The allure of travel lies with cultural intrigue and the promise of 'something different'; a hunger that tin be partially satiated by the collections constitute in the largest museums in the world.

Taking y'all through the millennia that Earth has existed for, these incomparable galleries are an immense wealth of art, historical items and stories.

Every bit many of these museums date back to the 1800s, visitors tin expect a rich depth to its exhibitions.

You'll recognize some names that are both landmark and museum, such as Paris' iconic Louvre and the gala-hosting Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

So in this article we compiled the ten biggest museums in the world, ranked by area covered.

Allow's kickoff!

The Largest Museums in the World

Top 10 Largest Museums in the World by Size

Starting with the gigantic Louvre, here's a closer wait at the world's largest museums which many of them are also the all-time museums in the globe.

1. The Louvre Museum

Country: France | Gallery Space: 782,910 sq ft / 72,735 m2

La Pyramide du Louvre in Paris, is the largest museum in the world

The Louvre, located in Paris French republic, is the largest museum in the world as it covers a total area of 72,735 foursquare meters (782,910 foursquare feet) of galleries space, as big as 280 lawn tennis courts.

The Louvre is likewise the most visited museum in Paris and ane of the most visited museums in the globe.

This French museum is a familiar name and even more familiar sight in guide books and social media posts, oftentimes represented past its iconic glass pyramid. The Louvre museum and its building alone is one of the pinnacle reasons people travel to Paris.

The world'southward largest museum secured kickoff place on the most visited list with 10.2 million visitors in 2018, which is one of the factors that makes Paris in the summit 3 most visited cities in the world!

Before it became an art museum, the Louvre was originally a twelfth century fortress turned majestic residence in 1546. And as such the museum is a historical monument in its own right; remnants of medieval Louvre remain in the crypt to this mean solar day.

Its beginning exhibition primarily featured the regal family's collected paintings, which later expanded to the electric current 38 000 item roster. Covering prehistory to 21st century, the Louvre serves the singled-out galleries of Egyptian, Well-nigh Eastern, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities; Islamic Fine art, Sculpture, Decorative Arts and other mediums make the rest.

Of its near famous art pieces are the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo and Winged Victory of Samothrace.

To explore the art drove of the Louvre and detect the famous museum and its galleries from the comfort of your burrow you lot can get this fantastic book: The Louvre: All the Paintings (hundreds of five stars reviews on amazon) that is endorsed past the Louvre assistants themselves! It has the consummate collection, all the 3022 paintings on display in the permanent painting collection of the Louvre are presented in full color along with their stories.

2. State Hermitage Museum

Country: Russia | Gallery Space: 719,480 sq ft / 66,842 chiliad2

Winter Palace, State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg Russia

Conceived some decades before the Louvre, Saint Petersburg's State Hermitage Museum was too a royal project, and is today the second largest Museum in the world.

Having acquired a serial of paintings in mid-1700s, Empress Catherine the Great founded the museum which would later expand to a roster of 3 million items.

This massive collection spans a complex of six buildings along the Palace Embankment, including the stately Modest Hermitage, Old Hermitage, New Hermitage, Hermitage Theatre and previous tsar-occupied Winter Palace.

Begin with the prehistoric fly with artifacts that track all over the old Russian Empire. Move on from nomadic arts to the minor collection of Egyptian features, which leads into the Classical Antiquities exhibition. Granite columns and painted stucco take on the Greek-revival style to match the intricate 4th-century mosaics, aboriginal pottery, engraved jewelry and more handcrafted works. Halls dedicated to the Italian Renaissance, Western European arsenal, Dutch Aureate Age and Flemish Baroque are similarly grand. For finer details, telescopic out the German, Swiss, British and French fine art in the Winter Palace; Russian art gallery; and the sky-lit rooms of the Italian and Spanish fine art quarter.

iii. Madras Museum

Country: India | Gallery Space: 710,418 sq ft / 66,000 m2

Madras Museum, Chennai Government Museum, India

Characterized past a series of exquisite architectural facades and rounded construction of the attached Madras Museum Theatre, this 1851 museum complex was founded on the grounds of a British-built Pantheon.

The interior of the buildings are equally stunning, featuring stained glass windows and ornate woodwork, sculpted arches and stucco décor.

46 galleries are distributed across 66,000-square meters, theater space hosting complementary workshops and art lectures.

Cultural performances include Shakespearean plays and dramas.

Among the archaeological and numismatic collections are a diverse multifariousness of artifacts, bulk from the Roman Empire.

The galleries also display 2nd-century Buddhist sculptures and Hindu attributes, whereas the Anthropology Galleries rail South Indian history.

