German museums and exhibition centres remain extremely popular - almost 116 million visits in 2013
Press release from 12/18/2014
Museums in Germany reported a total of 110,425,002 visits in 2013. This is the second-highest number of visits since the first complete survey began in 1981. Only in the previous year 2012 was the figure slightly higher (2.1 per cent). The 8,942 special exhibitions organised by German museums contributed to this outstanding result.
The technical museums (up 1.7 percent) and the historical/archaeological museums (up 5.4 percent) were more successful in 2013 than in the previous year. The reason for the slight overall decline in the number of visitors compared to 2012 is that extremely well-attended special exhibitions and documenta 13 led to an outstanding result in 2012. This also shows the importance of special exhibitions for the work of the museums. Experience from previous years has shown that record attendance years are usually followed by a slight decline in the following year. The slight decline in museum visits in 2013 varied depending on the type of museum. Natural history museums suffered a more significant decline compared to the previous year (minus 8.5 per cent). Art museums in particular benefited from documenta 13 in 2012 as a side effect. It was therefore not surprising that the number of visitors to art museums fell by 5.2 per cent in 2013.
Visitor numbers to exhibition centres also fell slightly in 2013.
Visitor numbers were also recorded for exhibition centres that do not have their own collection but predominantly show non-commercial exhibitions of a museum nature. A total of 5,309,434 visits to exhibition centres in Germany were counted. The exhibition centres participating in the overall statistics reported the presentation of 1,892 exhibitions. The number of visits to exhibition centres is not included in the total number of visits to museums.
In 2013, museums and exhibition centres together recorded over 115.7 million visits. This was a total of 3.7 million fewer than in 2012.
Prof Dr Eckart Köhne, President of the German Museums Association, comments: "Museums and exhibitions continue to enjoy great popularity. As original places for cultural experiences with authentic artefacts, they are and remain the most important destinations for those interested in culture. They have also established themselves as places of cultural education and are at the centre of social debate. With their exhibitions and programmes, they address current issues in our pluralistic society."
Prof. Dr Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, says: "With their rich collections, museums are places of knowledge and experience - away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. This is particularly important for a liberal and cosmopolitan society. The strong demand from the public makes this more than clear."
Results of the survey on the status of German museums' websites in 2013
As part of the overall statistics for 2013, museums were also asked about their online presence. Of the 6,358 museums contacted, 5,140 museums took part in the survey. The high level of participation of museums in this additional survey shows that the internet is a common feature for museums and that this medium is actively used. Over 60 per cent of museums had their own website in 2013 and only 6 per cent of museums stated that they were not represented on the Internet. Over 45 per cent of museums participate via subject-specific or thematic portals in cooperation with other institutions. A comparison with a survey from 2008 also shows that more and more museums are prepared to show their objects online in reference portals. In 2008, only 3.1 per cent of museums stated that they would participate in documentation portals with images of their objects. This means that these museums are making an important contribution to making their objects digitally available not only to experts, but also to the general public.
The number of visits to museums is published in the overall statistical survey of museums and exhibition centres in the Federal Republic of Germany. This has been published annually since 1981 by the Institute for Museum Research of the National Museums in Berlin Prussian Cultural Heritage in cooperation with the German Museums Association.
Further information and data on the German museum landscape in 2013 can be found in the 104-page publication "Statistische Gesamterhebung an den Museen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland für das Jahr 2013", which contains information on the individual federal states in addition to the 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 "Materials from the Institute for Museum Research", issue 68 (2014) and will be available for download from December 2014 at
Institute for Museum Research
. A printed 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, e-mail: ifm(at)smb.spk-berlin(dot)de.