List of most-visited museums
This article lists the most visited museums reported in 2021, followed by other museums with large numbers of annual visitors in 2020 and 2019 but no reported 2021 figures. A museum is defined as a building or institution dedicated to the acquisition, care, research, and exhibition of numerous objects that represent the legacy of humankind and its environment. Effects of COVID-19 on attendance. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the museums listed were closed during the year for long periods of time. For example, the Louvre, the top museum on the list, was closed for 150  days in 2020, and Louvre attendance for 2020 dropped by 72 percent from 2019. Attendance at the top one hundred art museums dropped by 77 percent in 2020. Natural history and science museums had a comparable drop in attendance as a result of the COVID-19 virus, which caused long closures and a global drop in tourism. For example, attendance at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum fell by 72 percent in 2020; attendance at the Natural History Museum in London fell by 77 percent, and attendance at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington fell by 86.4 percent in  2020. Attendance at the top twenty museums of all categories in 2020 decreased by 78 percent across all regions. in Europe, tourism was largely stopped, and museums were closed for an average of 112 extra days in 2020 due to the virus. Attendance at the top twenty museums in North America, where many museums were forced to close for two thirds of the year, fell by 81 percent in 2020, In the Asia-Pacific region, many museums were less dependent upon foreign visitors, and the museums generally closed for shorter periods, an average of 30 days. Still, in the Asia -Pacific region, attendance dropped by 72.4 percent from 2019. Total attendance in the top one hundred art museums rebounded in 2021 to 71 million visitors, up from 54 million in 2020, but far below the 230 million visitors at the top hundred art museums in 2019. Criteria for inclusion. This list includes art museums, history museums, natural history museums, and science museums, but does not include archaeological sites, historical monuments, or many palace museums. This article generally follows that guideline, so the Palace of Versailles, Peterhof Palace, and Forbidden City are not included, even though these sites include some museum  collections. Such palace museums are found in the List of most visited palaces and monuments. The list also includes the Mevlana Museum, a mausoleum and religious shrine which is classified by the Turkish government as a museum. It does not include Hagia Sophia, which the Turkish government stopped classifying as a museum in 2020. Due to differences in reporting across regions, there is some variation in the time periods for which figures are reported. Unless otherwise noted, figures for North America and continental Europe are calendar year figures, while most figures for Britain and Asia-Pacific are fiscal year figures , from April through March.