Museums in France
507 museums in France. Most visited: Museum of the History of France.
Top museums in France
Museum of the History of France
8,177,695 visitors a year
The Museum of the History of France was created by King Louis-Philippe I inside the Palace of Versailles and opened in 1837. Most of its galleries and exhibition spaces are not permanently open to...
Louvre Museum
Art museum · 7,400,000 visitors a year
Set in the heart of Paris, the Louvre is more than a museum—it is a journey through centuries of art, power, and imagination. Housed in a former royal palace, it brings together grand architecture,...
Musée d'Orsay
Art museum · 3,651,616 visitors a year
The Musée d'Orsay is a museum on the Left Bank of the Seine in Paris, housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. It opened to visitors in December 1986...
Palace of Versailles
Art museum · 2,593,260 visitors a year
The Palace of Versailles is a historic château in Versailles, southwest of Paris, that served as the principal residence of the French kings Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI. Louis XIV conceived it...
Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie
Science and technology museum · 2,013,000 visitors a year
The Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie is a large science museum located in the Parc de la Villette in Paris, France. It was established in 1986 and is one of France's Cultural Centers of Science,...
ZooParc de Beauval
Zoo or aquarium · 2,000,000 visitors a year
ZooParc de Beauval is a French zoological park in Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher, in the Centre-Val de Loire region. It was created in 1980 by Françoise Delord and has more than 35,000 animals on 40 hectares.
Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
Natural history museum · 1,900,000 visitors a year
The Muséum national d'histoire naturelle is the national natural history museum of France, located in the Jardin des Plantes on the left bank of the Seine in Paris. It was formally founded in 1793,...
Jardin d'Acclimatation
1,850,000 visitors a year
The Jardin d'Acclimatation is a 19-hectare children's amusement park in the northern part of the Bois de Boulogne in western Paris. It opened in 1860 and features a number of attractions.
Musée de l'Armée
Military museum · 1,525,030 visitors a year
Napoleon's tomb lies beneath the gilded Dôme des Invalides, and it is the reason many people come to the Army Museum, known on signs as the Musée de l'Armée. The emperor's remains were brought back...
National Museum of Modern Art
Art museum · 1,501,040 visitors a year
France's national collection of modern and contemporary art hangs inside the Centre Pompidou, the inside-out building by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers whose colour-coded pipes, ducts and glass-tubed...
Musée du quai Branly
Art museum · 1,496,439 visitors a year
Nestled along the banks of the Seine in Paris, the Musée du quai Branly offers a captivating journey into the rich tapestry of world cultures. Opened in 2006, this remarkable museum showcases an...
Musée de l'Orangerie
Art museum · 1,029,925 visitors a year
Nestled in the heart of Paris, the Musée de l'Orangerie is a true gem that invites visitors to immerse themselves in the world of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art. Housed in a charming...
Petit Palais
Art museum · 1,000,000 visitors a year
Built as an exhibition palace for the 1900 Exposition Universelle, Charles Girault's Petit Palais is as much a draw as the art inside it. Its gilded entrance gate, mosaic floors, painted domes and...
Paris Zoological Park
Zoo or aquarium · 911,000 visitors a year
A 65-metre artificial rock, the Grand Rocher, has towered over the Bois de Vincennes since the zoo opened in 1934, and it remains the landmark Parisians recognise from far across the woods. The Paris...
Musée d'art moderne de Paris
Art museum · 832,088 visitors a year
Raoul Dufy's La Fée Électricité, painted for the 1937 International Exposition, fills an entire curved room here and traces the history of electricity across hundreds of panels. Nearby, a dedicated...
Palais des Papes
Art museum · 774,325 visitors a year
For most of the fourteenth century, the popes governed the Catholic Church not from Rome but from Avignon, and the Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes) was their seat. Built largely between the...
Musée Picasso
Art museum · 766,764 visitors a year
Nestled in the heart of Paris, the Musée Picasso invites visitors to immerse themselves in the vibrant world of one of history’s most influential artists, Pablo Picasso. Housed in a beautifully...
