German museums and exhibition centres still very well attended in 2016 despite a slight decline in visitor numbers - total number of museum visits fell by 2.2% year-on-year to 111,877,085
Press release from 12/14/2017
Museums in Germany reported a total of 111,877,085 visits in 2016. Compared to 2015, the number of visits is therefore 2,546,107 (-2.2%) lower than in the previous year (2015: 114,423,192 visits). German museums reported a total of 8,546 special exhibitions.
The analyses of museum attendance figures are published in the overall statistical survey of museums and exhibition venues in the Federal Republic of Germany. This has been published annually since 1981 by the Institute for Museum Research at the National Museums in Berlin Prussian Cultural Heritage in co-operation with the German Museums Association.
The number of visits developed differently depending on the federal state and the type of museum. The most frequently cited reasons for the increase in the number of visits were large special exhibitions and the expansion of public relations work and museum education. The museums concerned explained the fall in their visitor numbers with the absence of group visits, a particularly successful and unrepeatable exhibition programme in the previous year or a fall in tourist numbers at the location. In recent years, there have also been prominent new openings and reopenings as well as anniversaries with a corresponding accompanying programme. The number of visitors to many of these museums fell in 2016 or levelled off at a normal level. After a number of successful years, art museums (-7.4%) and specialised cultural history museums (-4.3%) in particular recorded higher losses. In contrast, there was an increase in visitor numbers, particularly at natural history museums (+4.1%).
Visitor numbers to exhibition centres increased slightly in 2016.
For 2016, the Institute for Museum Research once again wrote to exhibition centres that do not have their own collections but predominantly show non-commercial exhibitions of a museum nature. Of 470 exhibition centres, 357 returned the questionnaire (76%). Of these, 313 exhibition centres reported a total of 6,252,751 visits in 2016 (compared to 5,742,933 in 2015). This figure is not included in the total number of visits to museums. Over 88% of all special exhibitions in the exhibition centres were art exhibitions.
Prof. Dr. Eckart Köhne, President of the German Museums Association, states: "Museums that offer visitor-oriented exhibitions, diverse events and attractive programmes are popular with the public. They enjoy the trust of the public because they offer sophisticated cultural experiences that are accessible to everyone. However, the significant decline in special exhibitions and the associated slight fall in visitor numbers are a warning sign. In the current phase of an unprecedented economic upturn, museums must also benefit substantially and receive sustainable support from their sponsors. The German Museums Association will keep an eye on this development."
Prof. Dr. Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, says: "Museums are competing with many other leisure activities for the favour of visitors. This makes it all the more important to have your finger on the pulse with an attractive programme."
Results of the survey on the status of digitisation at German museums in 2016
At intervals of several years, the Institute for Museum Research asks museums how they document and inventory their collections and to what extent the information on the objects is already available in digital formats.
Of the 6,712 museums contacted in 2016, 5,088 responded, 74.5% of which answered the questions on inventorying and documenting the collection. 2,762 museums provided information on the scope of their collections and how they deal with documentation and digitisation. 40% of the museums that responded use electronic databases for their inventories. A total collection of almost 333 million objects was reported. 1,128 museums already have digital data on 61.5 million objects. Almost a quarter of the museums with data had already digitised around 90% of their holdings in 2016; one in five museums had digital data on no more than 20% of their collection.
Further information and data on the German museum landscape in 2016 can be found in the 101-page publication "Statistische Gesamterhebung an den Museen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland für das Jahr 2016", which contains information on the individual federal states in addition to the presentation of museum visits by museum type. As part of the annual survey, the Institute for Museum Research asks different additional questions each year. The survey also asked about provenance research activities in 2016. One in ten museums stated that they had actively researched the provenance and history of their objects in 2016. The thematic focus for most museums was research into Nazi-persecuted collection items (60% of 285 museums with information). In 2016, 17.5% of the museums with information conducted research on objects that were confiscated during the Soviet occupation zone/GDR era.
The publication appears in the series "Materialien aus dem Institut für Museumsforschung", issue 71 (2016) and is available for download at www.smb.museum/museen-und-einrichtungen/institut-fuer-museumsforschung/home.htmlzum. 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).