Here is the Top 10 list of the most visited museums in France, which are all located in Paris and Versailles. The first museum outside the Paris region – the Pompidou Centre in Metz – ranks number 13.
The most visited Museums in France
France is home to 1,218 museums, 7 of them welcomed more than 1 million visitors in 2011. Only 63 museums in France welcomed between 100,000 and 1 million visitors. France’s first museum – the Louvre – is also the world’s largest and most visited museum. The list below includes the visitor count.
1. Musée du Louvre, Paris: 8,711,000
Cour Napoléon and the Glass Pyramid, the Louvre Palace © French Moments
2. Versailles: 6,746,000
Hall of Mirrors in Versailles © French Moments
3. Musée national d’Art moderne (Centre Pompidou), Paris: 3,726,000
The pipes seen from rue Beaubourg © French Moments
4. Musée d’Orsay, Paris: 3,144,000
The Orsay Museum in Paris, a former railway station © French Moments
5. Musée du Quai Branly, Paris: 1,457,000
Quai Branly Museum from above © French Moments
6. Musée de l’Armée, Paris: 1,434,000
Hôtel des Invalides © French Moments
7. Musée Carnavalet, Paris: 1,108,000
Hôtel Carnavalet, Marais (Paris) © French Moments
8. Grande Galerie de l’Évolution, Paris: 738,000
Grande Galerie de l’Evolution, Paris © French Moments
9. Musée national Auguste-Rodin, Paris: 735,000
Musée Rodin © Pierre Lannes – licence [CC BY-SA 2.0] from Wikimedia Commons
10. Musée national de l’Orangerie, Paris: 697,000
The Nymphéas by Claude Monet at the Orangerie, Paris © French Moments
And the list goes on…
11. Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris: 602,000
Palais de Toyko from above © French Moments
12. Petit Palais, Musée des beaux-arts de la ville de Paris: 561,000
Petit-Palais, Paris © French Moments
13. Centre Pompidou, Metz: 552,000
Metz Pompidou © French Moments
Source: Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, figures based on statistics from 2011
