10 Oldest Museums in the World You Can Still Visit

The Capitoline Museums in Rome, founded in 1471 when Pope Sixtus IV donated ancient bronze statues to the city, are considered the oldest museums. The Vatican Museums began in 1506 with the Laocoön Group. The Uffizi Gallery in Florence, commissioned by Cosimo I de' Medici in 1560, opened as a museum after Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici's 1737 bequest. The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford opened in 1683 as the first purpose-built public museum. The Louvre in Paris opened in 1793 during the French Revolution. The Museo del Prado in Madrid opened in 1819 using royal collections. The National Museum of Denmark was established in 1807. The British Museum opened in 1759 based on Sir Hans Sloane's collection. The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna opened in 1891 housing Habsburg collections. The Egyptian Museum in Cairo opened in 1902 to stem antiquities leaving Egypt; the Grand Egyptian Museum near Giza has been opening gradually since 2023.