Museums and galleries across the UK welcomed record numbers of visitors over the past financial year. Tate Modern, the British Museum, Manchester Art Gallery, Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art, Swansea Museum and Coventry Transport Museum posted record attendances between April 2007 and March 2008.
Tate Modern put its success partly down to its exhibition programme, with the Louise Bourgeois survey last autumn drawing 156,000 visitors, and the popularity of the Turbine Hall Shibboleth installation by Doris Salcedo.
The British Museum's attendance was boosted by the 850,619 tickets sold for its First Emperor exhibition, which closed in April after seven months.
A spokeswoman for the museum said the performance was only down to the Terracotta Army show "in part". She said: "The increase in figures overall is higher without taking the exhibition numbers into account. The exhibition could have refocused attention on the British Museum and reminded people of the real blockbuster - the permanent collection."
Manchester Art Gallery said last year's Kylie Minogue costume exhibition, which drew 100,000 visitors in eight weeks, had boosted its visitor total.
The National Media Museum in Bradford recorded its highest total for five years in 2007-08. Its figure of 737,857 represented an increase of 9 per cent on the preceding 12 months.
The museum said the 14th Bradford International Film Festival attracting Michael Palin, Kenneth Branagh and Alan Bennett had contributed to the rise.
The number of people visiting National Museums Liverpool venues between April 2007 and March 2008 rose 28 per cent on the previous 12 months to 2,167,626. Since the first year of free admission to National Museums Liverpool, in 2001-02, attendance has soared by 164 per cent.
The trend has become even more pronounced in the first three months of 2008, with a 40 per cent rise in attendance compared with the same period last year, thanks to the city's European Capital of Culture programme.
A Gustav Klimt exhibition, which opens at Tate Liverpool on 30 May, and Art in the Age of Steam, featuring paintings by Van Gogh, Turner and Monet, which opened at the Walker Art Gallery last month, are set to further boost attendance at the city's galleries.
The national museums that recorded a dip in attendance included the Victoria and Albert Museum, National Portrait Gallery, National Gallery and Tate Britain.
Tate Modern put its success partly down to its exhibition programme, with the Louise Bourgeois survey last autumn drawing 156,000 visitors, and the popularity of the Turbine Hall Shibboleth installation by Doris Salcedo.
The British Museum's attendance was boosted by the 850,619 tickets sold for its First Emperor exhibition, which closed in April after seven months.
A spokeswoman for the museum said the performance was only down to the Terracotta Army show "in part". She said: "The increase in figures overall is higher without taking the exhibition numbers into account. The exhibition could have refocused attention on the British Museum and reminded people of the real blockbuster - the permanent collection."
Manchester Art Gallery said last year's Kylie Minogue costume exhibition, which drew 100,000 visitors in eight weeks, had boosted its visitor total.
The National Media Museum in Bradford recorded its highest total for five years in 2007-08. Its figure of 737,857 represented an increase of 9 per cent on the preceding 12 months.
The museum said the 14th Bradford International Film Festival attracting Michael Palin, Kenneth Branagh and Alan Bennett had contributed to the rise.
The number of people visiting National Museums Liverpool venues between April 2007 and March 2008 rose 28 per cent on the previous 12 months to 2,167,626. Since the first year of free admission to National Museums Liverpool, in 2001-02, attendance has soared by 164 per cent.
The trend has become even more pronounced in the first three months of 2008, with a 40 per cent rise in attendance compared with the same period last year, thanks to the city's European Capital of Culture programme.
A Gustav Klimt exhibition, which opens at Tate Liverpool on 30 May, and Art in the Age of Steam, featuring paintings by Van Gogh, Turner and Monet, which opened at the Walker Art Gallery last month, are set to further boost attendance at the city's galleries.
The national museums that recorded a dip in attendance included the Victoria and Albert Museum, National Portrait Gallery, National Gallery and Tate Britain.