Louis Vuitton Foundation
Art museum · 708,924 visitors a year
Frank Gehry's building is the reason many people come: a cluster of white volumes wrapped in twelve curved glass sails, rising from the edge of the Bois de Boulogne on the western side of Paris....
Mémorial de Caen
History museum · 560,000 visitors a year
Built over the German command bunker that once directed defences against the Normandy landings, the Mémorial de Caen tells the story of the twentieth century's wars from a city that was largely...
Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations
549,910 visitors a year
A black concrete lattice wrapped around a glass cube marks the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations, known on signs as the Mucem, at the mouth of Marseille's Vieux-Port. The building,...
Website of Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations
Museums by city in France
France’s museum landscape stretches far beyond the major galleries of Paris. Alongside the Louvre Museum, Musée d'Orsay, and the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, visitors can explore maritime collections in Brittany, Roman archaeology in Provence, and industrial heritage in Hauts-de-France. With Mooseum, it becomes easier to compare museums across regions and plan visits that match your interests, whether you are drawn to painting, design, science, or local history.
Paris remains a central hub, with institutions such as the Museum of the History of France, Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie, and the Jardin d'Acclimatation offering very different ways to experience culture. Yet many travelers also build museum visits into wider trips: the Palace of Versailles west of the capital, wine and civilization museums in Bordeaux, and museums tied to textiles, ceramics, and resistance history in cities like Lyon, Limoges, and Grenoble.
France also stands out for the variety of places considered part of its museum world. Historic châteaux, open-air ecomuseums, natural history galleries, and zoological parks such as ZooParc de Beauval all play a role in how visitors encounter French heritage. Mooseum helps you navigate these spaces with interactive digital tours and indoor maps, useful for both short city breaks and longer journeys through different regions.
France.fr (consumer) / Atout France (industry)
Atout France (France Tourism Development Agency)
Atout France is the national tourism development agency; consumer portal at France.fr.
Map of museums in France
Museums in France: questions
- How many museums are there in France?
- Mooseum lists 507 museums in France. Paris has the most, with 149.
- Which cities in France have the most museums?
- Paris (149), Lyon (14), Strasbourg (14), Grenoble (8) and Marseille (8).
- What are the most visited museums in France?
- By annual visitors reported on Wikipedia: Museum of the History of France (8,177,695), Louvre Museum (7,400,000) and Musée d'Orsay (3,651,616).
- What kinds of museums are in France?
- Of the 346 whose type we know, the most common are art museums (178), military museums (32), zoos and aquariums (31) and historic houses, palaces and castles (20).
- Major fine art collections in Paris, including the Louvre Museum and Musée d'Orsay, span ancient civilizations, European painting, sculpture, and decorative arts
- Royal and political history is present in palace and château sites such as the Palace of Versailles, as well as museums focused on the French state and national memory
- Science and natural history are widely represented through institutions like Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie and the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
- Regional museums reflect distinct local identities, from Provençal archaeology and Alsatian folk culture to Breton maritime heritage and Lyon’s industrial past
- Family-friendly sites often combine exhibitions with gardens, animals, and hands-on learning, including places like Jardin d'Acclimatation and ZooParc de Beauval
- Many French museums close one day a week, often Monday or Tuesday, so check schedules carefully before planning a multi-museum day
- Advance booking is strongly recommended for popular sites in and around Paris, especially the Louvre Museum, Musée d'Orsay, and the Palace of Versailles
- In larger cities, public transport is usually the easiest way to reach museums; in Paris, regional train lines are useful for Versailles and other day trips
- School holidays and summer can be busy at family-oriented sites and major museums, while spring and autumn often offer easier entry times and calmer galleries
From the blog
- How Do You Do Museums? What the Research Says, and What It Doesn't
Most people visit museums a few times a year, rarely alone, and look at a painting for about 17 seconds. Here's what the research says about museum habits, and a 3-minute survey to fill in the gaps.
