Why a museum’s seating matters more than you think

The bulk of museum visitors’ attention is paid, perhaps rightly, to the works of art on the walls — but what about those we sit on?

Museum seats “can make all the difference between a one-time visit and the first of many,” Apollo Magazine wrote.

People visit museums not just for the art, but for escaping the heat or rain, making a good first date impression, or simply taking a post-lunch snooze. And when it comes to the best seating, more is more: Consider the “plush, high-backed” seats of Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum, the 360-degree sofas of Oxford’s Ashmolean, and the “many-cushioned” couch at Stockholm’s ArkDes.

But “the best kind of museum seat can’t be seen anyway — because you’re sitting on it.”