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These Are the 40 Best Museums in the World

Whether you're a fine art addict or you adopt craft, these museums are certain to take your jiff away.

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Throughout the globe, museums and cultural institutions beckon people to explore new cultures and topics through their advisedly curated collections and transcending exhibitions. For those quick to dismiss the museum experience every bit tiresome, information technology's time to think again: Galleries in all corners of the earth, from Senegal to Japan, have mastered the art of creating engaging exhibits on art, history, and civilization that can change whatever naysayer's heed. Many of these museums are also known for their incredible restaurants and cafes.

Check out this comprehensive list of 40 of the best museums and galleries throughout the world with one-of-a-kind displays that brainwash and inspire. Whether yous're interested in discovering the ancient gems of Egypt or learning well-nigh post-impressionist works of Van Gogh, these incredible collections are well worth the (virtual) trip.

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Museum of Blackness Civilizations in Dakar, Senegal

Inaugurated in 2018, the Museum of Black Civilizations acts as a creative hub for Senegal—and the entire African continent—to celebrate their culture while detailing the struggle that Africans faced throughout history. The museum was the vision of the land's first president Léopold Sédar Senghor, who vowed to build an institution honoring African art and identity. While Senghor unfortunately passed earlier the museum opened, his legacy lives on in the curated art selections and hitting displays filling the galleries.

The opening of the cultural landmark also spurred a debate among the art world, with many scholars calling for museums throughout Europe to render thousands of artifacts looted from Africa during the colonial period.

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Museum of the Royal Tombs of Sipán in Chiclayo, Peru

In 1987, Peruvian archaeologist Walter Alva was called upon by police to investigate the Moche archaeological site at Sipán, where grave robbers had been annexation artifacts. When he began excavating the site, Alva soon found he was not unearthing a few pieces of jewelry and gilt, just rather, the tombs of the Lord of Sipán and fourteen other members of the Moche civilization.

The Museum of the Royal Tombs of Sipán was built to honour and brandish what has been considered ane of the most important archaeological discoveries in South America. Guests can ogle lavish jewels, imperial vessels, and other stunning artifacts of Peru's ancient community.

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Bangkok National Museum

The beginning national museum in Thailand, this Bangkok cultural splendor houses the country's most extensive collection of Thai artifacts and artwork. The museum'south structures can be traced back to 1782, when they served every bit the palace of Rama I'southward viceroy, Prince Wang Na.

Nearly 100 years afterward, the grounds were transformed into a museum with three differently themed galleries: a Thai History Gallery, an Archaeological and Art History collection, and a Decorative Arts and Ethnological Drove. In addition to the main collections, guests can discover ane of the nigh revered images of Buddha, Phra Phuttha Sihing, in the Bhuddhaisawan Chapel.

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The National Art Center in Tokyo

You never quite know what awe-striking sculpture or Japanese masterpiece you'll find at this impressive institution. The National Art Heart prides itself in being an "empty museum," constantly ushering new exhibitions and collections spread across it's concrete-and-drinking glass structure designed by Kisho Kurokawa.

Established in 2007, the quirky museum quickly grew in popularity and became a must-run into attraction in Tokyo, boasting roughly 2 1000000 visitors each yr. Past exhibitions cover a broad range of topics from the Impressionist works of Claude Monet and the touch of anime on Japanese culture to the history of Cartier.

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National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.

The merely national museum devoted to the documentation of the African American experience, this Smithsonian institution was inaugurated in 2016. However, the thought of the museum was kickoff proposed more than a hundred years before in 1915 past Black veterans of the Civil War. The initial proposal called for a monument to be erected in the honor of Black soldiers and sailors in the nation'south upper-case letter, but debates over funding and site locations kept pushing the project back.

It wasn't until 2003 when an Act of Congress established the establishment and construction plans began. Today, the National Museum of African American History and Culture houses more 40,000 objects dedicated to African American life, history, and culture.

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Zeitz Museum of Gimmicky Fine art Africa in Cape Town

With the help of design firm Heatherwick Studio, the in one case-magnolia-yellow, century-onetime grain silo complex in the heart of Greatcoat Town transformed into a 100-gallery museum of 21st-century art from Africa and its diaspora. Zeitz MOCAA hosts international events and exhibitions to provide an intercultural look into the world of African art. Works from revolutionary artists such as Kudzanai Chiurai of Zimbabwe and Wangechi Mutu of Kenya decorate the nine floors of the museum.

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National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa

When the National Gallery of Canada was established in 1880, the first exhibition primarily consisted of 19th-century works at the celebrated Clarendon Hotel in Ottawa. Over 140 years later, a 30-foot bronze spider called the Maman greets visitors at the gallery'due south new habitation designed by architect Moshe Safdie.

The national fine art museum now houses 75,000 works of art ranging from Canadian and Indigenous pieces to the neoclassicist painting The Decease of General Wolfe by Benjamin Westward.

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Tate Modern in London

The nascency of Tate Modern began in 1889 when Henry Tate, a British industrialist, donated his collection of British 19th-century art and provided funding for the first Tate Gallery. A century subsequently, the Tate Trustees appear the development of an international mod and gimmicky art gallery.

