Top ten museums in Europe

What better way to cap a city break this spring than with a visit to some of the very best museums in Europe? Celebrating the archeological, artistic, and historic development of some of the world's greatest cities, museums are a valuable window on the past, and the perfect destination for all inquisitive travellers.

Here travelbite.co.uk offers some fantastic holiday ideas – taking a look at the top ten museums in Europe.

Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, London

Madame Tussauds first opened its doors in London over 200 years ago on Baker Street, but moved to Marylebone Road in 1884. There are now a total of eight Madame Tussauds wax museums located around the world and, despite its age, the London location still draws in the crowds and is the top museum in Europe.

From royalty to rock stars, visitors can see a bit of everything and 2009 additions to the collection include Barack Obama - who was unveiled on the January 15th - and racing superstar Lewis Hamilton.

For more information visit the Madame Tussauds website.

Louvre, Paris

The Louvre museum is located in the Louvre Palace which was originally a fortress in the 12th century. It is one of the largest museums in the world – at 210,000 square metres - and is the world's most visited art museum.

It exemplifies traditional French architecture from the Renaissance, and has 35,000 works of art, displayed in over 60,000 square metres of exhibition space.

If you want to know more, head over to the Louvre website.

The British Museum, London

The British Museum is famous around the world for its vast archeological and antiques collection.

In its 94 galleries there are more than seven million objects from every continent.

Visitors can find treasures such as the Parthenon Marbles, the Rosetta Stone, as well as Egyptian mummies. Since the new millennium the museum also includes the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court, the largest covered square in Europe.

To find out more head over to the British Museum website.

Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

Museo del Prado is one of the oldest museums in Europe, built in 1819. The museum has one of the finest collections of European Art; highlights of the collections are the Spanish masters, Velázquez, Goya and El Greco, Italian artists such as Rafael or Titian, and the Flemish artist Rubens.

It is also one of the most frequented sites in Madrid.

To find out more head over to the Museo Nacional del Prado website.

The London Dungeon, London

At the London Dungeon Museum you can see the dark site of London.

The dungeon opened in 1976 and now more than 40 of the most horrific chapters in history are depicted. There are old classics, such as the recreation of the Jack the Ripper murders as well as a new Sweeney Todd attraction.

For more information on the London Dungeon, head over to the attraction's website.

Miniature Wonderland, Hamburg

The Miniature Wonderland in Hamburg is the largest model railway in the world.

The museum is located in Hamburg’s Speicherstadt (the historic warehouse district in the harbour area) and is one of Germany’s top tourist attractions.

IT is divided into seven different sections, which show - with great attention to detail - miniature versions of the German areas Harz, Hamburg and Knuffigen (a fictitious city), as well as, America, Scandinavia and Switzerland.

To take a closer look at this miniature world head over to the Miniature Wonderland website.

Anne Frank Museum, Amsterdam

The Anne Frank museum is the former hiding place of probably the most famous Jewish family of the Second World War.

During the war Anne Frank wrote a diary in the secret annex of the house which was later published. In 2008 almost one million people visited the old house, on the Prinsengracht, to see where Anne Frank hid for over two years.

To learn more about Anne Frank head over to the attraction's website.

Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

The Uffizi Gallery has an average of 1.7 million visitors per year and has a collection of the most important masterpieces from the medieval age to the Italian Renaissance.

Its 1,700 paintings, 300 sculptures and hundreds of other pieces are distributed in more than 45 rooms. The museum, located in Piazza della Signoria in Florence, was founded in the mid 1500s by the Medici family.

Some of the most famous paintings include, The Adoration of the Magi, Primavera, and The Birth of Venus by Botticelli.

More information on the Uffizi here.

Sex Museum, Amsterdam

Amsterdam’s notorious sex museum is located on the Damrak, one of the main streets in the heart of the Dutch city.

The Venustempel houses a collection of erotic paintings, sculptures and artifacts. The sex museum expresses the liberality in the Netherlands and takes its visitors on a journey through the history of sex from classical antiquity to this day.

To get closer to the Sex Museum follow the link.

Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris

The idea for the Centre Pompidou was thought up by the French president Georges Pompidou and was only completed after his term in office in 1977.

The design of the museum is influenced by 70s architects Piano and Rogers. In the Centre Pompidou visitors will find a collection of modern art from the 20th century, additionally there is a public library and the Institute of Music and Acoustic Research.

Important temporary exhibitions from the last years include: Dali (1980), Kandinsky (1984), Matisse (1993), Joseph Beuys (1994) and Francis Bacon (1996).

For more information on the Pompidou Centre for the link.

More information

The top ten European museums list was based on the popularity of searches on trivago – a European travel portal based in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Chris O'Toole