Britain: permanently free, always
The British national collections have charged nothing since the 1990s and, in the case of the British Museum, since 1753. Tate Modern, the National Gallery, the V and A, the Natural History Museum and the Scottish National Gallery all follow the same rule: permanent collection free, temporary exhibitions ticketed.
France: the municipal layer
Paris charges for its national museums and gives away its city ones. The Carnavalet, the Petit Palais and several others cost nothing for the permanent collection, which almost no visitor knows, because everyone is queuing at the Louvre. Under-26 residents of the EU get into the national museums free as well.
Free evenings and free days
Most cities operate a scheme. The Glyptotek in Copenhagen is free on the last Wednesday of the month, MoMA on the first Friday evening, MMCA Seoul on Wednesday and Saturday evenings, MNAC in Barcelona on Saturday afternoons.
Free by design
Three of the best museums in this guide never charge at all: the Getty Center and The Broad in Los Angeles, and the National Museum of Korea. Two of them ask for a timed reservation, which is the only barrier.
The permanently free category nobody counts
Every commercial gallery in every city on this site is free, always, with no ticket and no reservation. In New York alone that is about two hundred rooms in Chelsea showing work that will be in museums in a decade.
