QUICK TAKES - March 31, 2009

The Louvre in Paris and the British Museum in London were the world’s most visited museums last year, drawing 8.5 million and 5.93 million people respectively, the Art Newspaper said in an annual ranking.

The Louvre was also in first place in the 2007 ranking, when the British Museum was in fourth position.

This time, the National Gallery of Art in Washington came in third, with 4.96 million visitors, followed by London’s Tate Modern (4.95 million) and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (4.82 million), according to the Art Newspaper, which got its figures from each museum.