Visitors to the Louvre museum in Paris during the “Night of Things” exhibition, January 13, 2023 (AFP/Archives/Ludovic MARIN)
Exceptional exhibitions and an appetite increased tenfold by health restrictions: four years after Covid, the major Parisian museums were full in 2023, breaking attendance records or returning to their 2019 levels, according to figures collected on Wednesday by the ‘AFP.
With nearly 3.9 million visitors in 2023, the Musée d’Orsay breaks a “historic record”, and with its counterpart, the Orangerie (1.2 million visitors), totals 5.1 million visitors.
His exhibitions such as “Manet-Degas”, “Pastels, from Millet to Redon” or “Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise, the last months” were acclaimed by visitors, among whom “the French are back in droves “, its general administrator, Pierre-Emmanuel Lecerf, told AFP.
Five weeks before its closure, the Van Gogh exhibition has also already broken “a historic record with 568,000 visitors, or 7,200 every day”, he underlines.
Visitors take photos in front of the fine gold gate of the Palace of Versailles, June 7, 2023 (AFP/Archives/Ian LANGSDON)
Although having maintained a gauge of 30,000 visitors per day, the Louvre museum displays a total of 8.9 million visitors (+14% compared to 2022), close to its 2019 level (9.6 million visitors), just like the Palace of Versailles which totaled 8.1 million visitors as in 2019 (6.5 million in 2022).
The largest museum in the world, which will maintain its daily capacity during the Paris Olympics (July 26-August 11), however, says it is “less counting on attendance records” – it had a total of 10.2 million visitors in 2018 – that on “improving the reception of the public and the quality of visits” to its collections, including the famous Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci.
They were admired by 68% of foreign tourists and 32% of French visitors in 2023. As in 2022, 60% of them discovered the Louvre for the first time, of whom 43% were under 26 years old and of whom 40% were also benefited from the free admission to the museum. The latter will increase its prices, with a ticket at 22 euros from January 15.
– Asian audience absent –
If the Americans are back as in 2022 (14% at the Louvre, 18% at Versailles), the Asian public is still missing.
Together, Japanese, Korean and Chinese visitors represent 2.5% of the Louvre’s public in 2023 and are absent at Versailles, while Chinese visitors alone represented 8% of its attendance in 2018 and 13% of that of the Palace of Versailles in 2019.
Evacuated and closed several times in recent months, following unfounded bomb threats, the Palace of Versailles claims not to have suffered as a result. Its visitors were able to postpone their visit for a few hours or until the next day.
At the Musée d’Orsay, Christophe Leribault, its president, claims to have “learned the lessons of several exhibitions such as those on Manet and Degas”, victims of their success, many visitors having been unable to appreciate the works due to the crowds.
Its objective of “improving the reception of the public” and “retaining its loyalty” was notably translated from the fall by “an extended (temporary) exhibition surface” and “works hung in limited numbers and higher ” in order to facilitate observation, he explains.
If the Louvre ultimately wishes to open a second entrance to facilitate access to its collections, Orsay and the Orangerie will begin renovation work on their reception areas from 2025, without closing the museums, according to Mr. Leribault.
The entrance to the Pompidou Center in Paris, affected by a strike, November 16, 2023 (AFP/Archives/ALAIN JOCARD)
Due to close from 2025 for major asbestos removal and renovation work, planned until 2030, the Center Pompidou for its part welcomed more than 2.6 million people in 2023.
This attendance is “close to the 2019 level”, despite a “slowdown at the end of the year”, he announced in a press release. In recent weeks, it has experienced several days of closure linked to a strike to protest against the conditions of this closure.
The Center des monuments nationaux (CMN), which manages around a hundred cultural sites including the Mont-Saint-Michel abbey and the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, also reported a “historic record” with 11 million visitors (+15% compared to 2022), including that of the Pantheon which exceeds one million attendance for the first time.
With 1.4 million visits (+40% compared to 2022), the Quai Branly–Jacques Chirac museum also announces “exceptional attendance” in 2023, equivalent to the years before the Covid health crisis.
© 2024 AFP
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