The largest museums in the world: interesting facts. The best art galleries in the world

  • 03.05.2019

Sometimes people visit a country just to go to a museum. Are there still people who are sincerely interested in art? There are, and there are many of them. After all, by admiring the great paintings and sculptures, you can understand world history more deeply. We have collected the top of the world's largest museums that you should definitely visit.

Louvre

Even a child knows where the largest museum in the world is located. Of course, in France. The Louvre is the most big museum world, its area is 195 sq. m. It will take at least a week to get around this castle, which was built in 1190 for the French government. What can you admire in the Louvre? The museum is divided into 7 parts to make it easier to navigate. The largest and most visited part is the painting exhibition. World masterpieces are represented here by paintings by Titian, Vermeer, Rubens, Rembrandt and others. In the museum you can also admire masterpieces of world sculpture and decorative and applied arts. Greece, Rome, Egypt and Ancient East separate parts of the museum are allocated.

Vatican Museum

Now let's move to Rome. Second place in the top of the largest museums in the world is occupied by the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. Here a tourist can walk through 1,400 halls, in which there is the opportunity to contemplate 5,000 exhibits. But, of course, you won’t be able to get around the Vatican Museum in a day. Therefore, most tourists prefer to immediately go in search of the Sistine Chapel and Raphael’s room.

Hermitage

Everyone who comes to St. Petersburg should definitely visit the Winter Palace. This is the main building of the Hermitage, which was given over to the museum in 1852. It was formed with the assistance of Catherine II, who replenished the collection with Western masterpieces. European art. The Hermitage is the largest museum in the world, its area is 223 square meters. m. The museum complex, in addition to the Winter Palace, includes 5 more buildings. It also has two branches: the Russian Museum and Peter’s Summer House. In the main building of the Hermitage you can admire masterpieces of world painting, represented by works by Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Matisse, and Titian. Separate parts of the museum are dedicated to sculpture, Roman, Greek and Egyptian art.

British museum

The two previous attractions of Russia and France can only boast exhibits of artistic value. But the world's largest museum in Britain is historical and archaeological. The basis of his collection was laid by Hans Sloane, Robert Harley and Robert Cotton. These people different professions and classes had a common passion for collecting. That is why the museum’s collection was immediately replenished with antiques, works of art and rare stuffed animals. Today the British Museum is divided into sectors. Here you can find geological, zoological, numismatic, and mineralogical departments.

Egyptian Museum

Art as such originated in Greece, and it was this art that all civilized countries took as a basis. Everything except Egypt. There their own original art was created. And that is why today, when you go to any major museum, be it the Louvre or the Hermitage, you can find entire departments dedicated to Egypt. His legacy is considered so unique. But the world's largest museum dedicated to pharaohs, mummies and pyramids can be found in Cairo. It was officially opened only in 1900. The museum is a two-story building, the exhibits of which are presented in one hundred halls. Does the area seem very small? But it will take three whole days to briefly examine all the exhibits.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

What can unite people of different nationalities, beliefs, ages and hobbies? One of the world's largest museums is the Metropolitan in New York. It contains exhibits that are Paleolithic artifacts, a collection of weapons and pop art items. Tourists can admire the art of Africa, Egypt, the East and Oceania. In addition to painting, sculpture and arts and crafts, the Met houses clothing. Costumes of people of past centuries are collected from 5 continents.

National Museum in Japan

A country rising sun has a distinctive culture and greatly values ​​the objects of its manifestation. Therefore, if you think about what is the largest museum in the world presenting natural science exhibits, then you can safely point to the National science museum Japan. Here you can look at stuffed dinosaurs, as well as study the skeletons of our ancestors. IN botanical garden Almost all varieties of plants that live on our planet are represented.

Museum in Amsterdam

If you are planning to travel to the Netherlands, then you should definitely visit their capital. It houses the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum. This magnificent building contains over a million pieces from which to study Dutch art. Dutch artists Rembrandt, Hals, Vermeer and others are represented here. Also in the museum you can look at household items, sculptures, engravings and finds from archaeological excavations.

