This year, the number of visitors to the National Museum of Korea has surpassed 5 million for the first time ever. The National Museum of Korea announced today (17th) that from January 1st to October 15th this year, the number of visitors was provisionally tallied at 5,016,382. Of these, 4,830,677 were domestic visitors and 185,705 were foreign visitors. Compared to the same period last year, when the number of visitors from January to October was 2,955,789, this is a 69.7% increase.
It’s the first time since the museum (then the National Museum) opened in 1945 that the annual number of visitors to the National Museum of Korea has reached the 5 million mark, which is the highest ever recorded. This increase is interpreted as a result of the global spread of ‘K-culture,’ such as ‘K-Pop Demon Hunters’, leading to increased worldwide interest in traditional Korean culture.
The annual visitor count of 5 million ranks in the top 5 globally for museums and art galleries. According to statistics from the art media ‘The Art Newspaper’ headquartered in the UK, last year’s most visited museum was the Louvre in Paris, France, with 8,737,050 visitors. It was followed by the Vatican Museums (6,825,436), the British Museum (6,479,952), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (5,727,258), and Tate Modern (4,603,025) in positions 2 to 5. Last year, the National Museum of Korea was ranked 8th with 3,788,785 visitors.
[Photo Credit: Yonhap News]
■ Contact us
▷ Phone: 02-781-1234, 4444
▷ Email: [email protected]
▷ KakaoTalk: Search ‘KBS Report’, add the channel
▷ Subscribe to KBS News on Naver and YouTube!