25 Best Museums in the World 2016

25 Best Museums in the World 2016 TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Awards

From awe-inspiring art galleries to thought-provoking memorials, TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Awards brings you the 25 Best Museums in the World in 2016. The quantity and quality of reviews and ratings for museums worldwide over a 12-month period were taken into account to determine the award winners.

1. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

Colloquially the Met, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is not only one of the best museums in the world but also one of the finest art museums. Its collection includes more than two million works of art spanning five thousand years of world culture, from prehistory to the present and from every part of the globe.

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Website: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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2. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Next on the list of the 25 Best Museums in the World 2016 is the Art Institute of Chicago. It was founded in 1879 and located in Chicago’s Grant Park. The Art Institute of Chicago is also one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States, and has been one of TripAdvisor’s best museums in the world for four consecutive years.

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Website: Art Institute of Chicago

3. State Hermitage Museum and Winter Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia

Next on the list is the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. It has one of the largest collections of Western European Art in the world. In addition to being one of the best museums in the world, the State Hermitage Museum and Winter Palace is also the largest art gallery in Russia.

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Website: State Hermitage Museum

4. Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France

Following in the list is Musée d’Orsay. The museum is housed in the former Gare d’Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station, in Paris. Musée d’Orsay holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1914, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and photography. In addition, it is also one of the largest art museums in Europe.

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Website: Musée d’Orsay

5. National Museum of Anthropology (Museo Nacional de Antropologia), Mexico City, Mexico

In number 5 is Mexico’s Museo Nacional de Antropologia, the largest and most visited museum in Mexico. It also contains one of the world’s largest collections of archaeological and anthropological artifacts from prehispanic Mayan civilizations to the Spanish conquest.

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Plan your visit: Museo Nacional de Antropologia

6. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum, New York City

Another one of the 25 Best Museums in the World is the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. It commemorates the September 11, 2001 attacks. The memorial is located at the World Trade Center site, the former location of the Twin Towers.

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Website: The National 9/11 Memorial & Museum

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7. Prado National Museum, Madrid, Spain

In the 7th position is Prado National Museum, the main Spanish national art museum located in central Madrid. It features one of the world’s finest collections of European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th century. The Prado National Museum is one of the most visited sites in Madrid, and one of the best museums in the world.

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Website: Prado National Museum

8. British Museum, London, United Kingdom

Next on the list of the best museums in the world is the British Museum which exhibits works of man from prehistoric to modern times. Highlights such as the Rosetta Stone, Parthenon sculptures, and Egyptian mummies are visited by up to six million visitors per year.

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Website: British Museum

9. Acropolis Museum, Athens, Greece

In the 9th position, we have Acropolis Museum, one of the most important contemporary works of architecture in Athens. It houses 4,000 artifacts from the Acropolis monuments and is easily accessed from the Acropolis station of the Metro.

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Website: Acropolis Museum

10. Vasa Museum, Stockholm, Sweden

The Vasa ship capsized and sank in Stockholm 1628. After 333 years on the sea bed, it was salvaged. Today Vasa is the world’s only preserved 17th century ship and the most visited museum in Scandinavia.

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Website: Vasa Museum

11. The National WWII Museum, New Orleans, Louisiana

To understand the price of freedom, one must visit the National WWII Museum in New Orleans. It tells the story of the American Experience in the war that changed the world – why it was fought, how it was won, and what it means today.

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Website: The National WWII Museum

12. V&A – Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom

Located in London, the Victoria and Albert Museum is the world’s leading museum of decorative art and design. It represents more than 3,000 years of human creativity and houses a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects.

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Website: Victoria and Albert Museum

13. Musee du Louvre, Paris, France

The Louvre Museum or Musee du Louvre is one of the world’s largest museums and a historic monument in Paris located on the right bank of the Seine. The museum houses western works of art dating from the Middle Ages to 1848, in addition to collections of ancient oriental, Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan and Roman civilizations, as well as graphic and Islamic arts.

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Website: Musee du Louvre

14. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

In the 14th position is Dutch’s Rijksmuseum, a national museum dedicated to arts and history. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and the Concertgebouw.

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Website: Rijksmuseum

15. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Meet Vincent van Gogh at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Then read the stories, visit the exhibitions, explore the collection featuring masterpieces like Almond Blossom, Sunflowers and The Bedroom.

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Website: Van Gogh Museum

16. Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy

Another one of the best museums in the world is Uffizi Gallery, given the rich amount of unique artworks and masterpieces conserved within its walls. Located in the heart of Florence, it houses works of art by great Italian artists such as Botticelli, Giotto, Cimabue, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Raffaello etc. Uffizi Gallery’s collection has a large part dating back to the periods between the 12th and 17th centuries.

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Website: Uffizi Gallery

17. Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Oswiecim, Poland

Not an easy place to visit is the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, both a memorial and museum which includes the former German Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau. More than a million Jews, and many Poles and Roma, perished here either in the gas chambers or by starvation or disease.

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Website: Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum

18. Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC, District of Columbia

Where else can you find the world’s largest collection of aviation and space artifacts, encompassing all aspects of human flight, as well as related works of art and archival materials?

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Website: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

19. Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil

The Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo is a museum of the visual arts with an emphasis on Brazilian art from the 19th century until today. It is housed in a 1900 building, in Jardim da Luz, that Ramos de Azevedo and Domiziano Rossi designed.

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Website: Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo

20. Inhotim, Brumadinho, Brazil

The Inhotim features one of the world’s largest open-air art collections, nestled within 271 acres of forests and botanical gardens. It gives visitors an unique opportunity to explore large-scale contemporary art while reconnecting with Mother Nature.

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Website: Inhotim

21. Museum of Qin Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses (Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor), Xi’an, China

Also known as the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, the Museum of Qin Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses is a collection of terra-cotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE and whose purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife.

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22. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand

The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand’s bold, innovative and interactive national museum. ‘Te Papa Tongarewa’ literally means ‘container of treasures’. It is where you can experience the whole of New Zealand’s land and people under one roof.

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Website: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

23. War Remnants Museum, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Once known as the Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes, the War Remnants Museum is consistently the most popular museum in Ho Chi Minh City with Western tourists. Many of the atrocities documented here were well publicised in the West, but rarely do Westerners have the opportunity to hear the victims tell their own stories.

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Website: War Remnants Museum

24. Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, Jerusalem, Israel

Another on the list is Yad Vashem, Israel’s official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It was established in 1953, on the green slopes of Har HaZikaron (the Mount of Remembrance) in Jerusalem. The memorial consists of a complex housing the Holocaust History Museum, and memorial sites such as the Children’s Memorial and the Hall of Remembrance. In addition, the Museum of Holocaust Art, sculptures, and outdoor commemorative site such as the Valley of the Communities are also found in the complex.

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Website: Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial

25. Gold Museum (Museo del Oro), Bogota, Colombia

Finally on the list is the Gold Museum. It invites you to discover the history of how gold and other metals were used by the pre-Hispanic societies who lived in the land today known as Colombia. It is also Bogota’s most famous museum and one of the most fascinating in all of South America. The Gold Museum has a collection of more than 55,000 pieces.

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Website: Gold Museum (Museo del Oro)