"The Palais du Louvre, which houses one of the most stunning collections of artworks in the world, is known first and foremost as a museum. Yet for almost seven hundred years the buildings constituted one of the principal residences of the kings and emperors of France... In 1793, the Louvre became a museum, and has been given over ever since to the conservation and presentation of thousands of artworks and legacies of past civilizations."

From Palace to Museum: Eight Hundred Years of History

"The Uffizi gallery was built in 1581, under the request of Granduca Francisco de’ Medici, son of Cosimo I. The original design was that of Giorgio Vasari, one of the leading painters and architects during the 15th century. His plan for this museum was quite a strategically planned building as it was constructed adjacent to the Medici Palace and extended until the Arno river, over the Ponte Vecchio bridge... In the six hundreds the collections were vastly expanded: the so-called inheritance of d’Urbino, was then named Vittoria della Rovere, the completion of the second and third floor ceilings in the corridors; the creation of the porcelain room and then that of the self-portraits hall. After that they began to build the halls for the design collections of cardinale Leopoldo, first actual impressions and design studio centre and still today one of the galleries with the largest collections worldwide."

History of Uffizi Gallery: The XVI-XVII Century

6. Tate Modern
Housed in the former Bankside Power Station, it is Britain's leading museum of international modern art. Its sister gallery of contemporary/avant-garde art is the Tate Liverpool. Other regional venues within the group include the Tate St Ives and the Barbara Hepworth Museum. For details, see: Tate Museums.

7. Victoria and Albert Museum London (V&A)
The world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, its permanent collection consists of more than 4.5 million objects. Named after Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert, it was established in 1852. Featured in its world renowned collections are: glass, ceramics, textiles and tapestries, costumes, silver, metalwork, jewellery, prints and printmaking, drawings and photographs. The museum also holds the world's largest assembly of post-classical sculpture: highlights include works by Donatello, Andrea del Verrocchio, Michelangelo, Tilman Riemenschneider, Alessandro Algardi, Benvenuto Cellini, Giambologna, Bernini, Canova, Francois Girardon, Michel Clodion, Jean-Antoine Houdon, Auguste Rodin, and Grinling Gibbons, to name but a few. Its Asian and East Asian collections of pottery and sculpture are among the finest in Europe, while its holdings of Islamic art rank with the Musee du Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

8. Louvre Museum Paris
One of the world's oldest, largest and most popular museums, its permanent collection includes over 2 million works of art, covering: Prehistoric artifacts; Antiquities from Egypt, Ancient Greece and Rome; Chinese, Japanese and Asian cultures; Western Art treasures from the Byzantine to the Modern era. Its fine arts collection features a vast range of sculpture, works on paper and painting, including items from the Gothic, Italian Renaissance, Northern Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassical, Romantic, and Realist styles and movements. For details, see: Louvre Museum Paris.

9. Musee d'Orsay, Paris
Opened in 1986, the museum concentrates on French art dating from 1848 to 1914, and features painting, sculpture, and photography. It is best-known for its masterpieces of French Impressionism which were previously housed in the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, prior to the museum's opening in 1986. Collection highlights include: Starry Night Over the Rhone, by Vincent Van Gogh; Bal au moulin de la Galette by Pierre-Auguste Renoir; Dejeuner sur L'Herbe by Edouard Manet, and many others.

10. Musee Picasso, Paris
Situated in the Marais district of Paris the Picasso Museum holds more than 3000 works of art by Pablo Picasso, including graphic art, ceramics and paintings, augmented by Picasso's personal art collection of works by other painters, including Degas, Cezanne, Rousseau, Seurat, Giorgio de Chirico and Matisse.

11. Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin
Museum devoted to contemporary art, owned and operated by a partnership between Deutsche Bank and the Samuel R Guggenheim Foundation. Noted for its patronage and exhibitions of emerging and established contemporary artists. For details, see: Guggenheim Berlin.

12. Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin
Noted for the unique glass architecture of its lobby, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the museum's underground galleries display an extensive range of modern 20th century art. Movements/periods represented include: Analytical and Synthetic Cubism, Expressionism, Abstract Expressionism, the Bauhaus and Surrealism, and features works by famous artists such as Pablo Picasso, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Joan Miro, Wassily Kandinsky and Barnett Newman.

13. Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest (Szepmuveszeti Muzeum)
Opened in 1906, the museum concentrates on international art exemplifying all major periods of European art. Its 100,000-item permanent collection - founded on contributions from Buda Castle, the Esterhazy and Zichy collections - is organized around six sections: Egyptian, Greek and Roman Classical Antiquities, Old Sculpture Gallery, Old Master Paintings (13th to 18th centuries), the Modern Collection, and Graphic Art (printmaking and drawings). Highlights include a superb collection of works by El Greco, Velazquez and Goya, as well as German, Netherlandish, Flemish, French and English master artists. Modern artworks exemplify Barbizon landscapes, French Impressionism and sculpture by Auguste Rodin.