Tretyakov Gallery

Pavel Tretyakov's collection is one of the largest in the world. It was the collection of this famous Moscow philanthropist that laid the foundation for the modern museum exhibition. The Tretyakov Gallery was the first in the capital open to the general public. In 1893, after the death of Tretyakov, the museum became public, and in 1918 it was nationalized. During the Great Patriotic War the exhibits were evacuated to Molotov and Novosibirsk, so nothing was damaged. Today the museum is considered the largest in Russian capital. The collections contain icons by Rublev, paintings by Shishkin, Aivazovsky, Repin. The Tretyakov Gallery often hosts temporary exhibitions, and also hosts festivals and other cultural events.

Prado Museum

Madrid boasts an interesting history of the opening of one of its main attractions. The Prado Museum was completed over the course of 11 years after its official opening. Today they are stored here famous masterpieces world art, and before the museum exhibits were private collection royal family. The art of Spain was formed under the influence of the church, therefore most The exhibition is occupied by paintings of a religious nature.

Some interesting information about museums.

  1. The largest number of archaeological museums in the world is represented in Israel. Why there? Because there are more of them per capita than in other countries.
  2. The first museum created from nationalized collections was the Tretyakov Gallery.
  3. The largest museum in the world by area is the Louvre.
  4. Many films were filmed within the walls of the Museum of Natural History, which is located in New York, USA. The most famous of them is Night at the Museum.
  5. There is a Museum of Death in Hollywood. It features works and photographs taken by serial killers.
  6. In 1981, the Water Museum was created in Kharkov. Here tourists and city residents can get acquainted not with all the world's sources of fresh water on Earth, but with the history of local sewage systems. Also, everyone can look at the development of plumbing. The main task of the institution is to make people care about environment, because this is where the water for the local water supply comes from.
  7. There is a Museum of Failed Art in Massachusetts. It would seem strange to judge art, but still there are generally accepted canons, violating which the creator can guarantee himself disrepute. In the Museum of Failed Art, among the exhibits you can find not only funny pictures, but also sculptures, for example, made from trash cans. I'm glad that you can at least look at all this for free.
  8. The Museum of the Body is located in Holland. Here anyone can walk inside the 35-meter statue. As the name suggests, visitors examine, look at and even touch human insides.

The goal of all museums is to enhance human culture and introduce people to the world of art.

The Diamond Fund of Russia is a collection of unique works jewelry art, rare precious stones and nuggets. Among the most significant exhibits of the Diamond Fund are the large and small imperial crowns, the imperial scepter with the Orlov diamond.

Bunker-42 on Taganka

Bunker-42 on Taganka is one of the most interesting and unusual museums Moscow. It is located in a unique place - in the former secret military facility of the USSR ZKP "Tagansky", or GO-42. The complex was built during the Cold War, in the 50s of the last century, and belonged to the Ministry of Defense.

The very best

Zurab Tsereteli Art Gallery

The Zurab Tsereteli Art Gallery in Moscow is a place that provides an excellent opportunity to get acquainted with the work of the famous sculptor and painter: many of his works are collected within these walls. The exhibition complex often hosts national and international exhibitions.

The very best museum card

State Museum of A. S. Pushkin in Moscow

The main exhibition is housed in an ancient building - the Khrushchev-Seleznyov estate, built after the Moscow fire of 1812. Now the building has been restored, the decoration from the time of Pushkin - the early 19th century has been preserved, which gives the museum a special atmosphere.

The very best

House-Museum of V. M. Vasnetsov

Behind the forest of new buildings in the Meshchansky district of Moscow hides a magical hut - the House-Museum of V. M. Vasnetsov. Combining historical significance with cultural significance, this attraction has been attracting many tourists from various parts of Russia for several decades.

The very best museum card

Izmailovo Kremlin

Architectural ensemble The Izmailovo Kremlin was created according to drawings and engravings of the royal residence of the 16th-17th centuries. The territory of the new Kremlin is rich in museums where you can take a unique journey into the past. This is a museum of Russian costume, a museum of bread, a museum of felt boots, a museum of bells, and a museum of fairy tales.

The very best museum card

Historical Museum in Moscow

In the very heart of the capital, on Red Square, rises the building of the Historical Museum, the largest national museum Russia. The collection contains a huge number of exhibits (almost 4.5 million) telling about Russian history from ancient times to the present day.

The very best

Moscow Kremlin

The Moscow Kremlin - the main attraction of the city - is located in the very center of the Russian capital. Its powerful walls and towers, golden-domed temples, ancient towers and palaces rise on Borovitsky Hill above the Moscow River and form an architectural and artistic ensemble of unique beauty and grandeur.

