Hermitage, Euro Museums: Popularity Pressures?

From the New York Times yesterday, they have this headline: "European Museums Straining Under Weight of Popularity" with these highlights: "It is the height of summer, and millions of visitors are flocking to the Louvre — the busiest art museum in the world, with 9.3 million visitors last year — and to other great museums across Europe. Every year the numbers grow as new middle classes emerge, especially in Asia and Eastern Europe. Last summer the British Museum had record attendance, and for 2013 as a whole it had 6.7 million visitors, making it the second-most visited museum in the world. Attendance at the Uffizi in Florence for the first half of the year is up almost 5 percent over last year."

The challenge? This story notes: "Seeing masterpieces may be a soul-nourishing cultural rite of passage, but soaring attendance has turned many museums into crowded, sauna-like spaces, forcing institutions to debate how to balance accessibility with art preservation. In recent years, museums have started doing more to manage the crowds. Most offer timed tickets. Others are extending their hours. To protect the art, some are putting in new air-conditioning systems."

For the Hermitage, they noted: "Museums generally don’t like keeping a lid on attendance. At the Hermitage, which had 3.1 million visitors last year, the only cap on the number of visitors is 'the physical limitations of the space itself, or the number of hangers in the coat room during the winter.' "

Interesting story and detailed background on these famed Europe museums that we have been fortunate to have been able to have visited. The size of the Hermitage being spread over five buildings does help to deal with the crowds in some cases. During our visit there, with an early admission arranged through our tour firm, helped us get a jump and avoid some of the crowd pressures. The total numbers visiting the Hermitage are somewhat less than facing the Louvre, Vatican Museum, etc.

Full story at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/arts/design/european-museums-straining-under-weight-of-popularity.html?&hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LargeMediaHeadlineSum&module=photo-spot-region&region=photo-spot&WT.nav=photo-spot&_r=0

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Back from doing a 14-day Celebrity Solstice, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure on this ship and getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for much more information and lots of wonderful pictures on these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 68,791 views for this fun posting.