The Most Popular Museum In Every Country Of The World

All over the world, there are museums and cultural institutions encouraging people to explore new cultures and topics through their carefully-curated collections and exhibitions.

Some are focused on the history of a place like the Acropolis and Pompei, some collate artistic masterpieces like the Louvre and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and some… are very unique to their culture. We’re talking about you, ABBA Museum!

But the one thing that galleries and museums across the globe have in common? The ability to completely immerse visitors in the culture of a destination through rich art, history and unique artefacts.

At Cruise Croatia, we always encourage our guests to visit some of the country’s fascinating museums so we were intrigued. Intrigued to know which of Croatia’s museums is the most popular, as well as which of those all around the globe.

And, now, thanks to search data, we know! So, wherever you’re heading on your next vacation (Croatia we hope!), we’ve got you covered with an exhilarating cultural day out.

Europe

It’s the Museum of Illusions that takes the top spot in Croatia. Which isn’t massively surprising considering its global success in recent years. Founded in 2015 in Zagreb, the Museum of Illusions is based on the concept of ‘edutainment’ – offering visitors a mix of education and entertainment, interactive and photogenic exhibits and rooms of illusion rooms.

It has since become the largest chain of private museums in the world, now operating in 35 locations around the world including New York, Dubai, Paris and Madrid. We, of course, recommend coming to Croatia and seeing the original museum in all its glory – and illusion!

We also weren’t surprised to see world-renowned European museums sitting in the top spots for their countries either, with the Louvre taking the crown in France with 72,000 monthly searches, Tate Modern in the UK with 260,000 monthly searches and Museo Del Prado in Spain with 121,000 monthly searches.

North America

Talking of some of the most well-known museums in the world… The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York took the top spot for the United States with a staggering 770,000 searches a month! And with over two million works being housed there, the museum is definitely one that offers something for everyone.

Another museum reigning in North America is Soumaya Museum in Mexico, which opened just over 10 years ago is now one of the most iconic places in Mexico City with its mesmerising silver structure. Not to mention, it contains the world’s largest collection of pre-Hispanic and colonial-era coins.

Anyone looking for a museum that requires less… brain power shall we say, should head to Jamaica. Here you should visit the Bob Marley Museum and discover the home and recording studio of a reggae legend!

Africa

Keeping with the theme of museums that are… a little out of the ordinary, Morocco’s most popular museum is the one dedicated entirely to the work of Yves Saint Laurent. The fashion powerhouse stated that he owed a lot to the country in terms of its influence on the colours and forms of his clothing and so a Yves Saint Laurent Museum was opened in Marrakech in 2017.

Up there in the tens of thousands in monthly search volume is The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in… Yes, you guessed it, Egypt. The 20 mummies that were transported during the globally-broadcasted Golden Parade are now on display in the museum’s Mummies Hall, which was actually designed to feel like a tomb…

And at the other end of the continent, the Apartheid Museum took the top spot in South Africa – a museum that illustrates the rise and fall of apartheid in the country through film footage, photographs, text panels and artefacts.

Asia & Oceania

Lightening the mood now, over in Asia, the Museum of Happiness stole the crown for the most popular museum in Saudi Arabia with 5,900 monthly searches. In the midst of a trying year, the museum was opened in 2020 and offers an interactive experience that stimulates the senses through imaginative, multisensory art installations that are designed to stimulate your dopamine and serotonin levels. Not far away either is The Children’s Museum in Jordan, another museum focused on nurturing curious minds sees 2,300 monthly searches.

In terms of the number of monthly searches though, Japan’s Ghibli Museum stole the show in Asia with 91,000 monthly searches, followed by India’s Museum of Illusions with 51,000 monthly searches and Indonesia’s Moja Museum just behind with 50,000 monthly searches.

Oceania’s data was interesting too, in the fact that the most popular museums all focus on where they are located…

For Australia, Melbourne Museum took the top spot with 36,000 monthly searches. The natural and cultural history museum is home to over 17 million items including objects relating to Indigenous Australian and Pacific Islander cultures, geology, historical studies, palaeontology, technology and society, and zoology… not to mention the world’s largest IMAX theatre screen!

A short hop over to New Zealand, where Auckland War Memorial Museum came out victorious with 14,000 monthly searches. Its collections concentrate on New Zealand, natural and military history.

South America

Last but not least, South America. And it appears that things that glitter are gold, with Bogota’s Museo del Oro (Museum of Gold) shimmering into the top spot for Colombia. Welcoming around 500,000 tourists each year to look at over 55,000 pieces of gold and other materials, the museum sees around 18,000 searches each month.

Another interesting South American museum is the Larco Museum which took the crown for Peru. Its’ collection of Peruvian pre-Columbian artefacts illustrates how these cultures represented their everyday lives… including their sex lives, with many pieces within the museum’s Erotic Gallery showing scenes that depict reproduction.

With such a variety of museums around the world to spark interest, it’s hardly surprising that tourists are attracted to these cultural hubs to learn more about the country they are visiting and its’ past.

Anyone heading to Croatia, we’ve got you covered as many of our luxury tours include visits to the country’s much-loved museums.

Methodology

Using Ahrefs, we searched for the word ‘museum’ in every country of the word, translating this accordingly.
The museum with the highest search volume that is located in the country we were searching within was then taken as the most popular museum in that country.
The search volume data used shows how many times per month, on average, people search for the target keyword across the country.
Countries, where data was not available, were omitted from the study.
Data correct as of March 2022.

"*" indicates required fields