The 25 Best Museums In The World, According To Travelers

55 Cable St, Wellington 6011, New Zealand

The Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa, is located in Wellington. Te Papa is the national museum of New Zealand, and allows visitors to explore the treasures and stories of New Zealand. They have collections on art, history, pacific, Maori — the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand — and natural environment.

Rua B 20, Brumadinho, State of Minas Gerais 35460-000, Brazil

The Inhotim is a contemporary art museum in southeast Brazil. Founded by a mining billionaire Bernardo Paz, the contemporary art museum was once his own personal ranch. Paz converted the garden into a contemporary art space, and it opened to the public in 2006.

Qinling North Road, Lintong District, Xi'an 710600, China

The Terracotta Army is a collection of terra-cotta sculptures depicting the armies of the Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. The army was discovered in 1974 when farmers digging a water well stumbled upon pieces of the broken terra cotta warriors. The farmers had accidentally discovered one of the most important archaeological excavations of the 20th century.

The 16,300-square-meter excavation has more than 7,000 life-size terracotta figures of warriors and horses arranged in battle formations.

600 Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC 20560

The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution holds the largest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft in the world. They have thousands of objects on display in the 161,145-square-feet space. They have the 1903 Wright Flyer, Charle Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis, the Apollo 11 Command Module Columiba, an Albert Einstein Planetarium, and public observatory.

Museumstraat 1, 1071 XX Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The Rijksmuseum is a national museum dedicated to arts and history in Amsterdam. The museum has 8,000 objects of art and history on displace, among which some are masterpieces by Rembrandt, Frans Hals, and Johannes Vermeer. The museum's most famous painting is called The Night Watch.

99 rue de Rivoli, 75059 Paris, France

The Louvre is one of the most well-known museums in the world - but it was not originally built to house a museum. The structure was built as a fortress - as Parisians feared that the Vikings would cross the sea from Scandinavia and raid Paris. The Louvre didn’t become a fine arts museum until 1793.

The museum is now home to 35,000 masterpieces and some of the most famous pieces of art in existence: Venus du Milo, Liberty Leading the People, Milon de Crotone, Raft of the Medusa, Pysche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss— and of course, the Mona Lisa.

Piazzale del Museo Borghese 5, 00197 Rome, Italy

The Gallera Bordhese was originally built for Cardinal Scipione Borghese in 1615 and has a substantial collection of art from the Borghese family. Today the collection has some of the best masterpieces of Italian sculpture of the 17th and 18th century — and even has four rooms dedicated to the works of Bernini.

In 1644, John Evelyn described the Galleria Borghese as "an Elysium of delight."

Alameda Antonio Brennand, State of Pernambuco 50741-904, Brazil

The institute in Brazil has a collection of European and Brazilian art, swords, armor and historical artifacts in a fake medieval castle, designed in the Tudor style. The armory collection is one of the biggest in the world, with nearly 3,000 objects from all over the world.

Sultanahmet, Eminonu District, Istanbul, Turkey

Once a church, later a mosque, the Hagia Sophia Muesum is an architectural marvel with 30 million gold tiles thoughtout its interior, and a wide, flat dome which was an impressive engineering feat at the time it was constructed in the 6th century.

Great Russell St, London WC1B 3DG, United Kingdom

The British Museum opened in 1753 and houses a permanent collection of over 8 million works. They have one of the largest collections of Egyptian mummies and ancient Greek sculptures. Some other treasures that can be found in the museum include: the Easter Island statue, one of the oldest mathematical instruments, and the earliest known image of Christ.

6th and Constitution Ave NW, Washington, DC 20565

The museum is comprised of two buildings: one holds paintings form the fourteenth through the eighteenth centuries and the other exhibits modern art. The Sculpture Garden opened in May of 1999, and provides an outdoor setting for many works.

Galarvarvsvagen 14 , Stockholm 115 21, Sweden

The Vasa Museum is a maritime museum in Stockholm that is home to the worlds only existing preserved seventeenth-century warship, called the Vasa. The ship sank in the middle of Stockholm in 1628, and was not salvaged for restoration until three hundred years later. The 69-mile long warship is almost fully intact.