The very best

Moscow Planetarium

The Moscow Planetarium, opened in 1929, is the oldest in Russia and one of the largest in the world. Today the Planetarium houses the Urania Museum, the Lunarium, the Sky Park with the Large and Small Observatories (closed for the winter until May), a 4D cinema and the Small Star Hall.

The very best museum card

Bulgakov Museum in Moscow

State Museum named after. M.A. Bulgakov in Moscow is the only museum dedicated to the life and work of the greatest Russian writer Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov. In 2010, the museum’s exhibition was replenished with furniture and items from the writer’s last apartment at 3/5 Nashchokinsky Lane.

The very best

Tretyakov Gallery

Tretyakov Gallery - the most famous Art Museum in the capital, founded by merchant Pavel Tretyakov in 1856. Today it is a large government agency culture, which includes several museums, the main one of which remains the museum complex in Lavrushinsky Lane.

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Moscow museums are point number two of the usual metropolitan “excursion”. Having examined all kinds of white stone and red brick walls, marveled at the golden domes and ruby stars and having certainly stumbled a couple of times on the historical paving stones, guests of the Mother See rush into the depths of Moscow museums, storage facilities and funds - to examine valuable exhibits in historical interiors and simply hide from the changeable northern weather. It must be said that the choice of exhibition institutions in Moscow is truly huge and anyone interested in anything in life - from precious stones to the works of Pushkin and from planets solar system before ladies' garters, he will definitely find “his” museum (or gallery).

You can explore Moscow museums absolutely free and at unusual times of day during the annual Night of Museums in Moscow

Gold and diamonds

hidden treasures Russian Empire, perhaps, a universal magnet for all categories of “museum-goers” - both foreigners, Russians, and Muscovites themselves are fascinated by looking at scepters and orbs, coronation dresses and gilded carriages, gold nuggets and unique diamonds in the two main state repositories of valuables - the Armory Chamber and the Diamond Fund (both on the territory of the Kremlin).

Canvases and sculptures

Marble masterpieces of Michelangelo and Rodin and the creations of almost all famous painters of the planet are stored in art museums in Moscow - the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, the Tretyakov Gallery, Central House Artist and Museum contemporary art. The number of originals not only by Russians (which is understandable), but also by foreign masters of the brush is amazing - it seems that everything famous paintings impressionists and a good half of the legacy of other European artists found refuge on Moscow soil. In the halls you can see masterpieces by Botticelli, Rembrandt, Renoir, Manet and Monet, Cezanne, Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso, Toulouse-Lautrec, Constable, Picasso, Dali and many others. Museums regularly host exhibitions from the largest museum collections in the world, and the Central House of Artists also operates as an exhibition and trading platform.

Artifacts and antiquities

Enthusiastic followers of Clio will not be disappointed by Moscow's history museums. Magnificent exhibitions of artifacts from ancient times - from digging sites primitive man to the originals of iconic documents of the 20th century are displayed in the Historical Museum on Red Square (4.5 million exhibits!) and its branches, the Victory Museum and others. We hasten to assure you that the dust of centuries here smells exclusively from valuable exhibits, and not from museums as such - many exhibitions were created according to last word technology. Just look at the dioramas of the Great Patriotic War or the millions of tear-beads “dripping” from the heights of the dome in the Hall of Memory and Sorrow. Antiquities of a different kind are presented in the Paleontological Museum - one of largest museums world in terms of the number of fossil artifacts. Here you can see the remains ancient life, from invertebrate imprints and prehistoric ferns to 20-meter mammoth skeletons.

For walkers

Those who want to combine business with pleasure are invited to the museums-reserves and estates of Moscow: Kolomenskoye and Kuskovo, Tsaritsyno, Ostankino and Arkhangelskoye. Thematic gardens have been laid out on vast territories and a bunch of landscape decorations have been invented, white-skinned marble maidens, shyly but not too convincingly covering their charms with the folds of their tunics, pour water from bottomless jugs, and the main entrances are guarded by shaggy stone lions. The manor buildings can safely be considered masterpieces of architecture: palaces, galleries, outbuildings, grottoes and all kinds of houses were built by the best architects of the 18-19 centuries, and unique materials were used for their decoration. The grotto in the Kuskovo estate, for example, is lined with 24 types of sea shells, and in Ostankino the Theater Hall especially stands out - richly decorated home theater count's family Sheremetev. Well, the famous tented church in Kolomenskoye is generally one of the symbols of Moscow. The estates have permanent exhibitions that are not inferior in value to museum collections: Kuskovo, for example, invites you to the Museum of Ceramics, where you can see rare examples of faience and glass from different countries, from antiquity to modern times.

