Global art museums showed mostly positive results in 2025, although they are still striving to recover pre-Covid-19 visitor numbers. Notable performance was observed in regions such as Latin America and Asia, especially in newer establishments.
The survey, released in the first half of the year by The Art Newspaper's annual report, mapped the 100 most frequented institutions worldwide in the previous year. London leads the top 10 with three museums featured on the highlight list, but other cities also registered significant advances.
The Louvre, located in Paris (France), surpassed nine million visitors in 2025, registering a 4% growth compared to 2024. The Vatican Museums (Vatican City) attracted nearly seven million visitors, maintaining figures close to previous years, with a 2% increase over 2024 and 1% above the pre-pandemic period of 2019.
The National Museum of Korea, in Seoul (South Korea), stood out globally for its absolute growth, reaching 6.5 million visitors in 2025. This number represents a jump of 72% in just one year, almost doubling the pre-pandemic record.
In the United Kingdom, the British Museum in London maintained stability, with 6.4 million people visiting its galleries. In the United States, The Met in New York remained the most visited of its kind on the western side of the Atlantic, with a modest 4% increase compared to 2024, totaling almost six million visitors.
The Russian Museum in St. Petersburg (Russia) was not negatively affected by the war and crisis, doubling its numbers compared to the pre-pandemic period. Between 2024 and 2025, there was an increase of 41%, reaching almost 5.1 million visitors.
In Latin America, the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City (Mexico) became the most popular in the region, registering a 36% increase in twelve months, with five million people accessing the institution in the Mexican capital.
Other highlights include the Shanghai Museum East in Shanghai (China), the newest addition to the top 10, after opening in 2024, receiving 4.6 million visitors in the new building. In London, the Tate Modern, despite still being 26% below the 2019 total, remained among the most frequented with 4.5 million people, even with a slight 2% drop in the most recent year. The National Gallery, also in London, although 31% below pre-pandemic levels, demonstrated strong growth of 29% between 2024 and 2025, totaling 4.1 million visitors.
Although outside the top 10, Brazilian institutions managed to be among the 100 most visited globally. MASP showed remarkable success, increasing its visitors by 104% from one year to the next, being the second largest percentage increase on the list. With almost 1.2 million visitors in 2025, MASP secured the 63rd global position, representing a 64% gain compared to the year before the pandemic.
Other Brazilian institutions included in the ranking are the CCBB of Rio de Janeiro, in 67th place, with 1.14 million visitors, still 56% short of the pre-pandemic level. The CCBB of Belo Horizonte ranks 69th, with 1.12 million visitors, which corresponds to a 26% reduction compared to 2019.
Finally, the Pinacoteca de São Paulo exemplifies post-health crisis recovery, increasing its visitor numbers by 52% since 2019, reaching 820 thousand people last year, which secured the 94th global position.
