German museums and exhibition centres remain very popular. Over 104 million museum visits in 2008
Press release from 11/03/2009
Museums in Germany reported a total of 104,852,334 visits in 2008. Although this represents a decrease of 2.3% compared to 2007, it is still the second-highest number of visits since the survey began in 1981. These figures have now been published by the Institute for Museum Research at the National Museums in Berlin, an institution of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, in co-operation with the German Museums Association. The results are part of the overall statistical survey of museums and exhibition centres in the Federal Republic of Germany, which is compiled annually by the Institute for Museum Research.
As the surveys of previous years have shown, special exhibitions and events are an important factor in the number of museum visits. The museums benefited particularly from this in 2007. A series of extremely well-attended special exhibitions and events brought the number of visits in 2007 to a record figure of over 107 million. The increase in 2007 related to all types of museums, but the art museums in particular benefited from particularly well-attended exhibitions with an increase. As there were only very few comparably well-attended art exhibitions in 2008 (e.g. the Mark Rothko retrospective at the Hamburger Kunsthalle), the number of visits to this type of museum fell by 8%, almost returning to the 2006 level. The same applies to almost all other types of museum, e.g. the science and technology institutions (-3.3%) or the specialised cultural history museums (-3.8%).
The total number of visitors to museums with historical/archaeological collections remained almost the same. The exhibition "Babylon, Myth and Truth" in the Pergamon Museum of the National Museums in Berlin, which attracted over half a million visitors, showed just how much interest there is in historical/archaeological exhibitions that present new research findings and at the same time relate to the present.
The only type of museum for which there was also a clear increase in the number of visitors in 2008 was the natural history museums. This can be attributed to a few spectacular new concepts and openings. Examples include the Berlin Natural History Museum, which was also very popular in 2008 following its reopening in 2007, and the Ozeaneum in Stralsund. Since opening in July 2008, it has been visited over 500,000 times in just six months.
Visitor numbers to exhibition centres remain constant
The Institute for Museum Research also calculates the number of visitors to exhibition centres that do not have their own collection but predominantly show non-commercial exhibitions of a museum nature. Of 488 exhibition centres, 325 provided information on the number of visits.
A total of 6,185,463 visits to exhibition centres in Germany were recorded. Compared to 2007, there was a slight increase of 0.5%.
In 2008, some of the large and renowned exhibition centres presented special exhibitions of the kind that are usually exhibited in museums. Statistically, these well-attended presentations were able to compensate for the previous year's documenta 12, which attracted a large number of visitors. For example, the Villa Hügel in Essen has been showing the treasures of the Folkwang Museum since 2008, and the Schirn in Frankfurt/Main presented a show of paintings by female Impressionist artists. The Bavarian state exhibition "Nobility in Bavaria - Knights, Counts, Industrial Barons" was also shown in exhibition centres and not in museums.
In 2008, museums and exhibition centres together recorded 111 million visits.
Prof Dr Michael Eissenhauer, President of the German Museums Association, comments: "It is pleasing that museums and exhibition centres were able to maintain their overall visitor numbers at a high level. In 2008, over 2,600 museums once again organised and presented more than 9,000 special exhibitions."
Prof. Dr Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, commented: "The success of the National Museums in Berlin is based on their unique collections as well as on their scientifically sound and visitor-oriented presentations. They reach an audience of millions year after year."
Further information and data on the German museum landscape in 2008 can be found in the short report, which can be downloaded from the website of the Institute for Museum Research .
There will also be a 96-page publication of the complete results of the "Overall Statistical Survey of Museums in the Federal Republic of Germany for 2008", which contains information on the individual federal states in addition to a presentation of museum visits by type of museum. The annual special topic in this issue deals with the presence of German museums on the Internet. The publication appears in the series "Materialien aus dem Institut für Museumsforschung", issue 63 (2009) and will be available for download from December 2009. A printed version of the publication can be requested free of charge (Institute for Museum Research, In der Halde 1, 14195 Berlin, Tel. 030/8301 460, Fax: 030/8301 504).
Prof. Dr Hermann Parzinger
President
Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
Prof Dr Michael Eissenhauer
President
German Museums Association
Press contact:
Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
Dr Stefanie Heinlein
Tel.: 030/25463 206
Fax: 030/25463 268
E-mail
German Museums Association
Anja Schaluschke
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Fax: 030/841095 19
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