For naturalists

Those raised on Grzimek’s books and Drozdov’s programs will find rest for the soul in Moscow’s flora and fauna museums. The first place among them is undoubtedly occupied by the Darwin Museum - one of the most significant natural science repositories in Europe. Its exhibitions tell about evolution “from and to” (at least up to its current “peak”), give an idea of ​​the diversity of life on earth, natural selection, heredity and other aspects of Darwinian theory. There are also unique collections here, the envy of zoologists from all over the world - a collection of stuffed albino and melanistic animals from different animal kingdoms. Another temple of natural sciences is the Zoological Museum at Moscow State University. Its systematic exhibition presents all groups of modern animals, from single-celled animals to birds and mammals. Of particular note is the lovely scientific terrarium, where you can see a collection of live reptiles, including a recent open views. Well, you can look at the diversity of life on Earth “from above” by visiting the recently opened Moscow Planetarium. Its halls are equipped with the latest technology, there are a lot of interactive exhibits and an interesting half-hour film about our Universe is regularly shown.

For admirers of talents

Can't you imagine life without fine literature? Welcome to the chambers of geniuses artistic thought: Pushkin Museum on Prechistenka and his memorial apartment on Arbat, Turgenev's house on Ostozhenka, Mayakovsky Museum, " Bad apartment» Bulgakov, the house-museums of Chekhov, Tolstoy, Yesenin, Dostoevsky... Here you can deeply breathe in the creative fluids fluttering in the air, plunge into the real atmosphere of creation famous works, see personal belongings, wardrobe items, manuscripts and notebooks. Museum shops sell facsimiles of handwritten pages and numerous materials on the biography of writers. The most extensive museum is, of course, “our everything”: an abundance of halls and exhibits, as well as a lot of thematic cultural events. Bulgakov's apartment No. 50 is especially loved by the public - the energy here is indescribable, and it seems that a thick cat's tail has just flashed through the doorway.

Favorite city of Dmitry Donskoy.

In order not to depend on bus and train schedules while on vacation, many travelers rent a car. Often this is the most rational choice: look at the prices and conditions on the page Car rental in Russia for foreign citizens - see for yourself.

When planning a future vacation in Moscow, it is worth studying in advance not only hotels, eateries and attractions, but also prices and car rental conditions. Well, and the lineup, of course. Rent a car in Moscow without a driver inexpensively without mileage restrictions - we created this page just for such purposes. It can be useful!

"Threatening Weather", René Magritte, 1929

Louvre (Paris)


“Liberty Leading the People” (La Liberté guidant le peuple) or “Freedom on the Barricades”, Eugene Delacroix.

The Louvre is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Like many national museums, it began with the royal collection. The collection was actively replenished by patrons of art from war trophies and works confiscated during the revolution.

Today, about 300 thousand exhibits are stored here. 35 thousand of them are presented in the online gallery. The most famous are “La Gioconda” by Leonardo da Vinci, “The Beautiful Gardener” by Raphael, “The Lacemaker” by John Vermeer, sculptures of the Venus de Milo and the Nike of Samothrace.

Prado Museum (Madrid)


Triptych "Garden" earthly pleasures", Hieronymus Bosch, 1490-1500.

The Prado Museum (Museo del Prado) is one of the largest and most visited art museums in the world. His collection contains the most full meetings Bosch, Velazquez, Goya, Murillo, Zurbaran and El Greco. The total number of exhibits is about 30 thousand.

Photos of more than 11 thousand works stored in the museum have been published on the Internet. For easy navigation, there is a division by topic: nudes and saints, socialist realism and mythology. In addition, an alphabetical index with the names of artists is available. The “Masterpieces” selection will not let you miss the most important thing.

New York Museum of Modern Art


"Three Musicians" Pablo Picasso. Fontainebleau, summer (1921).

The Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan in New York (Museum of Modern Art, abbreviated as MoMA) is one of the first and most representative museums of modern art in the world. It is one of the three most visited museums in the United States and one of the twenty most visited art museums in the world.

MoMA has posted 65,000 digitized paintings online, dating from 1850 to the present. In total, the museum’s collection contains over 200 thousand works by 10 thousand artists. The online collection can be searched by specific painting, by the name of the artist, and by specified filters.

Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam)


"Night Watch, or the Performance of the Rifle Company of Captain Frans Banning Cock and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburg." Rembrandt Van Rijn.

You don’t have to come to Amsterdam to wander the halls of the famous Rijksmuseum. The updated interiors of the 19th century building and the 200 thousand masterpieces housed there can be found on the Google Arts & Culture project. Make the gallery closer smartphone and the Google Cardboard app, available for Android and iOS.

Along with the main collection of the Rijksmuseum, the digital recording includes five new exhibitions dedicated to the jeweler Jan Lutma, the artists Jan Steen, Jan Vermeer, Rembrandt van Rijn and, separately, the monumental painting “The Night Watch”, the pride of the museum.

Solomon Guggenheim Museum (New York)


Next to Jas de Bouffan (Environs du Jas de Bouffan). Paul Cezanne.

The permanent collection of the Guggenheim contains more than 7 thousand works. About 1,700 of them have been digitized. Each artist’s page on the museum’s website contains a voluminous overview of his work; many exhibits are supplemented by comments from art historians. The online archive covers the period from late XIX centuries to the present day. There are works by Paul Cezanne and Paul Klee, Pablo Picasso, Camille Pissarro, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Bauhaus school teachers Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Wassily Kandinsky and many other modern classics. There is a search and an alphabetical index of the authors of all works in the collection.

Getty Museum (Los Angeles)


Haystacks, snow effect, morning. Claude Monet.

The Getty Museum is the largest art museum in California and the West Coast of the United States. It was founded by oil tycoon Jean Paul Getty, who at the time of his death was the richest man in the world. Thanks to the bequeathed billions, the museum has become the most active buyer of works by the “old masters” and ancient sculpture at international auctions.

Now you can create your own selections of your favorite paintings, select exhibits to illustrate art history education, post them on social networks, or even just “stick” to electronic library Museum, looking at magnificent paintings in every detail.

Hermitage (St. Petersburg)


Annunciation. Filippino Lippi, Italy, mid-1490s.

Russia's largest museum occupies five buildings housing more than 3 million works of art.

The museum arose as a private collection of Catherine II and, thanks to the empress, acquired a collection of works by outstanding Flemish, Dutch, Italian and French artists. The archive of digitized works of the Hermitage is divided by topic, there is a convenient search, it is possible to create own collection and viewing the collections of other users. On the “In Focus” section page, you can study the exhibits in detail, read detailed information about them and watch videos with expert comments.

British Museum (London)


Large gold buckle; early Anglo-Saxon period, early 7th century; burial mound necropolis of Sutton Hoo.

The main historical and archaeological museum of Great Britain and one of the largest museums in the world, the second most visited among art museums after the Louvre, has posted more than 3.5 million exhibits online.

Colonial expansion British Empire contributed to the rapid expansion of the collection of the country's main and first public national museum in the world. WITH mid-18th century century, it managed to collect more than 8 million exhibits: from ancient Greek bas-reliefs to Hirst prints. It is here that the Rosetta Stone, thanks to which it was possible to decipher ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, is kept, the largest collection in the West Chinese porcelain, the richest collection of engravings and paintings of the Renaissance. The British Museum's online collection is also one of the largest in the world, with more than 3.5 million items on its website. An advanced search is available by date of creation, technique of execution and a dozen more parameters.

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)


Group of thirteen “beheaded” soldiers / author unknown (1910)

The Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts, located in New York, is the largest art museum in the United States and one of the most famous museums in the world, has made publicly available a collection of nearly 400,000 high-resolution digitized works of art and old photographs.

Anyone can look at the most interesting retro photographs from the museum collection. The images are not licensed for commercial use, but you can download the frame you like for your own needs, for example, to place it in a frame.

Vincent Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam)

The Van Gogh Museum has made available online 1,800 posters, books and drawings from its collection. The management of the art institution published the works due to the fact that they did not fit into the permanent collection, which is why they remained inaccessible to the general public for a long time.

