One of the best places for tourists to travel is Europe, which is home to some of the world’s most amazing museums. Here is a list of the 15 best museums in Europe that you simply must see if you want to learn about the evolution of humanity from the oldest fossils to modern art.
You will learn about the most amazing museums in Europe, including the British Museum in London, Tate Modern, the ultra-modern Center Pompidou, or the unusual museum of sex.
1. Louvre, Paris
The Louvre in Paris is the most visited museum in the world. The corridors of this museum served in the past as a palace for kings, so even today you can admire the beautiful royal decoration there. You get inside through the famous Louvre pyramid, and then the art hunt can begin. Of course, the visitors are most looking forward to the Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo DaVinci. However, do not forget to stop at other famous artworks, such as the Venus of Milan, the statue of Victoire de Samothrace, the painting of La Liberté Guidant le Peuple, or the famous sculpture by Michelangelo: The Rebellious Slave.
Opening hours:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday: 9:00-18:00
Tuesday: Closed
Friday: 9:00-21:45
Admission: 17€, EU students free
2. Tate Modern, London
Tate Modern is a museum of modern art in London, where you can see works of art spanning more than a century, from early twentieth-century modernism to cutting-edge contemporary works. Included are paintings, sculptures, and other works by artists from around the world including Pablo Picasso, Emily Kame Kngwarreye, and Jenny Holzer. The Turbine at Tate Modern is a must-see. You can see how artists come up with new ideas in the Natalie Bell Building. The underground tanks of the Blavatnik building are dedicated to performances, installations, and multimedia artworks.
Opening hours: Monday-Sunday 10:00-18:00
Admission: free
3. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
Designed by Giorgio Vasari, the gallery is one of the world’s most famous museums, known for its incredible collection of antique sculptures and paintings (from the Middle Ages to the present day). Remember the names of Giotto, Simone Martini, Piero della Francesca, Beato Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Mantegna, Correggio, Leonardo, Raffaello, Michelangelo and Caravaggio, as well as the masterpieces of European painting, especially German, Dutch and Flemish. The collection of antique statues and busts of the Medici family is very important in the context of Italian art. The collection, which includes ancient Roman artifacts, adorns the halls of the gallery. But most visitors are looking forward to the world-famous painting The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli and the statue of David by Michelangelo.
Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday 8:15-18:30
Admission: Adults: 20€, students and children free
4. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
The Rijksmuseum is one of the most famous museums not just in Amsterdam, but all around the world. Its extensive collection includes paintings by Rembrandt, Van Gogh, and countless other Dutch greats, as well as a diverse array of artifacts that reflect more than 800 years of Dutch and world history. The most sought-after works of art in this museum are Rembrandt’s Night Watch and Johannes Vermeer’s The Milkmaid.
Opening hours: Monday-Sunday: 9:00-17:00
Admission: Adults: 20€, children under 18 free
5. Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao
The Guggenheim Museum has long served as a crossroads for innovative art and ideas. The museum was created by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright to house a great collection of works in a unique setting. Even today, the museum is a popular tourist destination that attracts tourists from all over the world. Solomon Robert Guggenheim was an American art collector and businessman. He is known primarily for founding the Guggenheim network of art institutions. The most famous works of art include the giant spider sculpture “Maman” by Luise Bourgeois, which is displayed in front of the entrance to the museum. Another important sculpture is “Puppy” by Jeff Koons, and the famous sculptures that you can find in the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao include, The Renowned Orders Of The Night” by Anselm Kiefer.
Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday 11:00-19:00 (opening hours are extended in the summer months)
Admission: Adult 16€ online / 18€ on site
Student: 8€ online/ 10€ on site
6. Anne Frank House, Amsterdam
The Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam is the house where Anne Frank actually hid in 1942. A Jewish girl, Anna fled Nazi Germany with her family, but in 1945 her hiding place was discovered and she was taken to a concentration camp, where she eventually died. Anna wrote a diary during the Second World War, where she described in detail how she and her family hid, and so her story serves as a documented life of Jews fleeing from the Germans.
Note: The Anne Frank Museum can only be visited if you have a pre-purchased ticket online from their official web-page with the given date and time!
