Louvre most visited museum last year, London and Paris dominate

The Louvre was the world’s most visited museum in 2011, according to the latest figures, published by the Art Newspaper. The museum in the heart of Paris maintained its number one position from the previous year and visitor numbers were up, thanks to a 3 percent rise in the number of visitors to the French capital. Around 8.9 million people went to the Louvre last year, home of arguably the world’s most famous painting, the Mona Lisa, as well as innumerable other art and archaeology treasures. Two more Paris museums were in the top ten; the Centre Pompidou and the Musée D’Orsay in eighth and tenth spots respectively. London and Paris dominated the top rankings, with the British Museum, the National Gallery and the Tate Modern, all in the British capital, ranking third, fourth and fifth and equaling Paris with three museums in the top ten. Second place went to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and Washington’s National Gallery came sixth. The top ten was rounded out by National Palace Museum in Taipei in seventh place and Seoul’s National Museum of Korea in ninth. The Prado, in Madrid, Spain, missed out on a top ten place, its 2.9 million visitors in 2011 putting it in eleventh place. Read the Art Newspaper article here. (photo source: Sxc.hu)