Located within the former Bankside Power Station, the gallery showcases groundbreaking works including Marilyn Diptych by Andy Warhol and Nude Woman with Necklace by Pablo Picasso.

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The Metropolitan Museum of Fine art in New York Urban center

The beginnings of the Metropolitan Museum of Fine art date back every bit far as 1866 in Paris, France, where a group of Americans discussed the need to bring art education to the public. On April 13, 1870, the Met opened within the historic Dodworth Building earlier moving to its permanent location on Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street in 1880.

The museum presents over 5,000 years of artwork, including Islamic art dating back to the seventh century and the well-known Edgar Degas' painting The Dance Course.

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Mauritshuis in The Hague, Netherlands

Known equally the Imperial Picture Gallery of kingdom of the netherlands, Mauritshuis houses a rare collection of Golden Age paintings from endless Dutch and Flemish artisans. In 1816, King William I offered the collections in one case owned by his father, stadtholder Prince William Five, to the Dutch state, establishing the first national gallery in The Hague. The Mauritshuis'due south 841 works of art include Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring and Carel Fabritius' The Goldfinch.

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The National Palace Museum in Taipei

The National Palace Museum originally began as the onetime Palace Museum in the Forbidden Urban center, whose collection included artwork from the Ming and Qing dynasties. The permanent collection features nearly 700,000 pieces of imperial artifacts and encompasses viii,000 years of Chinese history including calligraphic works by Tang Yin. The National Palace Museum compound also includes the classic Chinese Song- and Ming-style Zhishan Garden.

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The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo

Ane of the largest museums in North Africa, the Egyptian Museum houses near 120,000 ancient Egyptian artifacts and the world'south largest collection of Pharaonic antiquities. The museum was commissioned in 1835 past the Egyptian government in hopes to stop the looting of many archeological and historic sites. Visitors can come face-to-face with the gold mask of Tutankhamun, which is composed of 11 kilograms of solid gold.

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Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna

Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-hungary deputed the Kunsthistorisches Museum around 1891 as a identify to brandish the terrific art drove from the House of Hapsburgs, which is the all the same the museum's chief drove. Housed within the palatial edifice on Ringstraße, the museum'due south works includes Madonna del Prato past Raphael and Diego Velázquez's well-known portrait Infanta Margarita Teresa in a Blue Dress.

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Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico

Inaugurated in 2000, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico'due south mission is to promote visual arts from Puerto Rico and around the globe to a diverse audience. The museum's primary and expansive collection of Puerto Rican fine art ranges from the 16th century to the present. The museum includes pieces such as Chula (Girl in typical Madrid Costume) by José Cuchy y Arnau and the 18th-century piece of work The Daughters of Governor Ramón de Castro past José Campeche.

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The San Francisco Museum of Mod Fine art

The starting time museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century fine art since 1935, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art boasts an impressive seven floors of galleries with over 33,000 works and a wall seeded with thousands of plants. SFMoMA holds some of the most internationally recognizable mod fine art pieces including Henri Matisse's Adult female with a Hat and Marcel Duchamp'south provocative Fountain.

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Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City

The largest and most visited museum in Mexico, Museo Nacional de Antropología specializes in the history of the state's pre-Columbian heritage through archaeological artifacts. Architect Pedro Ramírez Vázquez paid tribute to the indigenous legacy of Mexico past edifice the museum in the Chapultepec Forest, emphasizing a natural human relationship with the environment. The 600,000-slice collection includes the Aztec Stone of Sun and the Xochipilli statue.

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Musée D'Orsay in Paris

The Musée D'Orsay, one time a railway station, houses an internationally renowned collection of Impressionist art and other Western pieces from 1848 and 1914. Builder Victor Laloux built the original magnificent structure in 1900 to welcome visitors to the World's Fair. Afterwards its closure in 1939, the Beaux-Arts station remained in a state of disuse until President Valery Giscard authorized renovations on the historic building in the late 1970s.

Inaugurated in 1986, the white limestone walls are at present home to some of the most notable artworks in France, like sculptures past Auguste Rodin and paintings by Paul Gauguin.

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The Art Plant of Chicago

The Art Establish of Chicago has over 300,000 works of art for visitors to view across the original building and the Modernistic Wing designed past Renzo Piano. After the Great Fire of 1871, Chicago leaders were devoted to rebuilding and growing the urban center, which included opening a museum and school for the fine arts.

The Art Constitute found its permanent home at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Adams Street in 1893 with two statuary lions mark the front entrance of the museum. Gustave Caillebotte'due south Paris Street; Rainy Day and Grant Forest's American Gothic are amongst the Institute's massive drove.

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Museo Larco in Lima

Located in the Pueblo Libre District of Lima, Museo Larco specializes in pre-Columbian art, spanning over five,000 years of Peruvian history. Established by Rafael Larco Hoyle in 1926 after acquiring 45,000 artifacts and vessels, the institution is currently housed in an 18th-century vice-majestic building. Amid the museum'due south permanent drove, the Aureate and Silver Gallery displays the largest collection of pre-Columbian jewelry, which was frequently worn by notable rulers during that time.

