Most Popular U.S. Museums
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The American Association of Museums estimates that there are approximately 600 million visits to U.S. museums annually. AAM spokesman Jason Hall says that while that number is high, it's been relatively flat in the last few years, and museums are thinking about ways to increase visitorship.
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Up Next: National Museum of Natural History -
National Museum of Natural History
Location: Washington, D.C.
Annual Visitors: 5.8 million
Scoop: The National Mall's Museum of Natural History is "dedicated to understanding the natural world and our place in it." In 2006, hordes of others shared that dedication -- free of charge. 5.8 million visitors, the most of any U.S. museum, came to gaze at the museum's more than 125 million natural science specimens and cultural artifacts.
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Up Next: Museum of Modern Art -
Museum of Modern Art
Location: New York
Annual Visitors: 2.22 Million
Scoop: Started in the late 1920s by a trio of philanthropists including Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., the midtown museum now houses more than 150,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, architectural models and drawings, and design objects. A recent renovation nearly doubled the capacity of the former facility.
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Up Next: The Getty Center -
The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center
Location: Los Angeles
Annual Visitors: 1.3 million
Scoop: The newest Getty Museum, which opened in 1997 on a hilltop in the Santa Monica mountains, draws as much attention for its architecture as the art within. Its sleek off-white buildings, designed by Richard Meier, house European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts, and European and American photographs.
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All 25 Museums
Up Next: Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center -
Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
Location: Chantilly, Va.
Annual Visitors: 1 million
Scoop: Located near Washington Dulles International Airport, this companion museum to the National Mall's Air and Space center is actually larger than the main space in D.C., and displays aircraft on three levels. Highlights include the space shuttle Enterprise and the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay.
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All 25 Museums
Up Next: Indianapolis Children's Museum -
Indianapolis Children's Museum
Location: Indianapolis
Annual Vistors: 1.2 million
Scoop: This 400,000-square-foot facility proclaims itself the "largest children's museum in the world." It's interactive exhibits include "Dinosphere: Now You're In Their World," a "one-of-a-kind immersive dinosaur experience."
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All 25 Museums
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