National Museum of Korea Ranked Top in AsiaSurvey also places museum 10th worldwide in terms of visitor numbers The National Museum of Korea, the country's flagship museum, was recently ranked first in Asia and 10th worldwide in terms of the number of visitors last year. According to a survey of global museum visitors in 2009 published in the April 1st issue of The Art Newspaper, an international culture, art and museum industry publication based in the UK, the museum saw 2,730,204 visitors during the year. The other Asian museums on the list included Taiwan's National Palace Museum (2.57 million visitors), which came in at 12th place, and Japan's Tokyo National Museum (2.27 million visitors), ranked 14th. In addition to its record number of visitors, the National Museum was ranked second in the world for daily visitors for an ancient artifact exhibit (Egyptian Civilization: April 28th-August 20th, 2009), and seventh in the world for an Asian exhibition (100 Years of Korean Museums Special Exhibition: September 29th-November 8th, 2009). The National Museum increased the number of visitors by 70-110% per exhibit thanks to a wide variety of educational programs and extended evening hours on Wednesdays and Saturdays. A spokesperson for the museum said, "the 'Egyptian Civilization' exhibit and the '100 Years of Korean Museums' exhibition were prime examples of programs that showcased what is the most global and what is the most Korean." He added that "a wide variety of educational programs for both Korean and foreign visitors, a specialized children's museum as well as extended evening hours that delivered higher levels of service as one of Korea's main cultural venues enabled us to attract over 2.73 million visitors last year." "The enthusiastic reception for the Egypt exhibit, the number of visitors thronging the special exhibition on the history of Korean museums, and waits of up to five or six hours to view the "Mongyudowondo" (meaning "Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom Land") showed us the passion for art and culture that the people of Korea have," said the spokesman. "This allows us to expect an even brighter future for our museum." Along with the record number of visitors, the National Museum of Korea has been developing into a truly world-class museum through exhibitions that have both academic as well as popular appeal, cultural education programs that meet the needs of a wide variety of visitors, and multiple information service sources that provide an additional level of convenience and accessibility. With students accounting for approximately 40% of each day's visitors, the museum plans to broaden the scope of its exhibits as well as increase its globalization and information capabilities in order to attract visitors from more diverse backgrounds. In the 2009 survey, the Louvre Museum of France was ranked first in the world with 8.5 million visitors, followed by the British Museum (5.57 million visitors), the New York Metropolitan Museum (4.89 million), the National Gallery of England (4.78 million), and the Tate Modern in London (4.75 million). The results of the survey are available on the Art Newspaper's website (www.theartnespaper.com).  The Art Newspaper |