CITY MUSEUM THE MOST POPULAR MUSEUM IN 2018
The success story of Finnish museums continues. According to the preliminary information of the Finnish Heritage Agency, professionally maintained museums were visited more than 7.1 million times in 2018, which is roughly equal to the previous year’s number. Helsinki City Museum was the most popular Finnish museum in 2018. The City Museum was visited 364,543 times over the course of the year.
“The number of visitors at the City Museum has increased and settled at a very good level over the last three years. As a significant portion of the visits take place at the flagship museum located at the corner of the Senate Square and renewed three years ago, it looks like the open and readily accessible concept created in the renewal process is a success,” comments Museum Director Tiina Merisalo from the Helsinki City Museum on the museum’s record-breaking number of visitors.
The museum statistics cover 154 museums that maintain more than 300 museum locations. On average, the museum locations were visited approximately 22,700 times. The five most popular museum locations in 2018 were:
• Helsinki City Museum: 364,543 visits
• Ateneum Art Museum: 322,912 visits
• Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma: 295,387 visits
• Amos Rex: 257,000 visits
• National Museum: 225,472 visits
In the Museum Policy Programme (Publications of the Ministry of Education and Culture 2018:11), the vision for the museums is that Finland will have the most topical museums and the most enthusiastic customers in Europe by 2030. According to Director General Elina Anttila from the National Museum of Finland, the new statistical figures indicate that the museum sector has once again taken another step towards that goal. “Finnish museums are insightful and ambitious. This shows the results of fine work,” Anttila states.
The Finnish Heritage Agency compiles annual statistics regarding the operations of professionally maintained Finnish museums. The statistics can be found online via the Museotilasto online service (www.museotilasto.fi). The now published statistics concerning the visitor numbers for 2018 are only preliminary, and they are based on information provided by the museums. In its entirety, the statistical information for 2018 will be published in June 2019.