In addition to the incredible ship, there are nine other maritime exhibitions to explore.

Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN, United Kingdom

The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in London. Founded in 1824, it originally opened in a townhouse with only 38 paintings — today it has a collection of over 2,300 works. Some of the artists on display include: Monet, Botticelli, Rembrandt, Renoir, and Van Gogh.

945 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA 70130

The National World War II Museum opened June 6 2000 — on the 56^th anniversary of D-Day. Founded by Stephen Ambrose, the museum tells the story of the American experience in “the war that changed the world.”

The museum focuses on the contribution made by the Untied States in World War II, particularly on the battle of Normandy. It has many permanent galleries including: the Home Front, The D-Day Beaches, and Pacific D-Day galleries.

Herzl Blvd., Jerusalem 91034, Israel

Yad Vashem is Israel’s official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, and is located on the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem. It is a 45-acre campus consisting of indoor museums, outdoor monuments, memorials, gardens, sculptures, and research and education centers.

The website says: "Since 1954, Yad Vashem has worked to fulfill its mandate to preserve the memory of the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust by collecting their names, the ultimate representation of a person’s identity."

Paseo del Prado s/n, 28014 Madrid, Spain

The Museo del Prado is the main Spanish nation art museum, located in Madrid. The Museum has one of the largest art collections in the world, and is know for having works by Velasquez, Goya and El Greco. The collection currently comprises around 7,600 paintings, 1,000 sculptures, 4,800 prints and 8,200 drawings.

Dionysiou Areopagitou 15, Athens 11742, Greece

The Acropolis Museum is an archaeological museum focused on the findings of the archaeological site of the Acropolis of Athens. The museum was opened in 2009 and has almost 4,000 works spread across an area of 14,000 square meters.

1000 Fifth Avenue, New York City, NY 10028-0198

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the largest museums in the world. It houses more than 2 million pieces of art spanning much of the history of human culture. The museum's permanent collections include works from nearly every time period and area of the world, including classical antiquity, Ancient Egypt, modern art, African art, Asian art, Isalmic art, and many more.

62 Rue de Lille, Paris, France

The Musee D'Orsay is housed in the former Gare D'Orsay — a railway stating that was built in the nineteenth century. The Museum has a vast collection of works and has a particularly well-known collection impressionist and post-impressionist works. Notable artists include: Van Gogh, Cezanne, Rodin, Renoir, and Monet.

Via Ricasoli 58 - 60, 50122 Florence, Italy

The Gallery of the Academy is located in Florence, Italy and is known for its impressive collection of statues — include Micelangelo's famous David. One of Europe's first drawing schools, it is home to an extensive collection of Italian painters including: Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Pontormo, and Andrea del Sarto.

1200 Getty Center Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90049

The Getty Center sits atop a hill in Los Angeles and is well-known for its architecture, gardens, and spectacular views. The center also has an impressive collection of works by luminaries such as Van Gogh, Monet, and Cezanne. Many of the galleries also have skylights with computer-controlled louvres that are programmed to adjust depending on the time of the day to achieve optimal illumination of the space.

Dvortsovaya Square, 2, St. Petersburg 190000 , Russia

The collection at the State Hermitage has more than three million works of art from all around the world. The Baroque sytle Winter Palace was home to the Russian monarchs until 1917, when the ruling dynasty was overthrown by a coup d'etat.

Avenida Paseo de la Reforma, Mexico City 11560, Mexico

The National Museum of Anthropology is located in a huge park in Mexico City. The museum has an intensive collection of archaeological artifacts (originals or replicas) from the numerous ancient cultures in Mexico, including: Olmec, Mexica, Maya, Golfo, Aztec and others.

111 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60603-6404

Founded in 1879, and guarded by two bronze lions at its entrance, The Art Institute of Chicago has one of the world's great art collections, including the trademark "American Gothic" painting by Grant Wood. In grand total, it is home to more than 300,000 pieces of art, and hosts 30 rotating exhibitions and hundreds of gallery performances each year.

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