5.National Gallery, England

4.Tate Modern, England

London's Tate Modern forms part of Britain's Tate group, along with Tate Liverpool, Britain, St Ives and Tate Online. It is Britain's national gallery of international modern art. Its collection is made up of national and international contemporary art dating from 1900 to present day. Tate Modern annually attracts around 5.3 million visitors annually, a number far higher than originally expected. Since 2004, plans have been in place to essentially double the display space available. Estimated to cost £215 million, the project began with an underground expansion, primarily to show live performance art. It has been described by the museum as the world's first gallery dedicated entirely to live art. The Tate Modern is host to an ever changing array of exhibitions by artists including Picasso, Klee and Gilbert & George – a retrospective display which consumed an entire floor of the gallery.

3.British Museum, England

Every year 5.6 million people pass through the doors of the British Museum. Located close to the heart of London in Bloomsbury on its original site, the building covers a massive area of 92,000 m2 (990,000 square feet). Established in 1753, the British Museum was originally largely based on the collections of the physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane. The institution finally opened to the public on 15 January 1759 and up until 1997 it housed both a national museum of antiquities and a national library in the same building.

2.Metropolitan Museum of Art, North America

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is located in New York City on the eastern edge of Central Park. It is by far the largest art museum in the United States and one of the ten largest in the world covering about 190,000 m2 (2,000,000 square feet) and spread across two locations. The Met was founded in 1870 by a group of American citizens (which included businessmen and financiers as well as leading artists and thinkers of the day) who wanted to open a museum to bring art and art education to the American people. It was officially opened on February 20, 1872 and has since moved locations from its original site. This huge museum attracts a staggering 6.1 million visitors annually and has a 'pay as you wish' admission with a recommendation of $25. Don't fret though, it's only a donation and no one will kick you out for not paying.

1.The Louvre, France

A central landmark of Paris, the Louvre is probably the most renowned museum worldwide. No one can pinpoint the exact origin of its name, but the Louvre was originally built as a fortress in the late 12th century and the building has been extended many times to form its present structure. The museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings – the majority of the works being royal and confiscated church property. It has now been extended to include nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century which are all exhibited over an area of 60,600 square metres (652,300 square feet) – one of which of course is the Mona Lisa. The Louvre is the world's most visited museum and sees more than 9.7 million visitors annually.

审校：大洋彼岸的一条鱼 编辑：凯珊 来源：前十网