List of The Top 20 Museums to Visit in Europe!

Very often people ask me which are the best museums I have seen around the world, and which ones they cannot miss in each city. In every article I write about a destination I always try to include my suggestions for each city. Hence, I thought it would be useful and interesting to create several lists, and I’d like to start with the one of the best museums in Europe!

A brief introduction

After living abroad for over a decade and traveling all over the globe to see art, I can surely say that Europe still has the higher concentration of important museums, art institutions and art collections in the world. Don’t get me wrong, in the US there are loads of incredible ones too. In Asia, Africa and South America we see nowadays fantastic and flourish art scenes. However Europe kept its unique charm, due also to the historical background and its incredible heritage. For this reason, my first list of the “20 Top Museums” will be European, with a selection of the best museums (among many!) that I visited and I would recommend to visit while you travel around Europe!

Criteria

I have included in this list the best museums in Europe that show a wide collections of artworks and not museums or foundations dedicated to one specific artist (like the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, or the Miro Foundation in Barcelona) as I will dedicate another article to those.

The list is not a rank, as I feel all of these museums are worth a visit! 🙂

#1. Tate Modern – London, United Kingdom

Located in heart of the British capital, the Tate Modern one of the biggest museums of modern and contemporary art in the world, and one of the in my opinion! It is part of the ‘Tate Group’ together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, Tate St. Ives and Tate Online. The entrance is free for the permanent collection, but you need a ticket for the major temporary exhibitions.

Click here to visit the official website

#2. Louvre – Paris

The Louvre Museum is the largest art museum in the world and an historic monument in Paris. Also, it is the N.1 most visited museum in the world with 7.4 million people visitors in 2016!

Its main entrance is the iconic glass Pyramid completed in 1989, designed by the famous architect I.M. Pei, and commissioned by the President of France F. Mitterrand in 1984.

Click here to visit the official website

#3. Uffizi Gallery – Florence, Italy

The “Galleria degli Uffizi” is one of the most famous museums in the world, due to the rich amount of unique masterpieces conserved within its walls. The majority of the artworks are from the Renaissance period, but you can see pieces from 12th to 17th century.

Some incredible ones by Giotto, Raffaello, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, just to name a few artists. A place to visit at least once in a lifetime!

Click here to visit the official website

#4. Rijksmuseum Museum – Amsterdam, Netherlands

The Rijksmuseum is the Dutch national museum (‘rijks’ means ‘national’) dedicated to arts and history in Amsterdam, which has a fantastic collection that cannot be missed. You will have the chance to see breathtaking paintings by Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Vermeer and many more.

Click here to visit the official website

To read my full article about Amsterdam, please click HERE 🙂

#5. British Museum – London, United Kingdom

Established in 1753,  the British Museum is a public institution in London dedicated to human history/art/culture, exhibiting over 8 million works!

It is the most comprehensive in existence from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present.

Click here to visit the official website

#6. Musée d’Orsay – Paris, France

The Musée d’Orsay in Paris shows the largest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces in the world. You can admire paintings by Monet, Renoir, Manet, Degas, Seurat, and Gauguin, just to mention a few names! Definitely a must visit!

Click here to visit the official website

#7. National Gallery – London, United Kingdom

Founded in 1824, the National Gallery in London houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings from 13th century to 1900. Just to give you an idea, there are works by Botticelli, El Greco, Titian, Tintoretto, Rembrandt, and so on!

A truly magnificent and stunning art collection that cannot be missed!

Click here to visit the official website

#8. Museo Nacional del Prado – Madrid, Spain

Del Prado Museum is the biggest museum of art in Spain and it is widely considered to have one of the world’s finest collections of European art. Founded in 1819, its collection contains masterpieces made by Goya, Titian, Velazquez, Bosch and many more.

Click here to visit the official website

#9. Berardo Museum – Lisbon, Portugal

The Berardo Museum was opened in 2007 in Lisbon. It has a significant collection modern and contemporary art, which includes works by Pollock, de Kooning, Calder, Flevin, Soulages and many more.

If you are in Lisbon, you have to visit it! It is located in Belem area.

