Visitor numbers at the world’s top 100 museums and art galleries plunged by 77% last year, down from 230 million in 2019 to just 54 million as the pandemic forced closure on an unprecedented scale. The 2020 figures, published on Tuesday, were sobering, with museums and galleries ravaged by enforced closure, plummeting visitor numbers and enormous falls in revenue. It was closed for 208 days – roughly seven months – with visitor numbers down 80% to 1.3 million. Third in the popularity table were the Vatican Museums, with visitor numbers down 81%. Closures there ranged from 75 days (Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Arkansas) to 225 days (Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC).

Source: The Guardian March 30, 2021 06:00 UTC