14. Uffizi Gallery Florence
Contains perhaps the greatest collection of Italian Renaissance art of any museum. Among the huge list of Old Masters represented are: Cimabue, Duccio, Giotto, Simone Martini, Paolo Uccello, Piero della Francesca, Fra Filippo Lippi, Andrea del Verrocchio, Hugo van der Goes, Leonardo da Vinci, Piero di Cosimo, Albrecht Dürer, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Parmigianino, Caravaggio, Rembrandt Van Rijn. Highlights include: The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli; and Tondo Doni by Michelangelo. For more information, see: Uffizi Gallery Florence.

15. Musei Vaticani (Vatican Museums) Rome
Founded by Pope Julius II in 1556, the museums of the Vatican City hold the priceless art treasures assembled over the centuries by the Catholic Church. These include site-specific masterpieces like the Sistine Chapel "Genesis" and Last Judgement" frescoes by Michelangelo, the Stanze della Segnatura by Raphael.

16. Peggy Guggenheim Museum, Venice
Housed in the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, the collection features important works of Cubism, Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism by artists like Picasso, Dali, Magritte, Brancusi and Jackson Pollock, as well as the controversial bronze statue The Angel of the City by Marino Marini. For more information, see: Venice Guggenheim Museum.

17. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
Founded in The Hague in 1800, it was originally known as the National Art Gallery before its move to Amsterdam. Permanent collection holds a series of dazzling masterpieces by Rembrandt (The Night Watch; The Syndics of the Clothmaker's Guild), Jan Vermeer (The Milkmaid; The Little Street), Jan Steen, Jacob van Ruysdael, Frans Hals and other masters of Dutch Realism. In addition the Rijksmuseum has an extensive collection of art from South-East Asia.

18. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Contains the world's largest collection of works by the Dutch Expressionist painter Vincent van Gogh, and his contemporaries. Highlights include: The Potato Eaters, Bedroom in Arles and one of the artist's Sunflowers canvases.

19. Mauritshuis Royal Picture Gallery, The Hague
Opened in 1822, this art museum which specialises in masterpieces from the Dutch Golden Age, has oils by Dutch painters like Jan Vermeer, Rembrandt van Rijn, Jan Steen, Paulus Potter and Frans Hals and works of the German painter Hans Holbein the Younger. Highlights include Girl with a Pearl Earring by Vermeer, and Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp by Rembrandt.

20. Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona (MNAC)
The National Art Museum of Catalonia, opened in 1995, unifies the collections of the former Museu d'Art de Catalunya and the Museu d'Art Modern, and now features Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, as well as 19th and 20th century art. Spanish Catalonian artists represented include: Ramon Casas, Pau Gargallo, Antoni Gaudi, Isidre Nonell, Santiago Rusinol, and many others.

21. Museu Picasso, Barcelona
The brainchild of Picasso’s lifelong friend, Jamie Sabartes, the museum was opened in 1963 and contains one of the largest collections of artworks (3,500 items) by the 20th century Spanish genius Pablo Picasso. It includes works from the artists "Blue", "Rose", "African" and Cubism periods. The museum hosts numerous symposia, seminars and educational talks on the artist's life and art.

22. Museo del Prado, Madrid
Contains one of the best collections of European painting (1200-1830) along with more than 7,000 drawings and prints, 2,000 decorative works of art and over 600 works of sculpture. It includes the world's finest collection of Spanish painting with masterpieces by El Greco, Bartolome Esteban Murillo, Jusepe de Ribera, Francisco de Zurbaran, and other Spanish old masters. Highlights include: Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez; and Nude Maja by Francisco de Goya. For more details, see: Prado Museum Madrid.

23. Nationalmuseum Stockholm
Founded in 1792 as the Konglig Museum ("Royal Museum"), it was renamed the Nationalmuseum in 1866. Permanent collection includes 500,000 drawings from the Middle Ages to 1900, as well as porcelain, paintings, sculptures, and modern art.
Best Art Museums in Switzerland (Basel, Zurich)

24. Kunstmuseum, Basel
The finest public art collection in Switzerland, the museum dates from 1661. Its holdings include the largest collection of paintings by the Holbein family, as well as masterpieces by Konrad Witz, Hans Baldung, Martin Schongauer, Lucas Cranach the Elder and Mathias Grunewald. Its 17th and 18th century collection include Flemish and Dutch works by Rubens, Rembrandt, Jan Brueghel the Elder, plus Dutch Realist still lifes. The 19th century is represented by numerous major Impressionists plus the Swiss artists Arnold Bocklin and Ferdinand Hodler. 20th century art movements covered include Cubism, Expressionism, Constructivism, Dadaism and Surrealism, and American art since 1950.

25. Capitoline Museums, Rome
Comprises a group of archaeological and art Museums in Rome, containing a major collection of antiquities and Italian sculptures. Highlights include the sculpture Medusa by Bernini.

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