List of largest museums

Museums hold large collections of items relating to their subject, building some of the largest complexes in the world in order to store and exhibit the collection in a controlled environment. The world's most preeminent museums have also engaged in various expansion projects through the years, expanding their total exhibition space.[1]

List

The following is a list of museums ranked according to their floor area where published by reliable sources. Only museums with more than 20,000 square meters (220,000 sq ft) of floor space are included. Entries are not ranked as large museums that do not have reliably-sourced statistics may be omitted; this is not necessarily a complete list.

BuildingNameYear
established
SubjectFloor areaExhibition spaceCollectionCityCountry
Louvre1792Art, architecture, history758,000 m2
(8,160,000 sq ft)[2]
72,735 m2
(782,910 sq ft)[3]
More than 380,000 (35,000 on display)[4]Paris  France
State Hermitage Museum1764Art233,345 m2
(2,511,700 sq ft)[5]
66,842 m2
(719,480 sq ft)[5]
3,150,428[5]Saint Petersburg  Russia
British Museum1753Archaeology and art92,000 m2
(990,000 sq ft)[6]
65,752 m2
(707,750 sq ft)[6]
More than 8,000,000 (largest in the world)London  United Kingdom
National Museum of China1959Archaeology and art191,900 m2
(2,066,000 sq ft)[7][8]
65,000 m2
(700,000 sq ft)[9]
More than 1.4 million[10]Beijing  China
Grand Egyptian Museum2021 (projected)Archaeology81,000 m2
(870,000 sq ft)[11]
38,000 m2
(410,000 sq ft)[11]
over 100,000 artifactsGiza  Egypt
Museum of Science and Industry1933Science and technology37,000 m2
(400,000 sq ft)[12]
more than 35,000Chicago  United States
Minneapolis Institute of Art1883Art50,600 m2
(545,000 sq ft)[13]
32,000 m2
(340,000 sq ft)[14]
More than 100,000[15]Minneapolis  United States
National Museum of Natural History1910Natural history123,000 m2
(1,320,000 sq ft)[16]
30,200 m2
(325,000 sq ft)[16]
(Artifacts not samples)Washington, D.C.  United States
Victoria and Albert Museum1852Art30,000 m2
(320,000 sq ft)[17]
2,278,183 (60,124 on display)[18]London  United Kingdom
Metropolitan Museum of Art1870Art190,000 m2
(2,000,000 sq ft)[19]
New York City  United States
Palace Museum1925Archaeology and art150,000 m2
(1,600,000 sq ft)[20][21]
1,862,690[21][22]Beijing  China
National Museum of Korea1909Archaeology and art138,156.26 m2
(1,487,101.6 sq ft)[23]
Seoul  South Korea
National Gallery of Art1937Art120,000 m2
(1,300,000 sq ft)[24]
25,200 m2
(271,000 sq ft)[25]
More than 150,000[26]Washington, D.C.  United States
Art Institute of Chicago1879Art93,000 m2
(1,000,000 sq ft)[27][28]
Almost 300,000[29]Chicago  United States
Israel Museum1965Art80,000 m2
(860,000 sq ft)[30]
19,000 m2
(200,000 sq ft)[31]
Jerusalem  Israel
National Museum of American History1964History70,000 m2
(750,000 sq ft)[32]
More than 1.8 million[32]Washington, D.C.  United States
Museum of Modern Art1929Art65,800 m2
(708,000 sq ft)[33]
15,400 m2
(166,000 sq ft)[34]
Almost 200,000[35]New York City  United States
National Gallery Singapore2015Art64,000 m2
(690,000 sq ft)[36]
More than 9,000[37]Singapore  Singapore
National Air and Space Museum1946Aerospace63,800 m2
(687,000 sq ft)[38]
14,970.9 m2
(161,145 sq ft)[39][40]
More than 60,000[41]Washington, D.C.  United States
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston1870Art57,315.3 m2
(616,937 sq ft)[42][43]
20,556.4 m2
(221,267 sq ft)[43]
Almost 500,000[44]Boston  United States
MASS MoCA1999Art56,000 m2
(600,000 sq ft)[45]
23,000 m2
(250,000 sq ft)[46]
No permanent collectionNorth Adams  United States
National Gallery1824Archaeology and art46,396 m2
(499,400 sq ft)[47]
London  United Kingdom
Three Gorges Museum2005Archaeology and art45,098 m2
(485,430 sq ft)[48]
23,225 m2
(249,990 sq ft)[48]
Chongqing  China
Vatican Museums1506Art42,000 m2
(450,000 sq ft)[49][50]
Vatican City  Vatican City
National Museum of Anthropology1825Archaeology600,000[51]Mexico City  Mexico
Shandong Art Museum1977ArtJinan  China
Birmingham Museum of Art1951Art17,000 m2
(180,000 sq ft)[52]
27,000[52]Birmingham  United States
Arsenal (Biennale)1895ArtVenice  Italy
Musée National d'Art Moderne1947ArtParis  France
Musée d'Orsay1986ArtParis  France
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art1935ArtSan Francisco  United States
Museo del Prado1819ArtMadrid  Spain
Denver Art Museum1918ArtDenver  United States
Egyptian Museum1902ArchaeologyCairo  Egypt
Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo1951ArtSão Paulo  Brazil
Dia Beacon2003ArtBeacon  United States
Dallas Museum of Art1903ArtDallas  United States
Museo Reina Sofía1992ArtMadrid  Spain
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art1969ArtGwacheon  South Korea
Detroit Institute of Arts1885ArtDetroit  United States
Tokyo National Art Center2007ArtTokyo  Japan
National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts1988ArtTaichung  Taiwan
National Gallery Prague (Veletržní)1796ArtPrague  Czech Republic
Indianapolis Museum of Art1883ArtIndianapolis  United States
Bavarian National Museum1855ArtMunich  Germany
Capital Museum1981Archaeology and artBeijing  China
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts1860ArtMontreal  Canada
National Gallery of Victoria (St Kilda Road)1861ArtMelbourne  Australia
Palais de Tokyo2001ArtParis  France
Salar Jung Museum1855ArtHyderabad  India
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts1934ArtRichmond  United States
Tate Modern2000ArtLondon  United Kingdom
Cleveland Museum of Art1913ArtCleveland  United States
National Gallery of Canada1880ArtOttawa  Canada
Art Gallery of Ontario1900ArtToronto  Canada
Hamburger Kunsthalle1869ArtHamburg  Germany
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen1849ArtRotterdam  Netherlands
Houston Museum of Fine Arts1900Art27,870 m2
(300,000 sq ft)
~70,000Houston  United States
National Gallery of Modern Art1954ArtNew Delhi  India
Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille1809ArtLille  France
Pinakothek der Moderne2002ArtMunich  Germany
Rijksmuseum1800ArtAmsterdam  Netherlands
Tretyakov Gallery (Krymsky Val)1985ArtMoscow  Russia
MUDAM2006Art10,500 m2
(113,000 sq ft)[53]
Luxembourg City  Luxembourg

See also

Notes

References