- The Best Museum You'll Ever Visit Is One You've Never Heard Of
The Louvre has the Mona Lisa. The Met has the Temple of Dendur. But the museum visit you'll actually remember might be a three-room house in a city you visited on a layover.
- Why You Forget Most of What You See in Museums
You spent three hours in a world-class museum last year. How much do you actually remember? The problem isn't your memory — it's how museums are designed to be consumed.
- Museum Fatigue Is Real (Here's How to Beat It)
That glazed-over feeling halfway through the Met isn't boredom. It's museum fatigue, a phenomenon studied since 1916. Here's what causes it and how to fight back.
All museums in France
Every museum in France listed on Mooseum. Search by name or type.
| Name | Type | Website | Links | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Historic house, palace or castle | www.chateau-abbadia.fr/eu |  | — | |
Art museum | www.demeureduchaos.org | | — | |
Adam Mickiewicz MuseumA single room in the Polish Library in Paris holds the Adam Mickiewicz Museum (Musée Adam Mickiewicz), which is devoted to the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz (1798–1855). Established in 1930, it... | — | www.bibliotheque-polonaise-paris-shlp.fr/index.php?id_page=229 | | — |
Transport museum | www.musee-aeroscopia.fr | | — | |
African Museum of LyonThe African Museum of Lyon (Musée Africain de Lyon) is the oldest museum in France dedicated to Africa and African art, and one of the oldest museums in Lyon. Its collection specialises in West... | Art museum | www.musee-africain-lyon.org | | — |
— | museum.agropolis.fr | | — | |
Military museum | www.musee-airborne.com | | — | |
— | webmuseo.com/ws/musee-dumas | | — | |
Archaeology museum | www.ambrussum.fr | | — | |
American Center for Art and CultureCountess Mona von Bismarck, an American philanthropist, left her Parisian townhouse and most of her estate to create a cultural centre in Paris that would strengthen American–French friendship. The... | Art museum | www.americancenterparis.org | | — |
Zoo or aquarium | www.aquarium-larochelle.com | | — | |
History museum | musee-aquitaine-bordeaux.fr | | — | |
Arab World InstituteFounded in 1980 by France together with 18 Arab countries, the Institut du monde arabe (Arab World Institute) exists to research and share knowledge about the Arab world and its cultural and... | — | www.imarabe.org | | — |
Art museum | www.artludique.com | | — | |
— | www.cezanne-en-provence.com/en | | — | |
Transport museum | www.musee-automobile-reims-champagne.com | | — | |
Art museum | www.menton.fr/Musee-du-Bastion.html | | — | |
Beaux-Arts de ParisThe Beaux-Arts de Paris, formally the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, is a working fine arts school. It traces its origins to the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, founded in... | — | www.beauxartsparis.fr | | — |
Bibliothèque-musée de l'OpéraHoused within the Opéra Garnier, the Paris Opera Library-Museum (Bibliothèque-musée de l'Opéra) is both the library and the museum of the Paris Opera. It was founded in 1866 and stands at 8 rue... | — | www.bnf.fr/en/opera | | — |
Archaeology museum | www.bibracte.fr | | — | |
Historic house, palace or castle | maisondegaulle.fr | | — | |
BnF MuseumCoins, medals, engraved gems and antiquities make up the core of the BnF Museum, a collection that dates back to 1560 and is of international importance. Long known as the Cabinet des Médailles, it... | — | www.bnf.fr/fr/departement-monnaies-medailles-antiques | | — |
Art museum | musee.brest.fr | | — | |
— | www.fontenoy-le-chateau.com/histoire-et-patrimoine/mus%C3%A9e-de-la-broderie-de-la-m%C3%A9tallurgie-et-du-patrimoine | | — | |
Cabinet des estampes et des dessinsMore than 200,000 prints and drawings make up the Cabinet des estampes et des dessins, Strasbourg's municipal print room. Its holdings span the 14th to the 19th century and include woodcuts and... | Art museum | www.musees.strasbourg.eu/cabinet-des-estampes-et-des-dessins | | — |