Even higher visitor figures for German museums. Over 109 million museum visits in 2010
Press release from 12/14/2011
Museums in Germany reported a total of 109,196,469 museum visits in 2010. This represents an increase of 2.2 per cent compared to 2009, and is the highest number of visits since the survey of visitor numbers began in 1981. 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 at the National Museums in Berlin, an institution of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, in cooperation with the German Museums Association.
As the surveys of recent years have shown, new openings, special exhibitions and events, but also the expansion of public relations work and the development of the education programme are important factors for the number and increase in museum visits. The increase in museum visits in 2010 varied depending on the federal state and the type of museum. For example, the reopening and reopening of crowd-pullers in Essen, such as the RuhrMuseum on the Zollverein World Heritage Site and the Museum Folkwang, contributed to the fact that more museum visits were recorded in North Rhine-Westphalia than in the previous year.
There was also exceptionally high visitor interest in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, for example, with the reorganisation of the Renaissance, Baroque and Enlightenment departments and the highly popular special exhibition "Mythos Burg". The New Museum of the National Museums in Berlin, which reopened in October 2009, also continued to attract a high level of national and international public interest throughout 2010.
Across Germany, there was a particularly significant increase in the number of visitors to the collection museums and once again to the science and technology museums, followed by the art museums.
Slight fall in the number of visitors to exhibition centres in 2010
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. For 2010, 314 exhibition centres reported a total of 6,165,670 visits. There was a slight decline compared to 2009, when 6,422,298 visits were recorded. The number of visits to exhibition centres is not included in the total number of visits to museums.
In 2010, museums and exhibition centres together recorded over 115 million visits.
Dr Volker Rodekamp, President of the German Museums Association, comments: "It is very pleasing that museums and exhibition centres were able to increase their overall visitor numbers to an even higher level. The German Museums Association supports the museums in continuing to fulfil their tasks in front of and behind the scenes at a high level in accordance with jointly defined standards and to sharpen their profile. The quality of their exhibitions can only be ensured in the long term if the museum sponsors also provide sustainable funding for behind-the-scenes tasks such as collecting and research.
Prof Dr Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, commented: "The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and the National Museums in Berlin are delighted with this excellent result. It clearly demonstrates the great social benefit that arises when museums work with their collections and present the results to a wide audience".
The complete results can be found in a 96-page publication entitled "Statistical Survey of Museums in the Federal Republic of Germany for 2010", 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 survey deals with the photographic collections in the museums surveyed. 2,284 museums stated that they had photographic collections totalling 42 million photographs, most of which were in paper form or on celluloid, with 14.2 million images in each case. Another topic is the special offers for the target group of foreign citizens. 1,856 museums make intercultural offers: around 68 per cent address the international public with texts in foreign languages, and almost every second museum names guided tours or educational activities as mediation media.
The publication appears in the series "Materialien aus dem Institut für Museumsforschung", issue 65 (2011) and is available for download on the website of the Institute for Museum Research. 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).
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