Louvre Hits Record Number of Visitors

Just in case its status as the world's most popular museum of fine arts wasn't already cemented, a new ranking shows that the Louvre attracted a record 10.2 million people last year.

Those numbers put it ahead of such institutions as the National Museum of China, in Beijing (with 8 million visitors); the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.(which had 7 million visitors) and the legendary Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City (6.7 million visitors), according to BBC News.

BBC reported that a Beyonce and Jay-Z pop video made in the museum may have helped boost the visitor numbers.

In addition, Louvre director Jean-Luc Martinez said the robust numbers are an indication that Paris has recovered from such challenges as the fall in tourism after the 2015 Islamist terror attacks.

Nearly 75 percent of the Louvre's visitors in 2018 were foreigners, according to BBC. Paris' visitor numbers dropped by 30 percent in the days and months after the headline-grabbing 2015 attacks. However, by 2017, the Louvre's visitor numbers already climbed back to 8.1 million.

The Louvre houses legendary works of art including Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa and countless other priceless masterpieces. Beyonce and Jay-Z's Apeshit video shows the duo posing in front of the museum's various famed artwork.

This autumn the Louvre is slated to open a major exhibition celebrating the genius of Leonardo da Vinci.

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