Opening hours: Every day 9:00-22:00
Admission: Adult: 14€
Youth 10-17 years: 7€
7. British Museum, London
The British Museum is one of the most important museums in the world. There are up to 8 million works of great historical value. Probably the most important piece is the so-called Rosetta Stone. This stone was found during the Napoleonic wars and we owe it to it for deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs. It is written in three different languages, including ancient hieroglyphs, and thus historians were able to decipher this previously untranslated language.
There you will also find a collection of up to 140 mummies and sarcophagi from the environment of ancient Egypt and the famous Book of the Dead. Among the many works of art, you can find paintings by famous names such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Sandro Botticelli.
Opening hours: 10:00-17:00
Entrance: free
8. Centre Pompidou, Paris
The Center Pompidou is the largest modern art museum in all of Europe and has up to 50,000 works of art on display! But what makes this gallery different from others is even more important. First of all, the Center Pompidou is built in reverse. What exactly does that mean? Various pipes and ducts that are normally hidden in the walls are directly visible in the interior of the building and likewise, the main escalators that would normally be inside the building can be seen from the outside and are even translucent! Last but not least, this gallery was the first to be designed not only for a small group of people who admire art, but for the general public. But if the Louvre has exhausted you, don’t worry, you can get to the roof with a view of the whole of Paris without going directly to the gallery.
Opening hours: Monday-Sunday 11:00-21:00
Tuesday: closed
Admission: Adult 14€
students: free
9. Natural History Museum, London
The Natural History Museum in London offers a really wide range of experiences for visitors from all over the world. There you will find the famous exhibition of life-size vertebrates, a collection of minerals, dinosaur fossils, and much more. The museum is extremely interactive and is therefore also suitable for visiting with children.
Opening hours: Monday-Sunday 10:00-17:50
Admission: free
10. Museum Albertina, Vienna
The Albertina Museum in Vienna is one of the most famous art museums. Visitors to the Albertina usually look forward to the painting “Water Lilies” by the French painter Claude Monet. You can also find the painting “The House with the Roses” by Monet there, and of course, there are also other important artists such as Pablo Picasso, Gustav Klimt, Edward Munch, and others.
Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday: 10:00-18:00
Monday: Closed
Admission: Adult 17.90€
Senior 65+, Visitors under 26: 13.9€
Children under 19: free
11. Museum of II. World War
This museum was founded only in 2008 and you will find an exposition with II. world war. The museum can also be recognized thanks to the irregular shape of its building, which was created thanks to a design from an architectural competition.
Opening hours: 10:00-20:00
Monday: Closed
Admission: Adult: 5€
Discounted entry: 4€
12. Museum of Broken Relationships, Zagreb
Did you know that there is such an unusual museum in Croatia? This museum tells the stories of broken relationships as they really happen. This unique idea was created as a project, trying to help people overcome their trauma from destroyed relationships, so if you are also recovering from a breakup, maybe it will help you to contribute your story to the museum’s collection.
Opening hours: (Summer June 1 – September 30): Every day 10:00-21:00
(Winter October 1-May 31): Every day 10:00-21:00
Admission: Adult: 7€
student, pensioner: 6€
13. Neon museum, Warsaw
The only museum of its kind in all of Europe! It consists of a collection of hundreds of neon signs that were very popular in Eastern Europe during the Cold War. Visit this unique museum and you will be amazed by the creativity of its creators.
Opening hours: Monday-Saturday 12:00-18:00
Sunday: 11:00-17:00
Admission: Adult: 3.50€
Discounted ticket: 3€
14. Museum of Sex, Prague
The Museum of Sex Toys in Prague is a truly unconventional museum and the only one of its kind. It was opened in 2001 and offers visitors an interesting tour of sexual toys from the past, but also from today, which were collected from all over the world. However, entry to persons under the age of 18 is not permitted.
Opening hours: 10:00-23:00 every day
Admission: Adult 9€
student: 5€
15. Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid
The Queen Sofia Museum is a national art museum of the 20th century in Madrid, Spain. Among the most famous works that you will find in this museum is undoubtedly the painting Guernica by Pablo Picasso. This painting depicts Picasso’s witness to the bombing of Spain by Nazi Germany. In the museum, you definitely should not miss the works of another prominent cubist painter, Juan Gris.
Opening hours: Monday-Saturday: 10:00-21:00
Tuesday: Closed
Sunday: 10:00-14:30
Admission: 12€
Note: Entry is free during the following dates: 18.4., 18.5. and 12.10. (free tickets cannot be booked in advance)
