Visitor figures for the museums in 2005
Press release from 12/21/2006
The Institute for Museum Research at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Preußischer Kulturbesitz, together with the German Museums Association, has published the overall statistical survey of museums in the Federal Republic of Germany for the year 2005. The survey provides information on visitor numbers and other museum statistics. A total of 6,155 museums in Germany were included in the survey; responses were received from 85% of the institutions.
In 2005, museums in Germany recorded a total of 101,406,806 visits. Compared to the previous year, the number of visits fell by 1,828,663 (1.8 %). The most frequently cited reasons for this development were reductions in special exhibitions and structural and organisational closures. In addition to the natural history museums, the largest decline in visits was reported by the folklore and local history museums.
The survey also included exhibition centres that do not have their own collections but predominantly show non-commercial exhibitions of a museum nature. Of the 488 institutions contacted, 394 returned the questionnaire (80.7 %). Of these, 352 exhibition centres reported a total of 6,924,337 visits in 2005 (compared to 6,176,961 in 2004). Overall, the number of visits to museums and exhibition centres in Germany in 2005 thus remained more or less stable compared to the previous year (approx. 108 million visits in 2005 compared to 109 million in 2004).
Visitor numbers to museums since 1990: The number of visits to museums in Germany has been on an upward trend since 1990. The number of museums has also risen steadily since 1990.
In 2005, the survey focused on asking museums about their historical photographic collections and their conservation and digitisation. Over 30% of the museums that responded to this set of questions are in possession of such collections. In this context, a large number of museums expressed a great need for information and further training on conservation (44%), digitisation (33%) and image rights (31%). For this reason, the Institute for Museum Research has initiated a project that will develop strategies to optimise the digitisation of photographic collections in German museums as a way of preserving photographic collections in the long term.
Prof. Dr h.c. Klaus-Dieter Lehmann
President
Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
Dr Michael Eissenhauer
President
German Museums Association
The 96-page publication of the results "Statistische Gesamterhebung an den Museen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland für das Jahr 2005" in the series "Materialien aus dem Institut für Museumsforschung", Issue 60 (2006) can be viewed and downloaded from the website of the Institute for Museum Research or requested free of charge as a printed publication: Institut für Museumsforschung, In der Halde 1, 14195 Berlin, Tel: 030-8301-460, Fax: 030/8301-504.
Contact:
Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
Press and Public Relations
Dr Stefanie Heinlein
Tel.: 030/25463 206
Fax: 030/25463 268
E-mail
German Museums Association
Mechtild Kronenberg
Managing Director
Tel.: 030/841095 17
Fax: 030/841095 19
E-mail
This press release as PDF document (PDF, 109 KB, not barrier-free)