The 5 most visited museums in the world
Top of the list is the Louvre in Paris, home to masterpieces such as Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Aphrodite's Venus de Milo and the Regent, considered the best diamond in the world.
The Louvre - Paris, France-Louvre ranks first with 9.3 million visitors a year. 30 per cent of these visitors are locals visiting temporary exhibitions, while 70 per cent are international visitors visiting Paris attractions and permanent exhibitions. The Louvre, one of the largest museums in the world, boasts almost 70,000 works of art in a 650,000 square foot gallery.
National Museum of China - Beijing, the China National Museum in Beijing ranks second with 7.6 million visitors in 2014. The free museum was founded in 2003 when two museums (the National Museum of Chinese History and the National Museum of the Chinese Revolution) merged, and it is conveniently located in Tiananmen Square. The museum is now the largest in the world, covering an area of 192,000 square metres. It is this museum that features exhibitions on China's modern and ancient history.
National Museum of Natural History-Washington, DC-The National Museum of Natural History, part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, is the most visited museum in the United States and the most visited natural history museum in the world in 2014, with 7.3 million visitors. The free museum opened in 1910. The Smithsonian Institution's first buildings hold over 126 million specimens of natural history and cultural artefacts, including 30 million insects, 4.5 million plants, 7 million fish and 400,000 photographs.
National Air and Space Museum - Washington DC - The National Air and Space Museum is the largest collection of human flight objects and the largest of the Smithsonian Institution's 19 museums. The D.C. museum had 6.7 million visitors in 2014, but together with its second location in Virginia, it had around 8 million visitors. The museum includes a photo of the oldest known aeroplane, Wright's 1903 'flight', the Discovery spacecraft and more.
British Museum - London, UK-The British Museum, founded in 1753, was the first national public museum in the world. Admission to the British Museum has always been free. Some of the most important and interesting exhibits of the museum include the Rosetta Stone, Parthenon statues and ancient Egyptian structures. The museum has a spectacular view of the courtyard of Queen Elizabeth II's Great Court, built in 2000.
