PARIS — “Selfie sticks” have now been banned at a French palace and a British museum, joining a growing list of global tourist attractions to take such measures.

The devices are used to improve snapshots, but critics say they are obnoxious and potentially dangerous. Officials at Palace of Versailles outside Paris, and Britain’s National Gallery in London, announced the bans Wednesday, saying they need to protect artwork and visitors.

Additional Images

Tourists use a “selfie stick” in London. A French palace and a British museum have joined the growing list of tourist attractions banning the devices. The Associated Press

Other places that have put limits on the selfie-stick craze:

FRANCE

Musee d’Orsay, which houses an Impressionist art collection, bans not just selfie sticks, but any photography whatsoever.

ITALY

Rome’s Colosseum banned selfie sticks last month as a security measure, both for the objects on exhibit inside and for the 16,000 daily visitors to the 2,000-year-old monument.

“The twirling around of hundreds of sticks can become unwittingly dangerous,” Colosseum spokesman Christiano Brughitta said.

UNITED STATES

The Smithsonian museums in Washington banned selfie sticks last week. Cameras and pictures are still allowed, but selfie sticks, tripods and monopods are not.

Other U.S. museums that ban selfie sticks include the Art Institute of Chicago, the Detroit Institute of Arts and New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

AUSTRIA

Vienna’s Albertina, one of the city’s top art museums, prohibits selfie sticks.

BRITAIN

Some English soccer teams have banned the selfie stick from their stadiums.

BRAZIL

Soccer stadiums here also have banned selfie sticks because of their potential use as weapons in fights between rival fans, police say. Selfie sticks also were banned from Brazil’s recent Carnival parades in Rio de Janeiro.

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