China's National Museum ranked second in a list of the "top 20 most popular museums around the world" created by German newspaper Die Welt, with France's Louvre and Washington's National Museum of Natural History in the first and third place, respectively.

Besides the National Museum, there were also two other contingents in China, namely, Taipei's The National Palace Museum and Shanghai Science & Technology Museum, in the 10th and 13th spots, respectively. Moreover, China's National Museum is dubbed the world's largest museum spanning an area of 195,000 square meters.

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The report revealed that European museums remain the most visited with nine of them in the final list, while US has six and Asia with five. In terms of museum resources, the cities of London has three, Washington four and Paris three included in the newspaper's list.

Last month, China's National Museum started embracing tradition mixed with a tinge of technology as it launched its online shop to expand its market for cultural items. The online shop will reportedly feature themed products as well as limited seasonal items on festivals and holidays.

Beijing's Palace Museum, which launched its online store on October 2010, was the first to take this step, while many others are attempting to venture into the online world. It displays not only China's history but also the history of other parts of the world.

The National Museum of China is the product of two merging museums, namely, National Museum of Chinese History and the National Museum of Chinese Revolution. Tourists can visit the museum which is located on the east side of Tiananmen Square. 

Tagsmuseums, China National Museum, The National Palace Museum, Shanghai Science & Technology Museum