List of the most visited museums in the world

This article lists the most-visited museums which reported attendance figures for 2021, followed by other museums with large numbers of annual visitors in 2020 and 2019 but no reported 2021 figures. A museum is defined as a building or institution dedicated to the acquisition, care, research, and exhibition of numerous objects that represent the legacy of humankind and its environment. The primary sources are the Art Newspaper annual report on art museum attendance, and the TEA-AECOM Museum Index, published by the Themed Entertainment Association and AECOM consulting firm; as well as national surveys, such as the National Museum Information Survey of the Chinese Government, and the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) in Britain.

Effects of COVID-19 on attendance

Total attendance at the top twenty museums on the list in 2021 rebounded to 13,433,000, an increase of 70 percent over 2020, but only 33 percent of the total attendance in 2019, before the pandemic.TEA-AECOM Museum index for 2021, published 19 October 2022

Criteria for inclusion

This list includes art museums, history museums, natural history museums, and science museums, but does not include archaeological sites, historical monuments, or many palace museums. This article generally follows that guideline, so the Palace of Versailles, the Kremlin, Peterhof Palace, and Forbidden City are not included, even though these sites include some museum collections. Such palace museums are found in the List of most visited palaces and monuments.

The list also includes the Mevlana Museum, a mausoleum and religious shrine which is classified by the Turkish government as a museum. It does not include Hagia Sophia, which the Turkish government reclassified as a mosque in 2020.

Due to differences in reporting across regions, there is some variation in the time periods for which figures are reported. Unless otherwise noted, figures for North America and continental Europe are calendar year figures, while most figures for Britain and Asia-Pacific are fiscal year figures, from April through March.

List

See also

* List of most-visited art museums
* List of most-visited museums by region
* List of largest art museums
*List of most visited palaces and monuments
*List of most visited museums in the Netherlands
* List of most visited museums in the United Kingdom
* List of most-visited museums in the United States

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Most Visited Museums In The World
Lists of art museums and galleries
Lists of museums
Museums