7 New Museums Around the World Worth Travelling For in 2026

From restored landmarks to striking new cultural spaces, these are the museums on our radar this year.

Words by: Aqilah Najwa Jamaluddin

Museums have always shaped the cultural identity of cities. This year brings a particularly interesting wave of new and renewed institutions, with architects working across historic buildings, ambitious new structures and evolving ideas of what a museum can offer.

From Muara Arts in Kuala Lumpur to Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, here are museums worth adding to your 2026 travel list.

Muara Arts

Kuala Lumpur’s newest cultural destination is arriving in the historic heart of the city. Muara Arts will occupy a row of early 20th century shophouses beside Medan Pasar, transforming the historic buildings into a new home for Southeast Asian modern and contemporary art.

The gallery spans approximately 1,858 square metres and forms part of the wider revitalisation of Medan Pasar, Kuala Lumpur’s only public square. Rather than introducing a new object into the cityscape, the project works with the existing urban fabric, giving a familiar piece of the city a new cultural role.

Muara Arts will be Malaysia’s first not for profit gallery dedicated to Southeast Asian modern and contemporary art, with its inaugural programme set to explore the region’s artistic histories and contemporary practices.

Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Date Completed: Opening 1 November 2026

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National Geographic Museum of Exploration

The National Geographic Society has transformed its Washington DC headquarters into a significantly expanded museum dedicated to exploration, science and the natural world.

Following a four year expansion project, the Museum of Exploration now offers more than 100,000 square feet of exhibition and public space. Its galleries combine objects from National Geographic’s archives with immersive technology, film and interactive installations, bringing stories of exploration into a more contemporary museum environment.

The result is less a conventional display of artefacts and more an environment built around discovery. Visitors move between stories of explorers, scientific research, biodiversity and conservation, reflecting National Geographic’s evolving role in documenting the world.

Location: Washington DC, USA
Date Completed: Opened 26 June 2026

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V&A East Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum’s expansion into East London has created one of the city’s most anticipated new cultural buildings. Designed by O’Donnell + Tuomey, V&A East Museum forms part of the East Bank cultural district in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

The five storey building is designed to feel open and accessible, with two entrances connecting the museum directly to the surrounding public realm. Its galleries present more than 500 objects from the V&A collection, spanning design, fashion, art and material culture.

The museum also places considerable emphasis on its relationship with the local community. More than 30,000 young people contributed to the wider development of V&A East, helping shape an institution intended to feel connected to East London’s changing cultural landscape.

Location: London, England
Date Completed: Opened 18 April 2026

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Shenzhen Natural History Museum

Shenzhen’s newest cultural landmark is designed to feel as though it has emerged from the landscape around it. Located beside Yanzi Lake in Pingshan District, the Shenzhen Natural History Museum takes the form of a river delta, with five large conical structures following the movement of the surrounding waterways.

At 105,300 square metres, it is the largest comprehensive natural history museum in southern China. Eight permanent galleries take visitors through the history of the universe, Earth, evolution, biodiversity and Shenzhen’s own natural environment.

The relationship between building and landscape continues onto the roof, where more than 600 metres of walking trails connect the museum to the surrounding parks and wetlands. Instead of separating the museum from nature, the project makes the landscape part of the experience.

Location: Shenzhen, China
Date Completed: Opened 28 July 2026

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Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art

On the shores of Jinji Lake, the Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art reinterprets one of the city’s most recognisable architectural traditions: the classical Chinese garden.

Designed by BIG, the 60,000 square metre museum is organised as twelve interconnected pavilions beneath a continuous ribbon like roof. The design takes inspiration from the traditional garden corridor, or lang, creating a sequence of galleries, courtyards and gardens rather than a single monolithic museum volume.

Rippled glass and warm toned stainless steel reflect the surrounding water, sky and landscape, allowing the building to shift visually with its setting. The result is an architecture that sits somewhere between museum, garden and public landscape.

The museum soft opened in late 2025, with its formal inauguration scheduled for summer 2026.

Location: Suzhou, China
Date Completed: Grand opening 2026

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Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

Los Angeles is gaining one of the world’s most ambitious new museums dedicated to storytelling. Founded by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will bring together works spanning illustration, painting, photography, comics, animation and cinema.

Designed by Ma Yansong of MAD, the building takes a distinctly sculptural approach. Its sweeping form rises from Exposition Park, while a surrounding landscape designed by Studio MLA extends the museum into the park itself.

The museum is particularly notable for the breadth of its definition of narrative art. Rather than separating fine art from popular culture, its collection brings different forms of visual storytelling into the same institution, including material connected to the history of cinema and the Star Wars universe.

The museum will open with more than 30 installations and exhibitions, including a cinema programme designed as part of the institution’s opening season.

Location: Los Angeles, USA
Date Completed: Opening 22 September 2026

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Guggenheim Abu Dhabi

After years of anticipation, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi finally has an opening date. Designed by Frank Gehry, the museum will open on Saadiyat Island on 11 December 2026.

Its architecture is conceived as a series of monumental forms that create large scale galleries and covered courtyards. The design draws from the industrial studio spaces used by contemporary artists, while its environmental strategy responds specifically to Abu Dhabi’s climate.

Covered courtyards, natural ventilation and cooling strategies inspired by traditional wind towers help create a museum environment suited to the desert setting. Gehry’s design also gives contemporary art an unusually expansive architectural framework, with galleries intended to accommodate works of considerable scale.

With its opening, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will become another major cultural anchor on Saadiyat Island, joining a growing cluster of institutions that has transformed the island into one of the region’s most ambitious cultural destinations.

Location: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Date Completed: Opening 11 December 2026