In a world of crummy online comments and sometimes brutally honest reviews, The Art Institute of Chicago has something to celebrate.
The museum was named the best in the world by travel review site TripAdvisor.com, which ranked museums according to the quality and quantity of reviews written in 2013.
"Everyone here could not be more excited," said Rebecca Baldwin, director of public affairs for the Art Institute.
The ranking came as a surprise, she said. Last year, the museum ranked 3rd in the world and 1st in the United States. She said the museum doesn't actively monitor reviews on sites like TripAdvisor, but does keep up with chatter on social media for feedback from patrons.
"We do try to respond to customer feedback aggressively," she said.
Baldwin said she credits the 2013 exhibit "Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity" as one of the draws for bringing in so many patrons last year. She said it was one of the most popular exhibits of the past decade.
Just like any institution that has a dedicated online reviews page, however, not every comment is positive. The Art Institute's TripAdvisor page currently lists 13 reviews tagged "terrible.""Underwhelming" and "Bad food for children, terrible art" are among the titles. TripAdvisor, however, notes the positive as well, including one user who commented, "The building itself is architecturally significant and breathtaking. The collections are world-renowned."
The rest of the global rankings are as follows:
2. National Museum of Anthropology (Museo Nacional de Antropologia), Mexico City
3. State Hermitage Museum and Winter Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia
4. The Getty Center, Los Angeles
5. Galleria dell'Accademia/Statue of David, Florence, Italy
6. Musee d'Orsay, Paris
7. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
8. The Acropolis Museum, Athens, Greece
9. Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain
10. Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, Jerusalem
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