 1929. Located in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Many people consider the museum's collection to be the world's finest collection of masterpieces of modern Western art - the museum has more than 150,000 individual works, as well as 22,000 films, 4 million photographs, 300,000 copies of books and periodicals, 70,000 artist files. The collection includes works without which it is impossible to imagine the art of the 20th century - “ Starlight Night"Van Gogh, "Dance" by Henri Matisse, " Avignon girls» Picasso, “The Persistence of Memory” by Salvador Dali, “Bird in Space” by Constantin Brâncuşi. It is one of New York's top attractions and welcomes 2.67 million visitors annually.

The Smithsonian Institution is a complex of museums and research centers located primarily in Washington, DC, USA. It was founded in 1846 by the will of the English chemist and mineralogist James Smithson, who bequeathed his fortune to the “increase and dissemination of knowledge.” The Smithsonian Institution includes 19 museums, a zoological park and 9 research centers, containing more than 140 million objects (art, artifacts and specimens).

At number seven on the list best museums World Museum of Natural History is located. It is one of three major museums located in South Kensington, London. Its collection includes more than 70 million artifacts, sorted into 5 main sections: botany, entomology, mineralogy, paleontology and zoology. It is best known for its collections of dinosaur skeletons, in particular the famous Diplodocus skeleton (26 meters long) in the central hall, as well as an interesting mechanical model of a Tyrannosaurus rex.

The Prado is an art museum and gallery located in Madrid, the capital of Spain. With over 1.8 million visitors a year, the museum is one of the most visited tourist sites in Madrid. It was founded in 1819. Its collection currently includes about 7,600 paintings, 1,000 sculptures, 4,800 prints, as well as about 8,000 other works of art and historical documents. Here is one of the best and most complete collections of paintings in the world by European masters of the period XVI-XIX, such as Bosch, Velazquez, Goya, Murillo, Zurbaran, El Greco and others.

The Uffizi Gallery is a world famous art gallery located in Florence, near Piazza della Signoria, Italy. It is one of the oldest museums in Europe, as well as one of the largest and most important museums of European fine art. Hundreds of masterpieces by such masters as Giotto, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Giorgione, Titian, Fra Filippo Lippi and many others are presented here. The collection is dominated by paintings by Italian and Flemish schools. There is also a gallery of self-portraits of famous artists (1600 works) and ancient sculptures.

The State Hermitage Museum is one of the world's largest art and cultural-historical museums, located in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was founded in 1764 by Catherine II the Great and opened to the public in 1852. The total area of ​​the museum is 127,478 m². The collections occupy a large complex of six historical buildings located along the Palace Embankment. The Hermitage holds more than 2.7 million works of art different eras, countries and peoples representing world culture several thousand years. It also contains the most large collection paintings in the world. About 4 million people visit the museum every year.

The British Museum is the main historical and archaeological museum of Great Britain, located in Bloomsbury, London. It was founded in 1753, from the collection of the physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane, and opened to the public on January 15, 1759. Its permanent collection contains approximately 8 million items that document cultural history humanity from ancient times to the present day, including numerous drawings, engravings, medals, coins and books from different eras. The extensive ethnographic collections of the British Museum contain monuments from Africa, America, Oceania, etc. The most famous exhibits are: Egyptian mummies, sculptures from the Athens Parthenon, the Rosetta Stone, the Portland Vase, the Sutton Hoo treasure and many others.

The Louvre is an art museum, the main attraction of the city, located in the very center of Paris on the right bank of the Seine. It is one of the largest and most visited museums in the world (9.26 million visitors in 2014). It was opened on August 10, 1793. It is a complex of buildings with a total area of ​​60,600 square meters, which displays 35 thousand works of art from ancient times to mid-19th century. All exhibits are divided into eight categories: Ancient Egypt, Ancient Near East, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Islamic art, Sculpture, Painting, Crafts, Drawing and graphics. In total, the Louvre collection contains about 300,000 exhibits.

