SAEDNEWS: Art and historical museums remain as popular as ever, with many of the world’s major institutions continuing to attract millions of visitors each year. In this latest ranking, more than 200 million visits were recorded across the top 100 museums worldwide.
According to Saednews Tourism Service, 2025 report shows, some of the world’s most reputable cultural institutions are still struggling to regain pre-pandemic visitor numbers, while at the same time a strong wave of interest has emerged around newly opened museums. In this landscape, the Louvre Museum in Paris continues to hold its position as the most visited art museum in the world.
The annual research by The Art Newspaper compiles data from historical and art museums worldwide. The 2025 figures show that museums remain highly popular overall, with many major institutions continuing to attract millions of visitors each year. In total, more than 200 million visits were recorded across the top 100 museums. This is still below the 230 million visits recorded in 2019, but significantly higher than the 54 million recorded in 2020 during the pandemic period.
In recent years, a number of new museums have opened successfully not only in the Middle East and East Asia, but also in major museum-dense cities such as London and New York. However, this growth has not been evenly distributed, and several previously dominant museums are still working to return to their pre-COVID peak performance.
Louvre Museum – Paris
9,046,000 visitors
Vatican Museums – Vatican City
National Museum of Korea – Seoul
British Museum – London
Metropolitan Museum of Art – New York
State Russian Museum – Russia
National Museum of Anthropology – Mexico City
Shanghai Museum East – Shanghai
Tate Modern – London
National Gallery – London
Although museum directors sometimes argue that visitor numbers are an imperfect measure of success, these figures have major financial implications. For example, London’s National Gallery recently announced staff reductions to address a budget deficit.
Not all UK museums faced difficulties, however. The British Museum recorded another strong year with 6.4 million visitors, maintaining or exceeding pre-pandemic levels. The Natural History Museum in London also achieved a record 7.1 million visitors.
Across Europe, museum attendance has largely stabilized, with major institutions in France, Spain, and Italy having already recovered from pandemic-related declines. Madrid’s Museo del Prado also surpassed 3.5 million visitors for the first time.
The Louvre has faced criticism for overcrowding and even experienced internal challenges such as theft incidents and leadership changes, yet it still increased its visitor numbers and maintained its global leadership position.
In Northern Europe, exhibitions such as a major Anselm Kiefer show in Amsterdam contributed to strong attendance at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and the Van Gogh Museum, boosting their visitor figures significantly. Meanwhile, Oslo’s relatively new MUNCH Museum attracted 775,000 visitors.
The strongest growth globally was seen in East Asia. The Shanghai Museum East continued its rapid rise, reaching 4.6 million visitors in 2025. In South Korea, the National Museum in Seoul saw a dramatic increase of over 70%, reaching 6.5 million visitors.
In Japan, the National Museum of Tokyo saw a modest increase to 2.6 million visitors, while another Tokyo museum experienced a decline. In the United States, the Metropolitan Museum of Art remained the most visited museum, with nearly 6 million visitors.