Traveling to another country is a real adventure, an event that will be remembered for a lifetime. In addition to fantastic landscapes and architectural monuments, most tourists dream of visiting the most famous museums and art galleries in the world to see with their own eyes the masterpieces of world art. Below we will take a look at three art galleries that are famous all over the world.

The National Art Gallery in London contains a unique collection of English and west European painting. The gallery is located at Trafalgar Square, in the heart of London. Here you can see masterpieces by Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Titian, Rubens, Canaletto, Dürer, Thomas Lawrence, William Hogarth and many others around the world famous painters. The gallery also exhibits portraits of the royal family, painted by the most famous masters of the 12th-19th centuries.


The London Art Gallery was founded in 1824, at the moment when the first collection of 38 paintings that belonged to Angerstein, a famous banker at that time, was acquired. Gradually, over many centuries, the collection was replenished with new paintings, many of which were generously donated by patrons of the arts. From 1831 to the present day, the gallery has been located in a new building in Trafalgar Square, which was designed by the architect Wilkins.
Today, the gallery's collection of paintings includes more than 2,500 paintings dating from the 13th to the 20th centuries. For the convenience of visitors, all paintings are displayed in chronological order, which allows you to better understand the events of a particular era.

Dresden Art Gallery

A unique attraction of Dresden is the art gallery. No matter how you feel about painting, be sure to add this place to your list of trips you plan to make. The fact is that the Dresden Art Gallery is not just a landmark of the city, but its highlight, a kind of symbol. Business card gallery is the famous painting by the great Raphael " Sistine Madonna", located here for more than 250 years.

The Dresden Art Gallery was founded in the 16th century by King Frederick the Wise. However, the first visitors got the opportunity to see the paintings only in the 19th century. Unfortunately, many famous paintings were lost during the Second World War, and the gallery itself was repeatedly bombed.

Today, visitors to the Dresden Art Gallery can enjoy the most valuable paintings by Titian, Rubens, Albrecht Durer, Poussin, Velazquez and other talented painters.

Concentrated in Milan a large number of art museums, among which the Brera Art Gallery takes pride of place. It houses the most impressive collection of great masterpieces created by Italian sculptors and painters. The 40 rooms, which display paintings by Raphael, Titian, Hayes, Caravaggio, as well as Flemish painters and impressionists from various eras, create a stunning effect.

Planning an excursion to art gallery Brera, keep in mind that one or two hours is definitely not enough for you to get acquainted with the entire collection. If you have little time, be sure to start the tour with two impressive restorations - a three-meter statue of Emperor Napoleon, which weighs more than 2 tons and is the creation of the sculptor Antonio Canova, as well as the painting “The Betrothal of the Virgin”, painted by the great Raphael.

The gallery was founded in 1809 by order of Queen Maria Theresa of Austria. It is located in the Brera Palace (where it got its name), not far from the observatory and the Academy of Arts. Today there are 40 halls, each of which displays paintings and sculptures belonging to a certain era or school.

There are thousands of museums in the world, most of which, of course, everyone should see at least once in their life. Of course, no one wants to spend their entire vacation looking at endless collections of paintings and sculptures created by unfamiliar artists and sculptors. Everyone just wants to contemplate famous works, is not it?

There is a ranking of the ten most popular museums in the world, thanks to their outstanding collections, which include historically significant works by famous artists. It should be noted that visiting these museums leaves a strong impression even on those who are not fans of art.

10th place. State Museum. Amsterdam, Netherlands

The Amsterdam Rijksmuseum houses a million artifacts and displays from largest works artistic arts, collected throughout Holland.
These are works of world famous masters Dutch painting 17th century (including 20 masterpieces by Rembrandt) and many other evidence of this period.
Founded in 1800, this museum also displays works from the Middle Ages and masterpieces from the 18th and 19th centuries. Here you can see various sculptures and specimens decorative arts.
The main attraction is Rembrandt's painting "The Night Watch", depicting the performance of a rifle company.

