• A European gallery might house statues from ancient European cultures.Roman art gallery, Vatican Museums image by Eishier from Fotolia.com
  
  Often the term art gallery is interchanged with art museum. There are thousands of museums all over the world and many thousands more art galleries. An important European art gallery is one that holds some of the world's most famous and highly revered works of art by European artists.
  
  

The Louvre

• The Louvre, located in Paris, is arguably the best known museum in the world. The most important European works of art are held in its galleries. The famous "Mona Lisa" painting by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci is a must-see for visitors to the Louvre. The "Mona Lisa" is considered to be the most famous painting in human history. Other pieces include ancient European sculptures from Greece, paintings from the Italian and French renaissance periods and medieval paintings from the early periods of Christianity.
  
  Musee du Louvre
  
  Direction des Publics
  
  Visites autonomes
  
  75058 Paris cedex 01
  
  France
  
  011-33-01-4020-5760
  
  louvre.fr
  
  

The National Gallery

• The National Gallery Museum, Britain's most famous museum, is located in London. This gallery houses paintings by some of Europe's most revered artists. Works are on display from Raphael, Manet, Leonardo da Vinci, Renoir and Monet. From the renaissance to impressionism, every period of artwork is represented. Some specific works at the museum include, da Vinci's "The Virgin of The Rocks," Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" and Botticelli's "Venus and Mars." This gallery specializes in paintings and has hundreds of them.
  
  The National Gallery
  
  Trafalgar Square
  
  London
  
  WC2N 5DN
  
  England
  
  011-44-020-7747-2885
  
  nationalgallery.org.uk
  
  

Orsay Museum

• The Musee d'Orsay, as it is typically called, translates to the Orsay Museum in English. The museum is housed in an old railway station known as the Gare d'Orsay. This museum is best known for an extensive collection of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings, although its European art extends to other media and collections. Many of the impressionists were French. This museum's European works are a fine complement to what is located at the Louvre, also in Paris. The museum hosts pieces from Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cezanne, Seurat and Gauguin, to name a few.
  
  Musee d'Orsay
  
  62, rue de Lille
  
  75343 Paris Cedex 07
  
  France
  
  011-33-01-4049-4814
  
  musee-orsay.fr