1

1. Louvre (France Paris)

Perhaps, the most famous museum in the world. The former royal palace building became a museum in the 18th century. It is located at 160 106 square meters, which cannot be bypassed even in a few days. But for tourists there are short sightseeing tours of 2 hours, which are designed to get acquainted with the most popular and iconic exhibits.

2. Hermitage (Russia, Saint-Petersburg)

Placed here the world's largest collection of paintings. It is the most visited museum in Russia. It is loved by both tourists from other countries and local residents. The Hermitage was started by Catherine II, who acquired works of art for herself.

3. Cairo Egyptian Museum (Egypt, Cairo)

In addition to the collection of Egyptian art, this museum contains exhibits from Tutankhamun's tomb. The oldest artifacts of the museum are at least five thousand years old. IN Cairo Museum there is everything that was preserved after the excavations.

4. British Museum (UK, London)

This is one of the largest and oldest museums in the world. It contains masterpieces and relics from different eras from all over the world. Here are exhibits of ancient Egypt that are not even in the Cairo Museum. And London itself houses more museums and exhibitions than any other capital in the world.

5. Uffizi Gallery (Italy, Florence)

This museum was created as a collection of statues, but many years later, it became a collection the largest collection of famous paintings.

6. Vatican Museum (Italy, Rome, Vatican)

The Vatican is the smallest state in the world, but for any tourist the Vatican is only a museum and the Cathedral of St. Petra. Tours of the Vatican Museum are like the subway at rush hour, and it’s generally better to oversleep the opening time or spend it booking a ticket online. And on Monday, when all other museums are closed, it’s better not to go there at all. But, despite the hype, this museum is still impossible not to visit.

7. Prado Museum (Spain, Madrid)

It is one of the most visited museums in the world. Every year the exhibitions of the Prado Museum attract more than 2.5 million tourists from all over the world. Compared to the museums described above, the Prado Museum is the smallest.

8. Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (Netherlands, Amsterdam)

The largest museum in the country. In 1906 it was rebuilt to accommodate Rembrandt's painting "The Night Watch". Most tourists visit the museum precisely because of her.

9. Metropolitan Museum of Art (USA, New York)

The main building of the Museum, The Met, is, according to experts, the largest art gallery in the world. And the museum's collection, which contains exhibits from Antiquity and Ancient Egypt, to the paintings and sculptures of almost everyone modern masters , is one of the largest and most important collections on earth.

10. National Museum of Archeology (Greece, Athens)

This is where the meeting is located exhibits of ancient Greece from the Neolithic era to Roman times, which were not exported from Greece to other museums around the world numerous conquerors.

Original article and photos: tvoytrip.ru

Today, there are about one hundred thousand museums all over the world, and this figure is not exact, since new ones are periodically opened and existing ones are developed. In every corner of the world, even the smallest populated areas, there are local history or other museums dedicated to one or another topic. The largest museums in the world know everything: some contain maximum quantity exhibits, while others amaze with their scope and area.

Largest museums of fine art

If we take European fine art, then one of largest collections collected in Uffizi Gallery in Italy. The gallery is located in the Florence Palace from 1560 and consists of paintings by the most famous creators of the world: Raphael, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, Lippi and Botticelli.

One of the largest fine art museums is no less famous. The foundation of the museum dates back to the end of the 18th century, when it was decided to make the royal collection a property and heritage of culture, to give everyone the opportunity to look at it. Complete collections works by Bosch, Goya, El Greco and Velazquez are kept there.

Among the most big museums definitely worth noting and Museum fine arts named after A.S. Pushkin in Moscow. Priceless collections of works are stored there French impressionists, collections of Western European painting.

The largest art museums in the world

The most famous among the largest artistic works is rightfully considered Hermitage. Museum complex of five buildings housing exhibits from the times stone period and until the 20th century. Initially it was only private collection Catherine II, consisting of works by Dutch and Flemish artists.