9th place. State Hermitage Museum. Saint-Petersburg, Russia


Despite Russia's isolation from the art centers of Europe, the Hermitage boasts three million exhibits of art exhibitions held over the past three centuries.
Here you can note a wonderful depiction of the development of culture and art, from the Stone Age to the present day.
In the western part of the Hermitage alone you can see works by masters of European art - countless works by French, English, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, German and Flemish artists.
It should be noted that the Hermitage has two of the twelve original works legendary Leonardo da Vinci - "Madonna of the Flowers" and "Madonna Litta".
The main attraction State Hermitage St. Petersburg is the Golden Hall, where collections of exhibits made from huge amount precious stones and metals.

8th place. Prado Museum. Madrid, Spain


Although the museum's collections are not as impressive as those of the Hermitage, the Prado is one of the most popular and most visited museums in the world. Strength The museum features Spanish art: works by such great masters as Velázquez, Goya, Murillo, El Greco.
Although the museum specializes in painting, it also houses a wide range of frescoes, coins, medals and an exhibition of decorative arts. And the museum's neoclassical façade perfectly reflects the city's magnificent 18th-century architecture.
The main attraction is Rubens' painting "The Three Graces", which depicts three dancing naked women.

7th place. Smithsonian Museum. Washington, USA


Smithsonian Museum, as part Smithsonian Institution Washington, DC, is the world's largest museum presenting scientific research achievements. It consists of 16 halls and galleries, as well as the National Zoo.
These mini-museums are among the 142 million objects reflecting US history, so be prepared for a long and tedious, but very interesting tour of the vast complex.
The main attraction is the exhibition-exposition, dedicated to memory September 11, which consists of photographs, testimonies and belongings of participants in the tragedy.

6th place. Egyptian Museum. Cairo, Egypt


In 1835, the Egyptian government approved the work of the "Egyptian Antiques Service" in order to protect archaeological sites from robberies and collect together all the works of art and historical relics.
In 1900, the Egyptian Museum itself was built, in which today we can see about 120,000 different exhibits, recreated over many years of work and related to the prehistory of the Greco-Roman period (including ancient sculptures - sphinxes).
The main attraction of the museum is Golden mask- one of the exhibits discovered in the tomb of the ruler Pharaoh Tutankhamun and his family, among the relics.

5th place. Uffizi Gallery. Florence, Italy


UNESCO estimates that 60% of the world's most famous works of art come from Italy, with half of them in Florence.
In Florence itself, even the streets and houses are real masterpieces of art, so the presence of a museum here is surprising in itself.
Here you can see some of the world's best collections of painting and sculpture. Including the creations of such great names of the Renaissance as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, as well as the most outstanding masterpieces of Caravaggio.
The main attraction is Sandro Botticelli's painting "The Birth of Venus"

4th place. Modern Art Museum. New York, USA


The museum, founded in 1870, contains approximately 2 million works of prehistoric and modern art from around the world. Here you will find everything from islamic art and European painting, ending with ancient weapons and armor.
The main attraction is the world famous engraving of Albert Durer "Adam and Eve".

3rd place. British Art Museum. London, Great Britain.


The British Museum, founded in 1753, is one of the largest museums in the world. It houses 7 million pieces of art, 4 million of which are permanently on display. Every year, six million visitors come to see these works of art, spanning the period from ancient times to the present day.
The main attraction of the British Museum is Reading room, which amazes with its length. Currently, it is a modern information center of the museum, equipped with the latest technologies.

2nd place. Vatican Museum. Vatican, Italy


The museum impresses with 22 separate collections, ranging from Old Russian and Egyptian art and ending with the old ones holy books and masterpieces of modern religious art. And, even if you are not religious, the frescoes performed by Michelangelo and Bernini will make an indelible impression on you.
Main attraction - The Sistine Chapel

1 place. Louvre Museum. Paris, France


Without a doubt, the Louvre is worldwide famous museum. The complex was originally a medieval fortress in which many French kings lived. Only two centuries ago this place became a museum. Moreover, the historical charm of the museum does not at all depend on its modernization and the creation of a modern glass pyramid in the center of the complex. The Louvre's collection, which includes works of art from ancient civilizations and the first half of the 19th century, is one of the most amazing in the entire world.
Here you will see beautiful masterpieces of the classics - Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt and other masters of artistic craft. The main attraction is famous painting"Mona Lisa" by Leonardo da Vinci.

Even if you're not an art buff, these museums are a must see! If you don’t have enough time and money to see everything on display there, then at least the works of the most famous people are worth seeing in person. Such an experience can enrich the intellect and give new unforgettable emotions.