List of largest art museums


This list of largest art museums in the world ranks art museums and other museums that contain mostly pieces of art by the best available estimates of total exhibition space. This should not be mistaken for a list of museums with the most pieces of art.

Inclusion criteria

Only gallery space is considered, as opposed to the public space or total building space.
These museums are mainly composed of man-made artifacts with an important aesthetic dimension. Museums contained inside a bigger institution are not considered as one entity if they are not at the same location.
For purposes of this list, large museums are those with more than of gallery space. Where noted in the list, sizes were estimated by detailed examination of floor plans and satellite images, as no referenced numbers were available.

Largest art museums

Large museums

These museums are often considered as large art museums, but either have less than 8,000 square meters of gallery space or are missing reliable information on the size of their gallery spaces.
ImageNameCityCountryGallery space
in m2 		Year establishedReference
Nelson-Atkins Museum of ArtKansas CityUnited States1933
de YoungSan FranciscoUnited States7,900
1895
Alte PinakothekMunichGermany
Acropolis MuseumAthensGreece
Bangkok National MuseumBangkokThailand1926
Pinacoteca di BreraMilanItaly
China Art MuseumShanghaiChina
LenbachhausMunichGermany
Museu Nacional de Arte AntigaLisbonPortugal
Giardini VeniceItaly
Museums of Palazzo PittiFlorenceItaly
National Gallery of DenmarkCopenhagenDenmark
National Museum of Art of RomaniaBucharestRomania
National Museum of IranTehranIran
Ny Carlsberg GlyptotekCopenhagenDenmark
Chimei MuseumTainanTaiwan1992