The Louvre Museum in Paris (France) became the most visited in the world last year. In 2017, a total of 8.1 million people contemplated the works of art housed in the Parisian art gallery, which represented a 9.5% increase compared to the previous year's figure.
This increase in the number of visitors allowed the Louvre, which had been third in 2016, to surpass in the ranking the National Museum of China, located in Beijing, and the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC (United States), which had occupied the top two spots in 2016.
These data appear in the annual report "Theme Index – Museum Index" corresponding to 2017, prepared by the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) and AECOM.
In 2017, the third place in the ranking was shared by the aforementioned National Air and Space Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, both with 7 million visitors.
The Vatican Museums, with 6.43 million people, were in fifth place in the ranking of the most visited in the world.
Among the top 20 museums by visitor volume, there are six from the United States, five from the United Kingdom, three from China, two from France, and one from Vatican City, Taiwan, Spain, and Russia.
By cities, London is the leader with five museums, ahead of Washington DC, which has four. Paris, Beijing and New York have two museums among the 20 most visited, and the rest are distributed among Vatican City, Shanghai, Taipei, Saint Petersburg and Madrid.
In 17th place in this ranking is the Reina Sofía in Madrid with 3.89 million visitors in 2017, 6.9% more than the previous year.
Of the 20 most visited museums in the world, 10 are free and for the other ten, an entrance fee must be paid.
Websites of the 20 most visited museums in the world:
- Louvre Museum (Paris, France)
- National Museum of China (Beijing, China)
- National Air and Space Museum (Washington DC, USA)
- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, USA)
- Vatican Museums (Vatican City)
- Shanghai Science and Technology Museum (Shanghai, China)
- National Museum of Natural History (Washington DC, USA)
- British Museum (London, United Kingdom)
- Tate Modern (London, United Kingdom)
- National Gallery of Art (Washington DC, USA)
- National Gallery (London, United Kingdom)
- American Museum of Natural History (New York, USA)
- National Palace Museum (Taipei, Taiwan)
- Natural History Museum (London, United Kingdom)
- Hermitage Museum (Saint Petersburg, Russia)
- China Science and Technology Museum (Beijing, China)
- Reina Sofía Museum (Madrid, Spain)
- National Museum of American History (Washington DC, USA)
- Victoria and Albert Museum (London, United Kingdom)
- Centre Pompidou (Paris, France)