Click here to visit the official website

#10. Peggy Guggenheim Collection – Venice, Italy

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice is housed in the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, the building that has been home of the American heiress for three decades.

After her death in 1979, the collection is open to the public all year long.

This extraordinary collection includes artworks made by Pollock, Mirò, Braque, Kandinsky, Giacometti, Klee, and many more! Surely a must when you visit Venice!

Click here to visit the official website

#11. Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art – Oslo, Norway

This museum was opened in 1993 in Oslo, and it is privately owned. Since 2012, it is located in 2 beautiful buildings designed by superstar architect Renzo Piano.

It has a significant collection of contemporary artworks made by Hirst, Prince, Barney, Sherman, Serra, Gilbert&George and many more!

Click here to visit the official website

#12.Reina Sofia – Madrid, Spain

The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is Spain’s national museum of 20th-century art. The museum was officially inaugurated in 1992, this museum is manly dedicated to Spanish artists, like Picasso and Dali’.

The most famous piece of the collection is surely Picasso’s ‘Guernica’.

Click here to visit the official website

#13. Ludwig Museum – Cologne, Germany

Opened in 1976 in the heart of Cologne, the Ludwig Museum is an independent institution that shows a wide collection of modern and contemporary art. It features works by Warhol, Lichtenstein, Picasso, Chagall, and many more.

Click here to visit the official website

#14. MAH- Geneva, Switzerland

This is the Museum of Art and History and the largest in Geneva. The collections shows magnificent artworks by Cezanne, Modigliani, Rembrandt, and sculptures by Rodin, just to mention a few names.

It also has a collection of Byzantine art, icons, weapons from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, silverware and tinware, musical instruments and textiles.

Click here to visit the official website

#15.Rosengart Collection – Lucerne, Switzerland

Thanks to the generous gift of founder Angela Rosengart, hundreds of masterpieces of Classic Modernist and Impressionist art are now accessible to the public in the Rosengart Collection Lucerne. Previously, these works had adorned the private rooms of the Rosengart family.

You can admire artworks by Picasso, Chagall, Klee, Miro’, Cezanne, Braque, Kandinsky and many more. A true gem in Switzerland!

Click here to visit the official website

#16. Vatican Museums – Vatican City

The Vatican Museums display an immense collection of artworks amassed by Popes throughout the centuries, especially some of the most important masterpieces from the Renaissance.

The Sistine Chapel, with its ceiling decorated by Michelangelo and the Stanze di Raffaello decorated by Raphael, are on the visitor route through the Vatican Museums. In 2013, they were visited by 6 million people, which combined makes it the 6th most visited art museum in the world.

Click here to visit the official website

#17. Acropolis Museum – Athens, Greece

Located in the heart of Athens, this museum was opened in 2009 focused on the findings of the archaeological site of the Acropolis of Athens. It shows over 4,000 archeological objects from the Greek Bronze Age to Roman and Byzantine Greece.

Click here to visit the official website

 #18. MAXXI – Rome, Italy

Opened in 2010 and designed by superstar architect Zaha Hadid, the MAXXI Museum in Rome is a national museum dedicated to contemporary art and architecture.

It has a noticeable collection of artworks, made by artists like Boetti, Cattelan, Gilbert&George, Richter, Kapoor and so on.

If you are visiting the Italian capital, click here to get all info!

#19. Egyptian Museum – Turin, Italy

The “Museo Egizio” in Turin has one of the biggest collections of Egyptian Archeology in the world, with over 30,000 artifacts. It is entirely dedicated to the Ancient Egypt like the on in Cairo, Egypt.

A truly incredible experience if you would like to learn more about the history of pharaohs and mummies, and everything related to the Ancient Egypt!

Click here to visit the official website

#20. MACBA – Barcelona, Spain

Opened i n 1995, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona has a collection of over 5,000 artworks from mid-20th century onward. It has also several major temporary exhibition throughout the year. A must visit when you are in Barcelona!

Click here to visit the official website

 

Hope this list will inspire you to visit many museums in Europe!

And you… are you lusting for the sublime?

Always,

Carlotta

Comments: