Are you looking for the best museums in Europe? Then you’re in the right place because this list brings together the twenty best museums in Europe, which you should visit at least once in your life. Scattered across Europe’s most touristy cities and countries, these museums and art galleries are sure to impress anyone!

Europe is a continent with an unparalleled artistic, historical, and cultural past. And these twenty must-see museums in Europe are perfect for art lovers, history buffs, and cultural travelers. From collections of ancient artifacts to painting and sculpture galleries, discover some of the most visited museums in Europe!

So, do you want to know more about the 20 Best Museums In Europe (That You Should Visit This Year)? Keep reading!

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Best Museums in Europe

1. Louvre Museum (Paris, France)

The Louvre Museum (in French, Musée du Louvre) is an art museum located in the city of Paris, the capital of France. And among the many reasons to be considered one of the best museums in Europe is the fact that the Louvre Museum is the largest and most visited art museum in the world!

The main masterpieces of the Louvre Museum include Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa”, the “Venus de Milo”, and the “Victory of Samothrace”, but I also recommend visiting the Egyptian antiquities department and the French paintings collection.

Read my complete guide to the Louvre Museum, one of the best museums in Europe!

2. Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam, the Netherlands)

The Rijksmuseum (in English, State Museum) is an art and history museum situated in the city of Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. And among the many reasons to be considered one of the best museums in Europe is the fact that the Rijksmuseum is the largest, most important, and most visited museum in the Netherlands!

The main masterpieces of the Rijksmuseum include Rembrandt van Rijn’s “The Night Watch”, and Johannes Vermeer’s “The Milkmaid” and “Woman Reading a Letter”, but I also suggest exploring the other Dutch Golden Age paintings as well as the Asian art collection.

Read my complete guide to the Rijksmuseum, one of the best museums in Europe!

3. Prado National Museum (Madrid, Spain)

The Prado National Museum (in Spanish, Museo Nacional del Prado) is an art museum located in the city of Madrid, the capital of Spain. And among the many reasons to be considered one of the best museums in Europe is the fact that the Prado National Museum is the largest, most important, and most visited museum in Spain!

The main masterpieces of the Prado National Museum include “Las Meninas” by Diego Velázquez, “The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymus Bosch, and “Saturn Devouring His Son” by Francisco de Goya, but the works by Fra Angelico, Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese, El Greco, and Peter Paul Rubens are also worth admiring.

4. British Museum (London, England, the United Kingdom)

The British Museum is an art museum situated in the city of London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom. And among the many reasons to be considered one of the best museums in Europe (and one of the best museums in London) is the fact that the British Museum is one of the most famous museums in the world!

The main masterpieces of the British Museum include the “Rosetta Stone”, the “Parthenon Marbles” and the “Hoa Hakananai’a”, but I also suggest looking for the remaining artifacts displayed in the Egyptian and Sudan, Greece and Rome, and Africa, Oceania, and the Americas departments.

5. Vatican Museums (Vatican City)

The Vatican Museums (in Latin, Musea Vaticana; and in Italian, Musei Vaticani) is a complex of art museums located in Vatican City. And among the many reasons to be considered one of the best museums in Europe is the fact that the Vatican Museums are the second-oldest museum in the world!

The main masterpieces of the Vatican Museums include Michelangelo Buonarroti’s “Sistine Chapel” and Raffaello Sanzio’s “The School of Athens” and “Transfiguration”, but I also recommend visiting the collection of Greek and Roman antiquities and the rest of the 12th-18th century art.

Read my complete guide to the Vatican Museums, one of the best museums in Europe!

6. Uffizi Gallery (Florence, Italy)

The Uffizi Gallery (in Italian, Galleria degli Uffizi) is an art gallery situated in the city of Florence, Italy. And among the many reasons to be considered one of the best museums in Europe is the fact that the Uffizi Gallery is the most visited art museum in Italy!

The main masterpieces in the Uffizi Gallery include “The Birth of Venus” and “Spring” by Sandro Botticelli, and “Doni Tondo” by Michelangelo Buonarotti, but I also suggest looking for the paintings by Giotto di Bondone, Fra Angelico, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Raffaello Sanzio, and Caravaggio.

Read my complete guide to the Uffizi Gallery, one of the best museums in Europe!

7. Orsay Museum (Paris, France)

The Orsay Museum (in French, Musée d’Orsay) is an art museum located in the city of Paris, the capital of France. And among the many reasons to be considered one of the best museums in Europe is the fact that the Orsay Museum is installed in an old train station!

The main masterpieces of the Orsay Museum include Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night Over the Rhône”, Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s “Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette”, and Claude Monet’s “Blue Water Lilies”, but the paintings by Edgar Degas and Paul Cézanne and sculptures by Auguste Rodin and Paul Gauguin are also worth admiring.

Read my complete guide to the Orsay Museum, one of the best museums in Europe!

8. Acropolis Museum (Athens, Greece)

The Acropolis Museum (in Greek, Μουσείο Ακρόπολης or Mouseío Akrópolis) is an archaeology museum situated in the city of Athens, the capital of Greece. And among the many reasons to be considered one of the best museums in Europe is the fact that the Acropolis Museum is the most visited museum in Greece!

The main masterpieces of the Acropolis Museum include the “Caryatids of the Erechtheion”, the Parthenon Gallery, and the Archaic Gallery, but I also suggest visiting the Gallery of the Acropolis Slopes and looking for pieces from the Propylaea and the Temple of Athena Nike.

9. National Gallery (London, England, the United Kingdom)

The National Gallery is an art gallery located in the city of London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom. And among the many reasons to be considered one of the best museums in Europe (and one of the best museums in London) is the fact that the National Gallery is one of the most famous art museums in the world!

The main masterpieces of the National Gallery include Jan van Eyck’s “The Arnolfini Portrait”, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Virgin of the Rocks”, and Diego Velázquez’s “Rokeby Venus”, but the works by Fra Angelico, Sandro Botticelli, Francisco de Goya, Eugène Delacroix, Édouard Manet, and Edgar Degas are also worth admiring.

10. Vasa Museum (Stockholm, Sweden)

The Vasa Museum (in Swedish, Vasamuseet) is a maritime and historic museum situated in the city of Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. And among the many reasons to be considered one of the best museums in Europe is the fact that the Vasa Museum is the most visited museum not only in Sweden but also in Scandinavia!

The main masterpiece of the Vasa Museum is, obviously, the Vasa – the best-preserved 17th-century ship in the world, but I also suggest exploring the themed rooms of this maritime and historical museum and looking for the most unusual objects found inside and around this ship.

11. Anne Frank House (Amsterdam, the Netherlands)

Anne Frank House (in Dutch, Anne Frank Huis) is a biographic museum located in the city of Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. And among the many reasons to be considered one of the best museums in Europe is the fact that Anne Frank House is one of the most visited World War II museums in Europe!

The main points of interest in Anne Frank House include the bedroom that Anne Frank shared with her sister Margot (and where she wrote the famous “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl”), but I also recommend visiting the remaining rooms of the so-called “Secret Annex”.

12. Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam, the Netherlands)

The Van Gogh Museum is an art museum situated in the city of Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. And among the many reasons to be considered one of the best museums in Europe is the fact that the Van Gogh Museum has the largest collection of works by the Dutch painter in the world!

The main masterpieces of the Van Gogh Museum include “The Potato Eaters”, “Sunflowers”, and “Almond Blossom”, but I also suggest looking for the drawings created by Vincent Van Gogh, along with the letters written to his brother Theo Van Gogh.

13. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid, Spain)

The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (in English, Queen Sofia National Museum Art Center) is a modern art museum located in the city of Madrid, the capital of Spain. And among the many reasons to be considered one of the best museums in Europe is the fact that the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is the most important modern art museum in Spain!

The main masterpieces of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía include “Guernica” by Pablo Picasso, “The Musician’s Table” by Juan Gris and “The Great Masturbator” by Salvador Dalí, but the works by Pablo Gargallo, Joan Miró, Benjamín Palencia, and Eduardo Chillida are also worth admiring.

14. Natural History Museum (London, England, the United Kingdom)

The Natural History Museum is a natural history museum situated in the city of London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom. And among the many reasons to be considered one of the best museums in Europe (and one of the best museums in London) is the fact that the Natural History Museum is one of the most famous natural history museums in the world!

The main masterpieces of the Natural History Museum include the first edition of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species”, Sir Hans Sloane’s “Nautilus Shell” and “Dippy, the Diplodocus”, but I also suggest exploring the fossils, rocks, and minerals collections, in addition to the birds and mammals galleries.

15. Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris, France)

The Centre Georges Pompidou is a cultural center and modern art museum located in the city of Paris, the capital of France. And among the many reasons to be considered one of the best museums in Europe is the fact that the Centre Georges Pompidou has the second-largest collection of modern art in the world!

The main masterpieces of the Centre Georges Pompidou include Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain”, Henri Matisse’s “Romanian Blouse” and Wassily Kandinsky’s “Picture With a Black Arch”, but the works by Pablo Picasso, Robert Delaunay, Joan Miró, René Magritte, Salvador Dalí, and Yves Klein are also worth admiring.

Read my complete guide to the Centre Georges Pompidou, one of the best museums in Europe!

16. Pergamon Museum (Berlin, Germany)

The Pergamon Museum (in German, Pergamonmuseum) is an art museum situated in the city of Berlin, the capital of Germany. And among the many reasons to be considered one of the best museums in Europe is the fact that the Pergamon Museum integrates the “Museum Island”, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999!

The main masterpieces of the Pergamon Museum include the Pergamon Altar, the Ishtar Gate, and the Mshatta Façade, but I also suggest looking for the Greek and Roman sculptures, the objects from Ancient Babylon and Ancient Sumer, and the Islamic decorative arts.

17. Serralves Contemporary Art Museum (Porto, Portugal)

The Serralves Contemporary Art Museum (in Portuguese, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves) is a contemporary art museum located in the city of Porto, Portugal. And among the many reasons to be considered one of the best museums in Europe is the fact that the Serralves Contemporary Art Museum is the most important and most visited contemporary art museum in Portugal!

The main masterpieces of the Serralves Contemporary Art Museum include “Untitled (Landscape with Arrows)” by Anselm Kiefer, “Adami’s Projected Shadow” by Lourdes Castro, and “What Are You Thinking? All Of Time” by Álvaro Lapa, but the works by Gerhard Richter, Manuel Casimiro, Eduardo Batarda, Fernando Calhau, Julião Sarmento, and Albuquerque Mendes are also worth admiring.

18. National Tile Museum (Lisbon, Portugal)

The National Tile Museum (in Portuguese, Museu Nacional do Azulejo) is an art museum situated in the city of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. And among the many reasons to be considered one of the best museums in Europe is the fact that the National Tile Museum is a museum absolutely unique in the world!

The main masterpieces of the National Tile Museum include the “Altarpiece of Our Lady of Life” by Marçal de Matos, “Singerie, The Chicken’s Wedding” by Manuel Francisco, and “The Dancing Lesson” by Willem van der Kloet, but I also suggest looking for the “Panoramic View of Lisbon” (which illustrates the city before the Lisbon Earthquake of 1755).

19. Tate Modern Museum (London, England the United Kingdom)

The Tate Modern Museum is a modern art museum located in the city of London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom. And among the many reasons to be considered one of the best museums in Europe (and one of the best museums in London) is the fact that the Tate Modern Museum is one of the most famous modern art museums in the world!

The main masterpieces of the Tate Modern Museum include Pablo Picasso’s “The Crying Woman”, Salvador Dalí’s “Mountain Lake”, and Andy Warhol’s “Marilyn Diptych”, but the works by Wassily Kandinsky, Henri Matisse, Paul Klee, Robert Delaunay, Max Ernst, and Joan Miró are also worth admiring.

20. Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (Bilbao, Spain)

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (in Basque, Guggenheim Bilbao Museoa; and in Spanish, Museo Guggenheim Bilbau) is a modern and contemporary art museum situated in the city of Bilbao, Spain. And among the many reasons to be considered one of the best museums in Europe is the fact that the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao has one of the most innovative buildings in the world!

The main masterpieces of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao include “The Matter of Time” by Richard Serra, “Untitled” by Mark Rothko, and “Large Blue Anthropometry [Ant 105]” by Yves Klein, but I also suggest looking for “Mummy” by Louise Bourgeois (a bronze, stainless steel, and marble sculpture of a spider) and “Puppy” by Jeff Koons (a floral sculpture of a dog) – both on display outside the museum.

Map of the Best Museums in Europe

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