1-Star Reviews of Some of the Greatest Museums in the World

Several years back, we did a piece about reviews of the U.S. National Parks that were so bad that they were funny. You can click here to see them.

As it turns out, it’s not just the U.S. National Parks – historic, revered, protected – that have gotten panned at one time or another. Some of the most respected museums in the world have also been lampooned and lambasted by visitors who sometimes either didn’t “get it” or who wanted to give a 1-star for more twisted reasons (but unless it’s really blatant, sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between a truly bad review and, well, s**tposting).

Anyway, here are some more memorable 1-star reviews, via Tripadvisor, Yelp, etc.:

American Museum of Natural History (US)

Big disappointment! The Americans make a big deal of it, but then total disappointment! The film “Night at the Museum” really embellished the place and the reality is quite different. — Globetrotteur-2012
I couldn’t really enjoy it was too hot in there. Felt like the heating was on full blast when there should be air con. Also no clear directions to toilets. Other than that great place to visit. — Sheila haworth

Anne Frank House (Am)

I live in Amsterdam but i never really got the opportunity to visit Anne Frank House because there are always to many tourists. I visited it once, had to wait for 2 hours to get in. When we where inside, we had to walk in a straight line. It was very claustrofobic — Floor V.
they push the audio guides on you pretty hard, saying you’d not know a thing without listening to the guides as you go by scanning these numbered stations. It felt dystopian. As if we’re not addicted to our devices enough, every room you’ll hear the *beep* *beep *beep* of the audio guides getting scanned, followed by full-volume commentary in various languages, coming from every audio device in every corner of the claustrophobic rooms. — yummymayo

Boston Children’s Museum (US)

f you don’t have kids, and don’t particularly enjoy being jostled by hundreds of babies, toddlers, and kindergartners, I implore you, stay far away! Upon entering, you’ll notice a “stroller parking lot” with the most enormous baby buggies imaginable. The place is teeming with cranky parents and whiny children — Najely S.
(From 2020) Once PB&J Cafe opens, if your child has a peanut allergy, you’ll need to stay away from the museum. Peanut butter spreads very easily and cross contamination will result in an allergic reaction. Boston Children’s Museum apparently doesn’t care about life-threatening anaphylaxis. If you’re donating to Boston Children’s Museum, just be aware that there’s probably graft going on where Stonewall Kitchen is making monetary payments to the museum’s directors in order for their PB&J Cafe to be approved. When the inevitable lawsuit happens as a result of a child experiencing a peanut-induced anaphylaxis, it’ll be your donations being used to pay the damages while the museum’s directors pocketing the graft payments. — Henry J.

The British Museum (UK)

I couldn’t walk with my drum pad and sticks in because security claimed that this is used for beating! But let thru a woman with a wooden umbrella, can she not smack the crap out of anyone with that? 3 seconds later another dude with a metal water bottle – this cannot also be used to beat anyone. But sticks that can be easily broken in half are. Wtf. Meanwhile inside they sell wooden swords is that a joke… — Kinga M.
I’ve no idea what the museum is like as I am still in a queue despite having booked a timed entry ticket. 45 mins later still waiting for entry. — 968amys

Chateau De Versaille (Fr)

Have you ever gotten lost in IKEA on a weekend? You just wanted a lamp and a meatball, but somehow ended up trapped in the showroom maze, questioning your life choices while fending off rogue shopping carts and passive-aggressive couples. Now imagine that, but royal—and welcome to Versailles. — Departure53389312761
Someone should have told Louis that ornament is not art, that gilding is not golden, that quantity (esp. all those portraits) is no substitute for quality, and that sheer size (those gardens) can not replace elegance. We were both rather depressed by how the whole place is exhibited. It’s treated as a conveyor belt for tourists (€32 a head) and it shows: way too many people let in at once. The visit was the low point of our entire four weeks in France. We much preferred the tractor museum in Vierzon. — Andrew C.

