Slight increase in visitor numbers to German museums - Over 109 million museum visits in 2011
Press release from 12/13/2012
Museums in Germany reported a total of 109,581,613 museum visits in 2011. This represents an increase of 0.35 per cent compared to 2010, and is once again the highest number of visits since the survey 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 2011 varied depending on the federal state and the type of museum. Large special exhibitions were once again particular crowd-pullers, such as the exhibition "Faces of the Renaissance" at the Gemäldegalerie (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin) or the exhibition "Heavenly Splendour - Raphael, Dürer and Grünewald paint the Madonna" at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. Jubilee exhibitions, such as those in the Alte Pinakothek of the Bavarian State Painting Collections in Munich, were also a particular attraction for visitors. The state exhibitions in Saxony-Anhalt and the Free State of Saxony also contributed significantly to the increase in visitor numbers in these two federal states.
Visitor numbers to exhibition centres in 2011
The Institute for Museum Research also calculates the visitor numbers
of exhibition centres that do not have their own collection,
but predominantly show non-commercial exhibitions of a museum nature. For 2011, 305 exhibition centres reported a total of 6,381,081 visits. There was also an increase here compared to 2010, when a total of 6,165,670 visits were recorded in 314 exhibition centres. The number of visits to exhibition centres is not included in the total number of visits to museums. In 2011, museums and exhibition centres together recorded almost 116 million visits.
Dr Volker Rodekamp, President of the German Museums Association, comments
: "It is very pleasing that museums and exhibition centres were once again able to increase their overall visitor numbers thanks to a wide range of activities. Nevertheless, the work of the museums should not be reduced to just public successes. The fulfilment of all core tasks of museums is a prerequisite for sustainable success. Together with the Institute for Museum Research, the German Museums Association has published a new "Memorandum on the State of Museums" entitled "Museums between Quality and Relevance" in order to promote the further development and future viability of German museums.
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 the excellent results achieved by museums in Germany. They are lively places of education and showcases for research. The fascination of their collections remains unbroken."
The complete results can be found in a 96-page publication entitled "Statistical Survey of Museums in the Federal Republic of Germany
Germany for 2011", 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 status of digitisation at German museums. 2,374 museums stated that they had digital data on their collections.
The publication appears in the series "Materialien aus dem Institut für
Museumsforschung", issue 66 (2012) 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).