Those seeking more local taste can spend hours trawling the National Art Gallery or the Bronze Gallery, which delineates hundreds of bronze idols from k BC Asia.

Highlights include the Chola bronze sculpture of Ardhanarishvara, and Shiva as the dancing Nataraja.

4. National Museum of China

Country: Communist china | Gallery Space: 700,000 sq ft / 65,000 m2

National Museum Of China

The National Museum of Cathay is relatively new, having merged the separate entities of the Museum of the Chinese Revolution and the National Museum of Chinese History in 2003 – simply has already peaked equally the second-most visited museum in the world.

A clean, no-nonsense design that allows easy navigation, contempo renovations has besides tripled display space to 200,000-square meters.

China guards its historical treasures zealously, making this museum collection the unmarried exhibitory space for rare artifacts.

Delving deep into almost ii million years of history and sounding off at the terminal regal Qing Dynasty, the galleries express a latitude of fourth dimension that is nigh impossible to imagine!

Curiosity at jade burial suits, heavy ancient statuary-ware and gold-inlaid crafts work; Song ceramics and former currency is as well function of the story.

Stone reliefs, jade pillows, lacquer boxes and inscriptions reveal much of dated customs.

In contrast, The Road to Rejuvenation exhibition presents recent Chinese history that tracks the founding of the Communist Party and subsequent growth under its leadership.

v. Metropolitan Museum of Art

Land: United States | Gallery Infinite: 633,100 sq ft / 58,820 m2

Metropolitan Museum Of Art

Fondly called "the Met", you lot might have heard of the New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art via media bedlam of its yearly themed-gala. You may fifty-fifty have visited it.

But don't brush off its polished reputation every bit an gorging collector of all things fine art, amounting to over 2 one thousand thousand works.

The most visited museum in the US is a natural 'adjacent stop' later on a run through Central Park. You should dedicate at least an afternoon to its 17 departments.

Classic and ancient Egyptian artwork is displayed aslope European paintings and sculptures; in another gallery are objects from the Neolithic Menstruum up until the finish of Late Artifact.

Yous'll discover indigenous Australian rock paintings and formalism tribal objects from Africa, and Buddhist idols.

American and modern fine art is a historical lesson in 18th to 20th century fine art.

The museum is too home to an incomparable collection of Islamic art, including religious manuscripts and decorative elements.

What brand the Met really smooth however are its miscellaneous galleries of musical instruments, menstruation costumes and antique weaponry.

6. Vatican Museums

Land: State of the vatican city | Gallery Infinite: 460,000 sq ft / 43,000 grandtwo

Vatican Museums

The oldest museum series on the listing, the Vatican Museums was established in 1506 as the leading Christian fine art curator.

Rotating through 70,000 works of art that were amassed by popes, the buildings in question include the Pinacoteca Vaticana, Pio-Clementino Museum, Chiaramonti Museum, Gregoriano Etrusco Museum, Gregoriano Egiziano Museum and Vatican Historical Museum.

The Sistine Chapel located on the company route is another highlight, featuring a Michelangelo slice on its ceiling.

Some famous paintings featured are Raphael'south Madonna of Foligno, da Vinci's St. Jerome in the Wilderness and Entombment past Caravaggio.

Mod artists with religious works such every bit Chagall, Dali, Picasso and Gauguin are their own gallery, while the sculpture museums brandish Renaissance and Roman statues.

The Vatican Historical Museum on the other hand, departs from the usual fare to showcase portraits of the Popes since 16th century. Information technology too houses a collection of carriages and vehicles used by Popes and Cardinals.

vii. Tokyo National Museum

Country: Japan | Gallery Space: 410,000 sq ft / 38,000 10002

Tokyo National Museum

Tokyo National Museum takes over a large swathe of Ueno Park to become the largest art museum in Japan.

Welcoming an annual 2 one thousand thousand visitors, it caters with on-site restaurants, shops and outdoor exhibitions.

The themed galleries are hosted in different buildings, including the Honkan (Japanese Gallery), Toyokan (Asian Gallery) and one designated sole to concur relics from Nara's Horyu Temple.

Of the 110,000 artifacts, 87 are deemed National Treasures; they range from twelfth century mandalas to religious manuscripts. Yous'll find that the museum concentrates on Asian artworks that reverberate ancient and medieval culture, as well as art along the Silk Route.

Through the mediums of sculpture, lacquer-ware, ceramics and historical records, visitors will learn about the growth of Buddhism, art and cultural practices that have evolved over time.

8. National Museum of Anthropology

Country: Mexico | Gallery Infinite: 360,000 sq ft / 33,000 mtwo

National Museum Of Anthropology

Mexico's national museum has made it onto the list at 79,700-square meters, a monumental building designed by Vazquez, Campuzano and Alcerreca in 1964.