Louvre Museum (Fr)

If you love squeezing through the exhibitions with thousands and thousands of people, this is the place for you. The chaos begins as soon as you enter the house, even with previously purchased timeslot tickets you have to wait in a 200m long line for at least 1h. Then a tour of poorly air-conditioned or non-air-conditioned premises with constant crowding and scrambles. Poor signage and labels of the exhibits only in French. A visit to a museum, you would not wish for it! — operuwe
Very crowded especially around the mons Lisa, tiktok influences ( what ever they are) hogging the spaces in front having to be moved along by staff. Way too complicated to find what you’re looking for. Too easy to miss parts important to you. No organisation it’s just a free for all. — emily S

Musée de l’Orangerie (Fr)

Felt like a total philistine here. Not sure why the French rave about Monet’s lilies (or most of the other paintings) and really didn’t get why people were queueing to get in. Would rather stick pins in my eyes than visit again. — JoannaF
I was shocked at my recent visit by the utter ridiculousness of the Water Lilies rooms. Monet’s Water Lilies now serve as wallpaper backdrops for social media performers. Teams of these amateur actors all perform the same charade, one person strolling in front of Water Lilies while the other person videos the spectacle. The performer takes 6-10 slow strides in front of a Water Lilies panel, desperately trying to convince people that she/he is intently interested in the artwork. The stroll ends exactly the same every time: the subject slowly turns their head to glance over their shoulder at the videographer. It’s a wrap. And not just one pair of these amateur actors, but several of them waiting their turn to perform the exact same charade. All I could do is bust out laughing at the self-indulged behavior. The museum needs to prohibit any and all photography in the Water Lilies rooms. — 690michelew

National Air & Space Museum (US)

what a disappointment the air and space museum was!…I visited about 40 years ago- looks like nothing has changed…some of the exhibits looked like an 8th grade science project — mjpk25
i went to this expecting monkeys and i came short-handed. there were only like one fake monkey. unbelievable. — Tony201220122012

National Gallery (UK)

Why on earth change the gents toilets??? One star based on this alone! Ow the gents toilets her are all cubicles with the basin and hand dryer within. This results in a huge queue as you can’t just nip in to the loo quickly. Why would you do this?? Never queued for the gents before and suddenly had to wait 10 mins desperate for a wee! What an incredibly backwards step for no apparent reason. – zotar
For a national institution this has the worse layout and the worst signage I’ve ever seen. Having missed the Siena exhibition I visited to buy the catalogue. Other museums in London, you can walk into the shop without having to visit the galleries. There is ONE entrance for this enormous building, and to get to the shop you have to walk the entire length of the gallery, down some poky little stairs, through the cafe, past the toilets then hallelujah, you can give the NG some money. Then you leave by a little door in the corner – I’ve seen bigger exits on Tesco Express.
Dreadful design. Absolutely awful. On the bright side, the descriptions of the paintings (at least the ones I looked at) don’t beat you over the head about slavery (whether in context or not) like some places I could name. — Sarah London

Natural History Museum (UK)

It is free and that is good but u have to wait for 25-60mins in a que till u get in and then u first think it is going to be a great museum but no. It is sooooooooooooooooo boring! Don’t go. — Angelina B
The number of people MUST be controlled better. The dinosaur section was dangerously overcrowded, it was impossible to see anything, it’s a slow moving cattle run that is full of people with buggys, huge backpacks and no manners. There were people panicking from the shoving crowds and getting quite upset at the lack of space.
Every single part of the museum was like this, it’s a painfully slow, torturous experience to get from one section to another.
Long queues for the toilets. Long queues for the cafes and even the shops were impossible to navigate.
What little we saw of the exhibits were good, however there seemed to be very little actual artifacts on display, we saw the word ‘replica’ used more than we expected.
Overall we felt stressed, exhausted and disappointed by the entire experience.
This museum is not Autism/disability friendly. — Thorfrost

Van Gogh Museum (Am)

Had to queue for over half an hour to get in. It was expensive and Van Gogh is ok if you like art that could have been done by a child. — Sally N Mick B
We entered into a room with what can only be described as 115,000 people. It was like boarding a packed train in New Delhi. All of which were stood 15 feet away from the actual painting taking photos. This is potentially the most moronic behaviour I’ve ever cast my eyes upon. In the book shop mid way through the exhibition, they sell a concise and reasonably priced book of Van Gogh’s masterpieces, every page containing a high definition, large print image of each painting thusly accompanied by a well versed description of the aforementioned painting. Why people choose to take a low resolution, dark, phone camera photo when this book is available baffles the mind beyond comprehension. Van Gogh would be spinning in his grave. I have waited my whole life to experience this gallery, I have been a keen fan since I was a young boy, being tutted at, asked to move and sometimes physically pushed aside when trying to view some of these paintings has not only made me fall out of love with galleries, but art itself in any form.– sergioalbani

Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel Tour & Basilica Access (It)

No bathroom facilities for clients. Guide has strong Italian accent which is not a problem, but spoke too rapidly. Thanks ok — Wockybru
I was not able to get for my tour at 9.30, so I asked to get there for later one on the same day, but they refused to reschedule my hour time. — Jacek C

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