The Largest Museums on Earth

By collection size, the Smithsonian Institution leads with about 154 million objects, most of them at the Natural History museum. The Hermitage holds over 3 million items, the Louvre about 615,000, and the Metropolitan 1.5 million.

By floor space, the Louvre covers 72,735 square meters and the Hermitage complex over 66,000. By visitors, the Louvre, Vatican, British Museum, and Met top the annual lists..