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The Vatican Museums, Vatican City, Italy -

Must-see exhibit: The Sistine Chapel housed in the Apostolic Palace and famed for the frescoes that decorate the interior, especially the chapel's ceiling and 'The Last Judgment' by Michelangelo.

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National Museum of Beirut, Lebanon -

Must-see exhibit: The 2nd century marble sarcophagus with the legend of Achilles, depicting scenes from the 'Iliad' representing episodes of the Trojan War.

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Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England -

Must-see exhibit: The bizarre 18th-century Tipu's Tiger, a wooden sculpture depicting a tiger mauling an unfortunate soldier. Inside the animal is an organ that can be operated by turning a handle.

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National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C., USA -

Must-see exhibit: The Apollo 11 command module Columbia, which carried astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins to the Moon and back during the lunar landing mission in July 1969.

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Neues Museum, Berlin, Germany -

Must-see exhibit: The Nefertiti Bust, likely created around 1345 BCE, remains a cultural symbol of ancient Egypt. The bust is 48 cm (19 in) tall and made of a limestone core covered with painted stucco layers.

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Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands -

Must-see exhibit: The best-known painting in the museum's collection is 'The Night Watch' by Rembrandt. The colossal painting was made in 1642.

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Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, USA -

Must-see exhibit: The Blue Qur'an, a late 9th- to early 10th-century Qur'an manuscript in Kufic calligraphy described by scholars as "one of the most extraordinary luxury manuscripts ever created."

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The Louvre, Paris, France -

Must-see exhibit: Leonardo da Vinci's 'Mona Lisa.' On permanent display, this masterpiece of Italian Renaissance is believed to have been painted between 1503 and 1506. However, da Vinci may have continued working on it as late as 1517.

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Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China -

Must-see exhibit: The Gallery of Chinese Bronze, ancient pieces from the Shang and Zhou dynasties that include a rare zun (ritual bronze wine vessel) in the shape of an ox.

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Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, Portugal -

Must-see exhibit: The René Lalique jewelry collection, displayed in its own room.

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The Acropolis Museum, Athens, Greece -

Must-see exhibit: The 50-m (164-ft) frieze of the Parthenon, which is mounted on a structure with exactly the same dimensions as the cella (inner chamber of the temple) of the Parthenon, allowing exceptional viewing of every detail.

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State Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia -

Must-see exhibit: The Treasury Gallery's opulent Gold Rooms showcase glittering masterpieces from Eurasia and the Orient, artifacts that include gold, silver, and royal jewels that belonged to the Russian czars.

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The British Museum, London, England -

Must-see exhibit: The Rosetta Stone, housed in the Egyptian gallery, was carved in 196 BCE with three different versions of a decree—in Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, Demotic script, and Greek script.

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International Center of Photography, New York City, USA -

Must-see exhibit: The Farm Security Administration photographers collection, which includes Dorothea Lange's iconic 1936 photograph 'Migrant Mother.'

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The Prado, Madrid, Spain -

Must-see exhibit: 'The Garden of Earthly Delights' by Hieronymus Bosch. A triptych oil painting on oak panel, it was painted between 1490 and 1510.

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The Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy -

Must-see exhibit: Sandro Botticelli's 'Primavera,' a large panel painting in tempera made in the late 1470s or early 1480s.

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Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands -

Must-see exhibit: The artist's 1885 painting 'The Potato Eaters,' one of Van Gogh's masterpieces.

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Natural History Museum, London, England -

Must-see exhibit: The enormous blue whale skeleton suspended in the museum's Hintze Hall.

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Viking Ship Museum, Oslo, Norway -

Must-see exhibit: The completely whole Oseberg ship, the best preserved of the three Viking-era vessels on display.

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Picasso Museum, Barcelona, Spain -

Must-see exhibit: The series of 58 paintings on 'Las Meninas.' The suite is fully preserved at the museum and is the only complete series of the artist that remains together. 

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National Museum, New Delhi, India -

Must-see exhibit: The 12th-century chola bronze of Nataraja.

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National Gallery, London, England -

Must-see exhibit: John Constable's 'The Hay Wain' is by far the artist's best-known work. Painted in 1821, it's one of the greatest and most popular English paintings.

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Egyptian Museum, Cairo, Egypt -

Must-see exhibit: The gold mask of Tutankhamun, composed of 11 kg (24 Ib) of solid gold.

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Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France -

Must-see exhibit: Renoir's 'Bal du moulin de la Galette,' painted in 1876.

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Queen Sofia Museum, Madrid, Spain -

Must-see exhibit: Picasso's masterpiece 'Guernica,' painted in 1937 in response to the bombing of Guernica, a Basque Country town in northern Spain, by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy at the request of the Spanish Nationalists.

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San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, USA -

Must-see exhibit: Louise Bourgeois' freaky 1994 steel sculpture 'The Nest.'

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National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City -

Must-see exhibit: The Mictlantecuhtli disc, Aztec God of the Dead.

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Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain -

Must-see exhibit: The Jeff Koons' 'Puppy' sculpture, a 12-m (40-ft) tall West Highland terrier carpeted with flowering plants.

See also: These are the world's busiest museums.

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