A museum is a kind of time machine. The oldest paintings, sculptures, installations, presented in each of them, connect us with bygone eras. This great cultural heritage cannot be overestimated, because it contains memory, the history of our ancestors, our planet. Everyone wants to touch something truly “great” and beautiful, so it is not surprising that so many people around the world visit museums. We present to you top 10 most popular museums in the world.
10. Vatican Museums
The Vatican Museums is a huge museum complex located on the territory of the miniature state of the Vatican. It was founded by Julius the Second at the beginning of the 16th century. His main pride is a rich collection of paintings and artifacts collected by the Roman Catholic Church over many centuries, as well as works of Renaissance art.
9. The Imperial Palace Museum, Taipei
The Imperial Palace Museum is located in Taipei, in the capital of the Republic of China. Perhaps this is the richest "treasury", which contains the most amazing works of art and artifacts belonging to more than 8 thousand years of Chinese civilization.
At the moment, the imperial museum stores more than 93 thousand paintings, precious items and monuments of Chinese calligraphy. His visiting card is jade cabbage, which was part of the dowry of the Qing dynasty.
8. London National Gallery
One of the largest galleries in the world. The museum is famous for its impressive collection of paintings by Western European artists from the twelfth to twentieth centuries. It would seem that two thousand paintings are incomprehensible to the mind! However, the London Gallery is so meticulously ordered that moving from room to room is like a time travel - each picture is arranged in chronological order.
7. Shanghai Museum of Science and Technology
The building of the Shanghai Museum itself is already an attraction. The huge glazed ball resembles an alien spaceship and immediately evokes associations with all the films about the alien invasion. Interactive exhibits form the basis of the concept of this museum.
The target audience of all training complexes are children, but adults are not bored there.
6. The British Museum, London
The British Museum is the largest and most popular in all of Great Britain. It was founded back in 1753. The total collection of the museum has more than eight million works, which makes it the most “comprehensive” in the world. The task of its existence is to reflect the entire history of the culture of Man from the very moment of its inception to the present day.
5. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of New York’s main attractions and is also considered one of the largest museums in the world. Its peculiarity is that the museum is financed not at the expense of the state, but at the expense of sponsors and donors.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art also has a specific entry system: you can enter the territory for absolutely any sum, even for one cent, or you can do it completely free just by asking for a ticket at the ticket office.
New York also has one of the most beautiful subways in the world.
4. National Museum of Natural History, Washington
The Washington Museum of Natural History is a huge complex of thematic museums. Even at the entrance to the museum, a person is immersed in an atmosphere of mystery and mystery. Subdued lighting plays a large role in this. Despite the fact that the building has several floors, this is often not enough: some exhibits are presented in tiny halls or in corridors.
Most of the exhibits are stuffed or skeletons of animals that have died out or are now existing. However, the highlight of the museum is the legendary Hope diamond - an incredibly deep blue gem with dimensions of almost 50 carats.
3. The Louvre Museum, Paris
Perhaps the Louvre is the most popular attraction in Paris after the Eiffel Tower. First of all, it is known as a museum, and only then - as an architectural monument that once served as a home to the French kings. The museum is divided into 8 sections, the most popular of them is Denon, which contains paintings by Italian artists, including Mona Lisa.
2. Museum of Aviation and Cosmonautics, Washington
The Smithsonian Institution is the largest aerospace museum in the world. It is divided into two buildings: one is located in the center of Washington, the second - not far from the International Airport. The bias in these two parts varies: the central museum has a missile and aviation theme, the museum at the airport has an aviation theme. In total, the museum has more than fifty thousand exhibits, including rockets, airplanes and other equipment. His first exhibits were Chinese kites.
1. National Museum of China
The National Museum of China is only 12 years old, but, nevertheless, in such a short time he has collected more than a million artifacts and works of art. It is visited by 7.5 million people annually, which makes it the leader of our ranking.
Its specificity lies in the fact that it is not popular with foreign tourists, but is the main goal of excursion groups from China itself. The museum building itself is a landmark, as it is one of the Ten Great Buildings, erected in honor of the 10th anniversary of the proclamation of the PRC.
The contribution of each museum to the cultural life of our civilization, whether it is a world-famous museum, such as the Louvre, or a small regional museum, is priceless. Each of them has great value, great opportunities and is an important social, tourist and infrastructure institution. But the most important thing is that the museum is a memory. A memory that must certainly be passed on to future generations.
