The world’s best museums are places where people can explore objects of great artistic, historical, and scientific value. They can also be a resource of information and knowledge about our history and cultural diversity. Museums are a great place to visit while on vacation and can spark children’s interest in various topics, from historical art pieces to space exploration! Some of the best museums are scattered across the globe, but this guide will help you choose the ones to include on your next vacation.
The World’s Best Museums
Table of Contents
National Museum, India
The National Museum is one of India’s largest museums and also one of the world’s best museums. The museum was built in 1949 in the beautiful city of Delhi and holds various articles from ancient eras. It’s one of the world’s best museums to visit as it has a variety of collections, including jewelry, paintings, armors, manuscripts, and ancient art. There is also a Buddhist section. One can find the head of a Buddha statue and Buddha Stupa. The relics of Gautam Buddha were constructed in the 3rd century BCE by Ashoka the Great (Indian Emperor).
Interesting Fact: National Museum was built across two buildings, which includes the newly built five-story museum building and the current Gulshan Mahal, which is almost 100 years old.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art – New York City
The iconic Met is the largest museum in the U.S. Its vast collection includes an Egyptian temple, Greek and Roman sculptures, Nigerian ivory masks, and Renaissance paintings. This Met should be on everyone’s list, as it houses more than two million artifacts. The Met also designs exclusive exhibitions, bringing treasures from around the globe to the big apple.
The museum’s collections include about 5,000 instruments, and one of them is the world’s oldest surviving piano. The antique instrument dated back to 1720 and was created by an Italian man, Bartolomeo Cristofori, credited with inventing the piano. This is one of the world’s best museums to explore.
Interesting Fact: The MET has a residential Dutch florist artist named Remco van Vliet whose magnificent floral designs can reach up to 10 to 12 feet high.
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Patan Museum, Nepal
The Patan Museum located in Nepal is home to Buddhist and Hindu architecture and religious crafts. Located in Nepal’s old royal palace at Patan Durbar Square, it has been called the best museum in South Asia. Its whole interior has been exquisitely restored with the help of Austrian funding, making the museum a beautiful place to wander with the entire family. The Patan Museum is one of the world’s best museums to explore and one of the most scenic. The Patan Museum has fascinating displays of the architecture of the Kathmandu Valley.
The Louvre, Paris
The Louvre is the world’s largest and most visited museum. In 2018, the iconic pyramid had 10.1 million visitors. This museum has a large, multi-level maze of galleries, passageways, staircases, and escalators. Famous for all of its world-renowned art. The Mona Lisa is Louvre’s most iconic painting in the world. The Louvre has a collection of masterpieces added from one century to another.
Nearly 35,000 works of art and artifacts are on display, split into eight departments, and showcased across three wings. The main draw is the paintings and sculptures.
Check the Carrousel du Louvre website to see which galleries are closed on specific days to avoid missing out. This is definitely the world’s best museum to explore and enjoy thoroughly!
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Taxila Museum, Pakistan
The Taxila Museum houses a large collection of Gandharan art dating back from the 1st to the 7th centuries CE. Several artifacts in the collection were excavated from the ruins of ancient Taxila. The construction of the Taxila Museum started in 1918 and ended in 1928.
Thousands of objects are showcased, such as stone, terracotta, silver, gold, and iron. Most of the display consists of objects from the period 600 B.C to 500 AD. The Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain religions are represented through objects uncovered from three ancient cities and over two dozen Buddhist stupas, monasteries, and Greek temples. Taxila is the world’s best museum to visit with family.
Interesting Fact: Approximately 7,000 artifacts and antiques are on display inside the museum’s halls, showing the culture, history, and achievements of people from ancient history.
Dubai Museum, Dubai
The Dubai Museum will take you back 3,000 years to tell you the story of the small fishing village that the city originally was. The building is divided into areas like desert, mountain, and coastal, and showcases precious drawings of 17th century architecture, weapons, pottery, bamboo houses of the ancient Bedouins, and displays from the 1950s marketplaces. The museum converts ancient history into a 3-D visual treat, making it one of the world’s best museums. The building housing the museum has an enthralling history. The Al Fahidi Fort, built in 1787, was the monarch’s house and was used as a prison.
Interesting Fact: One of the museum’s most intriguing sections is its galleries that provide a thorough introduction to the traditional lifestyle of Dubai through its series of life-size dioramas illustrating ancient Arab houses, mosques, date farms, souks, and desert life, amongst many others.
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Hakone Open Air Museum, Kanagawa Japan
The Hakone Open-Air Museum is an outdoor sculpture park that is located in the mountains of Hakone. It spreads across 70,000 square meters and has stunning views of the mountains. This museum opened in 1969 and was the first of its kind in Japan. The open-air museum is the best place to go for a walk surrounded by nature while admiring magnificent art. It’s a popular spot for Instagram shots and one of the world’s best museums for spectacular visuals.
Interesting Fact: The defining feature of the Hakone Open-Air Museum is the variety of 120 sculptures spread across the grounds and many of these sculptures are made in Japan and overseas. This museum welcomes you to get up close to understand what each piece is trying to convey.
Egyptian Antiquities Museum, Cairo
The museum houses over 100,000 antiques, making this the best museum in Egypt. Many artifacts shown at this museum are two hundred years old. Your family can spend a whole day at this large museum. The first floor showcases old coins, metal artifacts, and papyrus exhibits. The second floor has excavations made in the Valley of Kings and some great pieces of work, like Tutankhamun’s funerary mask. Several exhibitions are made of pure gold and studded with valuable gems and stones. This is one of the most fascinating and definitely the world’s best museums to visit if you love mummies!
Interesting Fact: The museum has a hall called the “hall of royal mummies” because inside of it lies a total of 11 mummies of Egyptian kings and queens.
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Bangkok National Museum
The Bangkok National Museum is many different buildings filled with art, furniture, royal barges, and more, all originating from the many other kingdoms of Thailand’s history. This museum is full of Thai artifacts from the Buddha footprint from the Sukhothai Period to King Pinklao’s bedroom furniture. This museum is separated into sections, with buildings for the Thai past, handicrafts, archaeology, and much more. Bangkok National Museum was officially declared a museum in 1934 and had been wowing guests ever since.
Insider Tip: Visitors can take guided tours with English, French, Japanese, and German-speaking guides on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Terracotta Army Museum — Tomb of the First Emperor, China
The Terracotta Army is the world’s largest ancient imperial tomb, Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum. Approximately 8,000 different life-size statues have been uncovered, making this the largest find of its kind. The statues are 175–190 cm tall. Every statue varies in gestures and facial expressions, some even with color showing. No figure is the same, and every statue is different in its own unique way. This reveals a lot about the Qin Empire’s technology, arts, culture, and military. Terracotta Army Museum was just a tiny part of the mausoleum of the Qin Dynasty’s first emperor. His mausoleum was well known for its grand size.
Interesting Fact: This is one of China’s most famous attractions and consistently ranks high in foreign tourists’ appreciation. This attraction makes this one of the world’s best museums.
The world’s best museums are now at your fingertips in this guide! Embark on a journey through time and learn firsthand about the history of various cultures, as well as precious art pieces and architecture. You and your family will be amazed by the vast knowledge and information stored within the walls of these world-famous museums! Be sure to add any of these sites to your next vacation and create memories you will cherish forever.
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