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The Cour Carrée, the square courtyard of the Louvre Palace

No. 1 Top 100 Most Visited Art Museums 2025 · 9,046,000 visitors in 2025

Louvre Museum

Paris, France · City guide: Paris

The world's most visited museum: the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo and 9,000 years of art in a royal palace.

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Photo: Arunkumar Vijayan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Overview

The Musée du Louvre is No. 1 in The Art Newspaper's survey of the world's most visited art museums, with 9,046,000 visitors in 2025, up 4% on 2024. The museum opened in 1793 in the Louvre Palace, a royal residence that grew over the centuries from a medieval fortress on the Seine.

Its collections range from the ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece and Rome to European painting and sculpture up to the mid-19th century, along with the decorative arts and Islamic art. I. M. Pei's glass pyramid, opened in 1989, is the main entrance. Overcrowding has become a pressing issue, and in 2025 the French government announced a long-term plan to create a new entrance and a dedicated room for the Mona Lisa.

Paintings lining the Grande Galerie of the Louvre
Paintings lining the Grande Galerie of the Louvre. Photo: KimonBerlin, CC BY-SA 2.0, source

Best time to visit

Book the first time slot of the day or an evening opening. Plan your route in advance and head first to the works you most want to see. The museum is closed on Tuesdays; check the official website for current hours.

Highlights & collections

  • 1

    Mona Lisa

    Leonardo da Vinci's portrait hangs in the Salle des États of the Denon wing. Expect a queue to get close.

  • 2

    Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace

    Two of the most famous Greek sculptures anywhere. The Winged Victory stands at the top of the Daru staircase.

  • 3

    The Grande Galerie

    The long gallery of Italian paintings leads past works by Raphael, Titian and Leonardo.

  • 4

    Egyptian antiquities

    One of the largest Egyptian collections outside Egypt, including the Seated Scribe.

  • 5

    Napoleon III Apartments

    Lavishly gilded reception rooms from the Second Empire in the Richelieu wing.

  • 6

    Near Eastern antiquities

    The Code of Hammurabi and the winged bulls from the palace of Khorsabad.

Getting there

The Palais-Royal–Musée du Louvre station (Métro lines 1 and 7) is next to the museum. As well as the Pyramid, there are entrances through the Carrousel du Louvre shopping arcade off Rue de Rivoli and, when open, the Porte des Lions.

Visiting tips

Tickets & hours
A timed ticket booked online is strongly recommended and often essential. Ticket prices and rules for different visitors have changed recently, so check the official website before you go.
Time needed
Allow at least three hours for the highlights. Seeing everything properly would take several days.
Tips
Bags go through security. Large luggage is not allowed. The museum app and floor plans help you avoid getting lost in the three wings: Denon, Sully and Richelieu.
Safety
Watch for pickpockets in the crowds, especially around the Mona Lisa. The EU-wide emergency number is 112.
Visa & entry
France is in the Schengen Area. Many visitors, including citizens of the US, Canada, the UK and Australia, can stay up to 90 days in any 180-day period without a visa. The EU's Entry/Exit System (EES) now records non-EU travellers' entries and exits at the border, and the ETIAS travel authorisation is due to follow. Check the official EU site travel-europe.europa.eu and your own government's travel advice before you go.

Official information: Musée du Louvre (official website). Check opening hours, prices and entry rules there before you go.

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