The 16 State Museums under the Ministry of Culture received 3 million visits in 2024, the best figure since 2000

The 16 state museums under the Ministry of Culture, through the Directorate General for Cultural Heritage and Fine Arts, were visited by 3,121,418 people in 2024. This figure is not only an increase of 10.53% over 2023, when 2,823,993 visits were made, but also leaves behind the pre-pandemic data and represents the best figures for public attendance at State Museums so far this century.

By museum, the most visited was once again the National Archaeological Museum, with 627,334 visits. This is 23.36 per cent more than in 2023 (506,873) and the best figure in 10 years since its reopening, second only to the record of 2014, when it reopened its doors after a complete renovation of the building and received 768,836 people.

In terms of number of visitors, the second largest was the National Museum of Altamira, in Santillana del Mar (Cantabria), with 292,780 visitors (up 2.86%), followed by the Sefardí Museum in Toledo, with 259,211, a figure similar to that of 2023 (252,231), which stabilises the significant increase in visitors observed since 2022 (132,837).

However, the largest percentage increase was in the National Museum of Romanticism, visited by 195,266 people, 70.18 per cent more than in 2023 (114,739). The public has thus recognised the importance of the Madrid Museum in the Centenary of its foundation, with 2024 being the best year for public attendance since records were kept.

Other museums that in 2024 have also surpassed visitor statistics since the turn of the century are the National Museum of Decorative Arts in Madrid (144,704, 29.54% more than in 2023); the National Museum of Ceramics and Sumptuary Arts 'González Martí' in Valencia (236,947; 8.39% more) and the Cervantes House Museum in Valladolid (35,398; 51.63% more).

There were also notable increases of over 35 per cent at the National Museum of Underwater Archaeology ARQVA, in Cartagena, with 101,557 visitors (34.25% more), at the Costume Museum CIPE, in Madrid, with 113,017 (40.30% more), and at the National Museum of Sculpture, in Valladolid, with 170,736 (49.20% more). In December, the latter museum received more than 30,000 visitors, coinciding with its exhibition "Luisa Roldán. Royal Sculptor", inaugurated on 28 November.

In addition, the National Museum of Anthropology in Madrid received 86,959 people, 11.42% more than in 2023, very close to the pre-pandemic figure for 2019 (92,804).

The public also supported the two state museums that temporarily closed their doors in 2024 for expansion work: the National Museum of Roman Art in Mérida received 184,388 visitors, 1.47% fewer, despite the fact that its main building closed in September; and the Sorolla Museum in Madrid: with 247,775 visitors, it fell short of the record figures of 2023 (346,194) for the centenary of the Valencian painter, but very close to the full year of 2022, when 246,219 people visited the museum.

Finally, similar attendance figures to the previous year were recorded for the Greco Museum , in Toledo, with 187,316 people (6.43% more); the Museo de América, in Madrid, with 90,410 (3.82% more) and the Cerralbo Museum, also in Madrid, with 147,620 (10.62% fewer).

Non official translation