What’s on this year: opened in 1793, the Louvre continues to hold its place as the most visited museum in the world, drawing in a staggering 8,737,050 visitors in 2024 alone. And while the Mona Lisa still commands a crowd, there’s plenty worth queuing up for this year. On view only till July 28, the landmark exhibition The Mamluks throws light on the lesser-known Islamic empire that ruled from 1250 to 1517, through 260 artworks that trace their political power. Till August 24, Louvre Couture examines the intersections of fashion and art history, placing 65 garments and accessories from major fashion houses in dialogue with the museum’s own decorative arts collection. Another temporary show, A Passion for China (till August 25), delves into 18th to 19th century Chinese porcelains, scrolls, and jades from the collection of Adolphe Thiers, a French president with a little-known passion for Chinese art. The Met au Louvre (on till September 28) brings ten major Near Eastern works from New York’s Met to Paris in a rare collaboration between the two institutions. And on view till September 10, 2025, Africa Rising II by Barbara Chase-Riboud marks the artist’s first major exhibition in France, a powerful monument to Black beauty that revisits her seminal 1997 work.
Entry fee: €17 (Rs1,710)
Timings: 9am to 6pm
Vatican Museums, Vatican City: 6,825,436 visitors in 2024
Karl Weatherly / Getty Images
What’s on this year: the Vatican Museums welcomed 6,825,436 visitors in 2024, making them the most visited public museums within a single city-state. And with 2025 being a Holy Year, much of what’s on view is shaped by the spiritual and cultural significance of the Jubilee. At the Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo in Rome, an exhibition that began in December 2024 and runs till 21 September 2025 brings together Raphael’s Stoning of Saint Stephen tapestry and Ghirlandaio’s Adoration of the Child, alongside other 15th-century Nativity scenes. Timed for the Christmas season and lead-up to the Holy Year, it offers a rare look at Vatican masterpieces outside their usual context. Also at Castel Gandolfo, starting 5 April 2025, Bellini and Sodoma, Passion of Christ presents Bellini’s Lamentation over the Dead Christ and Sodoma’s Dead Christ, two deeply affecting Renaissance works that explore the pathos and drama of the Passion. Meanwhile, in the Vatican Museums proper, the newly restored Deposition of Christ is at the centre of The Mantegna of Pompeii, on view till 6 September 2025. But the most significant show of the year might be Jubilees, Rare Documents from the Vatican Collections, held in the Pauline Rooms just off the Sistine Hall. Running through the year, the exhibition traces the evolution of Jubilee years from 1300 to the present through papal decrees, manuscripts, and objects, many displayed to the public for the first time. In celebration of the Jubilee, there’s also a new series of 13 musical evenings hosted from February through November 2025, at both the Vatican Museums and the Castel Gandolfo Museum Complex, included in the regular entry, marking a new chapter for Music at the Museums.
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