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The Museum of Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses in Xi'an, Prc

The ancient Chinese funerary art of terra-cotta sculptures at this mausoleum and museum depicts the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of Cathay. The terra-cotta army, dating back to the belatedly third century, was discovered by local farmers in 1974 simply exterior of Xi'an City. It's estimated that the three pits within the mausoleum contains more than eight,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses. Inside the aforementioned site, visitors can as well enjoy the Museum of Terracotta Acrobatics, Museum of Terracotta Civil Officials, Museum of Stone Armor and Museum of Bronze Chariot and Horse.

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The Musée du Louvre in Paris

The Musée du Louvre has way more to offer than just Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lis a. Male monarch Philip II ordered the construction of a fortress in 1190 to protect Paris. During the 16th century, the Louvre served as a royal palace for the monarchy until Male monarch Louis 14 moved the royal residence to Versailles. The National Associates opened the Louvre equally a museum in 1793, starting its legacy every bit the earth'due south largest fine art museum. The Winged Victory of Samothrace and Psyche Revived by Cupid's Buss are just a few of the nearly 380,000 works of art within the Louvre.

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State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg

The State Hermitage Museum has roots dating back to 1764, after Catherine the Swell wanted a private gallery within the Winter Palace to display her conquering of 225 paintings by Flemish and Dutch artists. Today, the Hermitage Museum houses more than a one thousand thousand works of art and consists of five buildings—the Winter Palace, Large Hermitage, Small Hermitage, New Hermitage, and Theatre of Catherine the Great. The art and civilisation museum is home to a number of pieces by Dutch painter Rembrandt as well as an extensive collection of Japanese porcelain.

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Museo Nacional Del Prado in Madrid

Designed by famed architect Juan de Villanueva, the Museo Nacional Del Prado serves as Spain's national museum, showcasing endless Castilian artists like Diego Velázquez and Francisco Goya. King Charles Iii ordered the construction of the Prado in 1785 to firm the Natural History Cabinet.

Male monarch Ferdinand VII later on designated the edifice as the new dwelling of the Kingdom of spain's most valuable paintings and sculptures in November of 1819. The Prado appear in 2016 that British builder Norman Foster and Carlos Rubio Carvajal will renovate the Hall of Realms, formerly a role of the Buen Retiro palace, as a $32 million extension to the museum.

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The National Gallery in London

Located on the north side of Trafalgar Foursquare, the National Gallery houses the national collection of Western European paintings from the 13th to the 19th centuries. Opened in 1838, parliament felt that Trafalgar Square would be the perfect location for a costless museum for its fundamental location, making it possible for people of all classes of society to easily access the paintings. The permanent drove includes The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan Van Eyck and The Great Bathers by Paul Cézanne.

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Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam

Formerly known as Nationale Kunstgalerij, Rijksmuseum first opened its doors on May 31, 1800, with more than 200 paintings and historical objects on display. Soon after taking the throne, King Louis Napoleon ordered that the collections be moved to the new capital of the Kingdom of Holland, Amsterdam, where information technology remains today.

The collection consists of i million objects dedicated to art and history with the museum's start purchase, The Swan by Jan Asselijn, remaining one of Rijksmuseum's most renowned pieces.

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The Vasa Museum in Stockholm

Lath this recovered 17th-century Swedish ship for the ultimate trip downwards Scandinavian retentivity lane at the Vasa Museum. Gustav Ii Adolf lead the construction of new Swedish navy ships around 1618 including the Vasa, named later on the Vasa Dynasty. The ship was regarded as 1 of the nigh powerful warships in the Baltic until it ultimately sunk in August of 1628. Every bit a part of the museum today, the recovered ship is now embellished with hundreds of wooden sculptures.

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The Acropolis Museum in Athens

The highly curated exhibits of the Acropolis Museum focuses on the archaeological findings in the Acropolis of Athens betwixt the Greek Bronze Age and Byzantine era. Located in the historic area of Makriyianni, the museum was founded in 1976 and houses nearly 4,000 sculptures and antiquities.

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The British Museum in London

The first national museum in the world, the British Museum was established by parliament when physician Sir Hans Sloane passed on 71,000 items to Male monarch George 2 for the nation after his decease in 1753. Sir Robert Smirke designed the museum'south current Greek Revival-way building, including the famous copper-domed Reading Room. The museum also is the current holder of the archetype Elgin Marbles and the Rosetta Stone.

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The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam

Touted every bit 1 of the most influential Dutch painters of all time, Vincent van Gogh produced nearly 900 paintings and more than one,100 works on newspaper during his lifetime. The two buildings of the Vincent van Gogh Museum were designed past Gerrit Rietveld in 1973 with the core of the collection coming from Theo van Gogh, Vincent's younger blood brother. Forth with his own artwork like Sunflowers, the gallery also includes work by those van Gogh influenced.

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Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence

The Grand Duke of Tuscany established the Galleria dell'Accademia in the 18th-century every bit a educational activity facility for students of the University of Fine Arts. Michelangelo's David joined the museum in 1873 from Piazza della Signoria, becoming the museum's must-see attraction. The Academia Gallery also showcases a drove of antic musical instruments.

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