One of the largest art museums is Subway in New York. Its founders were several businessmen who revered art and knew a lot about it. Initially, the basis was made up of three private collections, then the exhibition began to grow rapidly. Today, the main support for the museum is provided by sponsors; the state practically does not take part in the development. The amazing thing is that you can get into one of the largest museums in the world for a nominal fee, even just asking for a ticket at the ticket office without money.

Among the largest museums in the world, both in terms of the number of exhibits and the occupied space, their places of honor occupy Gugun in China and Cairo Egyptian Museums. Gugun is a huge architectural and museum complex, which is approximately three times larger than the Moscow Kremlin. Each of the museums has its own special history and is worthy of the attention of tourists.

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 talk about him and other most popular museums peace.

1. Louvre, France.

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

Thus, in 1793 the museum was opened to the general public with a collection of 537 paintings. Under Napoleon, the Louvre was renamed the Musée Napoleon, and its art collection was expanded. However, subsequently the collection was steadily replenished. 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-born architect Yo Ming Pei.

The appearance of this pyramid in front of a medieval building shocked many people and caused strong 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 that 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 “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da Vinci, as well as the sculptures “Venus de Milo” and “Nike of Samothrace”.

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

2. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 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. About 6 million visitors visit it annually.

Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo by: 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 museum's main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park, is one of the largest in the world art galleries, and a smaller building in Upper Manhattan houses exhibits 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 the collections musical instruments, vintage costumes, accessories and weapons collected from all over the world. By the way, one of the museum’s many impressive masterpieces is the copper engraving “Adam and Eve” by Albrecht Durer.

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, numbering about 8 million items, is one of the largest and most comprehensive. About 5.5 million people visit the museum every year. Entry to this museum is free.

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

The UK's largest museum houses archaeological and ethnographic collections of 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 an inscription of gratitude 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 , since about 5.3 million people visit it every year.

Tate Modern is a former power station on the south bank of the River Thames in Battersea, which was built between 1947 and 1963. Today the gallery building in its own way appearance still resembles a 20th century factory, both outside and inside. So when you walk into the gallery space, you are greeted by dark gray walls, steel beams and concrete floors. The collections at Tate Modern consist of works of modern art created between 1900 and 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 themes or subjects.

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 is dedicated to expressionism, while Energy and Process focuses on the artistic movement of Arte Povera and features works by artists such as Alighiero Boetti, Jannis Kounellis, Kazimir Malevich, Ana Mendieta and Mario Merz.

5. London National Gallery, UK.

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

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

6. Vatican Museums.

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

The Vatican Museums house 22 separate art collections. And, perhaps, the most famous of them is kept in the Pius Clement Museum, where magnificent classical sculptures. Pinacoteca Brera ( Art Gallery) houses medieval and Renaissance masterpieces. In Gregorian Egyptian Museum Ancient Egyptian exhibits are kept, and the Gregorian Etruscan Museum contains numerous items of Etruscan everyday life. But, of course, the main attractions of the Vatican Museums are The Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, and dances by Raphael.

Stanzas of Raphael.

7. Imperial Palace Museum, Taiwan.
This one is one of national museums The Republic of China has a permanent collection of approximately 696,000 ancient Chinese artifacts and works of art. The collection covers 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 the Taiwanese capital of Taipei and is visited by approximately 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.
Located in Washington, D.C., this gallery attracts approximately 4.2 million visitors annually. It was founded in 1937 by 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, and decorative arts 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 by Leonardo da Vinci in America, 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. The Georges Pompidou National Center for Art and Culture is a 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, the 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 houses a huge public library, the State Museum of Modern Art, which is the largest museum of modern art in Europe, and the Institute for Research and Coordination of Acoustics and Music (IRCAM). Interestingly, according to the architect’s design, Alexander Calder’s mobile, whose height is 7.62 meters, was installed in front of the center building.

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

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

Main hall of the Orsay Museum. Photo by: Benh Lieu Song.

And in 1970, it was decided to demolish the station, but Jacques Duhamel, Minister of Cultural Affairs, was against this, and the station joined the list historical monuments France. A few years later, a proposal was made to make a museum in the station building. And finally, 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 exhibits mainly French art dating 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.