The National Museum of China, the most visited in the world in 2016
Dance of museums in the first three positions of the world ranking. The 3.6% increase in the number of visitors to the National Museum of China, reaching 7,550,000, together with the drop of almost 15% experienced by the Louvre (up to 7,400,000 compared to 8,700,000 the previous year) have made it possible for **Beijing's free museum to win the long-awaited first place that it coveted in 2015**, when its 7,290,000 visitors earned it the second place, show the report.
To find the Parisian museum we have to wait until third place, since the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, also free, has won second place. Going from the bronze to the silver medal has been its reward for growth of 8.7%, which allowed it to rise from 6,900,000 visitors in 2015 to 7,500,000 in 2016.
The Parisian Louvre falls to third place
In this way, two free museums conquer the highest positions in a ranking that includes another 18 members, **of which only one is Spanish: the Madrid-based Reina Sofía **, which in 2016 registered a growth of 12.2% (from 3,250,000 to 3,647,000 visitors) which has allowed it to conquer the 18th position.
In general, the report throws up optimistic data for all the museums, indicating that the 20 most visited in the world in 2016 received almost 108 million people, surpassing the data recorded in 2015 by one million, when they stood at 106.5 million. In total, a growth of 1.2%.
The Reina Sofía, the only Spanish museum that sneaks into the ranking
They complete the ranking:
4. National Museum of Natural History (Washington)
5.The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)
6.British Museum (London)
7.Shanghai Science & Technology Museum (Shanghai)
8. National Gallery (London)
9. Vatican Museums (Vatican)
10.Tate Modern (London)
11. American Museum of Natural History (New York)
12. National Place Museum (Taipei)
13. Natural History Museum (London)
14. National Gallery of Art (Washington)
15.State Hermitage (Saint Petersburg)
16. China Science Technology Museum (Beijing)
17. National Museum of American History (Washington)
18.Queen Sofia (Madrid)
19. National Museum of Korea (Seoul)
20. Center Pompidou (Paris)
The Theme Index and Museum Index is a report prepared annually by the ** Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) and AECOM **, using data from different sources, including statistics provided directly by operators, historical data, reports financiers, local tourism organizations or professional estimates if necessary.