Number of visitors to State Museums managed by General Directorate of Fine Arts and Cultural Heritage up by 8.7%

The data reflect a sustained upward trend and stem from a high-quality offer from the museums. Furthermore, six of the museums posted all-time record visitor numbers: the National Museum of Sculpture in Valladolid, the Cerralbo Museum, the Sorolla Museum, the National Museum of Anthropology, the National Pottery and Sumptuary Arts Museum and the Casa Cervantes Museum.

The most significant growth figures include the increase in visitor numbers to the Casa de Cervantes Museum in Valladolid, which was visited by 66.7% more people than in 2015. In the same city, it is also worth noting the increase in visitors to the National Museum of Sculpture, up by 20.77% to a total of 193,665. Among other reasons, this increase is due to a stable offer based on its collections and a number of quality exhibitions, such as Últimos Fuegos Góticos. La escultura alemana del Bode Museum and Armarse a la Suerte. Figuras de la Tauromaquia.

The Fashion Museum in Madrid, which besides surpassing 100,000 visitors in 2016 also posted growth of 37.9%. Among other things, this was due to the permanent exhibition on show during 2016 entitled Tino Casal, el arte por exceso. Another two museums in Madrid that posted significant growth were the National Museum of Romanticism, with a total of 97,791 visitors in 2016 (up 29.1% on 2015), and the Cerralbo Museum, which posted growth of 23.8% to over 130,000 visitors in 2016. During 2016 the temporary exhibitions included La moda Romántica at the National Museum of Romanticism, and La mujer Ochoa and PhotoEspaña featuring the work of Shirley Baker: Mujeres y niños, y hombres que dejan pasar el tiempo which were both on show at the Cerralbo Museum.

The following museums posted visitor increases in excess of 10%: the Museum of the Americas (15.5%); the Sephardic Museum (14.6%); the Sorolla Museum (14.5%); the National Museum of Anthropology (13.3%); the National Pottery and Sumptuary Arts Museum (12.6%); and the National Museum of Roman Art (10.5%).

The Altamira Museum in Santilla del Mar is also very close to this group of museums in terms of percentage growth in 2016, with an increase of 8.62% to 285,990 visitors.

The following museums posted similar visitor numbers to those recorded in 2015: ARQUA in Cartagena, with 104,288 visitors and a slight increase of 3.73%; the National Museum of Decorative Arts in Madrid, with 34,892 visitors (up 0.57%); and the El Greco Museum in Toledo, with 236,887 visitors (down 0.53%).

Finally, it is worth mentioning the National Archaeological Museum as the most-visited museum (507,253 in 2016), with a decrease of 8.77% following the impact of its successful re-opening in 2014.

A number of temporary touring exhibitions organised by these institutions and involvement by a large part of their collections in other partner exhibitions (in total, over 1,000 cultural assets were relocated for these purposes) led to their work on communicating and raising awareness about the heritage they offer being enjoyed by many more people than only those able to visit the museums themselves. They included those dedicated to the assets recovered from the Frigate Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes in Seville and Mexico City, as well as those organised by the Sorolla Museum in Spain (Girona, Valencia, Tarragona and A Coruña) and other European cities (Munich and Giverny).

Additional information can be found via this link on the Ministry website.