The cadre of the museum sparked when sculptures of Coatlicue and the Dominicus Stone were first displayed at the end of the 18th century, its stock growing exponentially despite the abiding relocations and renaming.

While the museum is considered by some to be controversial, information technology is also a solid source of anthropological artifacts that engagement dorsum to United mexican states's pre-Columbian times.

The 23 exhibit halls cover items from pre-Columbian civilizations, divided into geographic categories that include the Gulf of United mexican states, Toltec, Maya, Oaxaca, Mexico and more than.

Alongside the Aztec Sunstone are Olmec stone heads, Mayan treasures, the replica of Pacal's tomb lid and comparison models of by Aztec territory and its contemporary layout.

9. Victoria and Albert Museum

Country: Britain | Gallery Space: 330,000 sq ft / thirty,658 mii

Victoria And Albert Museum

Beginning conceived as an applied-art-and-scientific discipline Museum of Articles in 1852, Victoria and Albert Museum had undergone much iteration before its landing on its final class.

Located within the "Albertopolis" cluster of landmarks associated with Prince Albert, information technology saw 4 million visitors in 2018. With 2.27 million objects, 145 galleries and covering five,000 years of art history – the museum is nevertheless growing.

Look forrad to fine art from a global perspective, the mixed-media collection of ceramics, textiles, costumes, furniture, sculpture, prints and so forth edifice a comprehensive timeline of ancient civilizations to present day living.

Victoria and Albert Museum also own the largest holding of Italian Renaissance items and post-classical sculpture outside of Italy, while its East Asian galleries celebrate ceramics and metalwork well-nigh. There's no denying that its main draw comes from a wide-ranging variety of items.

10. National Museum of Korea

Country: South korea | Gallery Space: 291,600 sq ft / 27,090 chiliad2

The Exterior Of The National Museum Of Korea

Dissimilar other national museums that showcase works unrelated to its country's culture and history, the National Museum of Korea is everything Korea.

Exhibition center and cultural organization in one, it builds educational programs around the various exhibitions.

Having relocated in 2005, the sleek building centers six permanent galleries: (1) Prehistory and Ancient History Gallery, (2) Medieval and Early Modern History Gallery, (three) Donation Gallery, (four) Calligraphy and Painting Gallery, (five) Asian Fine art Gallery, and (6) Sculpture and Crafts Gallery.

The beginning floor is a timeline of Korea'southward growth, spanning from Palaeolithic artifacts to the Joseon period.

Highlights include ancient majestic ornaments, the Bangudae Petroglyphs and excavated items from Unfied Silla era. The outdoor garden too houses the national treasure of the Corking Bell of Bosingak. The second floor is defended to fine art both traditional and religious, also as pieces donated by private collectors. Sculptures, metalwork and more than crafts work are found on the third floor.

It besides hosts the Asian Arts Gallery which examines art along the Silk Road and how diverse cultures have intersected.

Tabular array of the Biggest Museums in the Earth

Ranking Museum Proper name Area Covered Location
1 The Louvre Museum 72,735 mtwo
782,910 sqft
Paris, France
ii State Hermitage Museum 66,842 thou2
719,480 sqft
Saint Petersburg, Russian federation
3 Madras Museum 66,000 m2
710,418 sqft
Chennai, India
4 National Museum of China 65,000 grandii
700,000 sqft
Beijing, Communist china
5 Metropolitan Museum of Fine art 58,820 yardii
633,100 sqft
New York, The states
6 Vatican Museums 43,000 yardii
460,000 sqft
Vatican Urban center, Italian republic
vii Tokyo National Museum 38,000 one thousand2
410,000 sqft
Tokyo, Japan
8 National Museum of Anthropology 33,000 thousandtwo
360,000 sqft
Mexico City, Mexico
nine Victoria and Albert Museum 30,658 thou2
330,000 sqft
London, Britain
10 National Museum of Korea 27,090 m2
291,600 sqft
Seoul, Republic of korea
Largest museums in the world past area

Wrapping Up

It goes without saying that the largest museums in the world aren't but known for their size, but for the depth of their collections and dual role as a historical landmark.

It is interesting to note how museums came to be across the globe.

In Europe, museums blossomed out of private collections of royals or religious powers to showcase wealth (monetary and religious); in other countries where museums are founded by modern governments, the focus is on inherent cultural richness and proof of historical lineage.

Allocate a full day to exploring these vast museums, perchance even castor up on the story backside each one.

Spare some fourth dimension examining the detail-work and pattern of these buildings likewise, and contemplate how they fit into the local historical trajectory.

If you feel overwhelmed by option, sign up for a guided tour! A bout guide can answer your questions and provide missing context.