Museums gain popularity

The attendance at museums, which was 900 visits per thousand inhabitants ten years ago, has increased 70% by now. The number of visits has increased as museums provide besides interesting exhibitions also more possibilities for communication between artists and art lovers. The art interest of inhabitants has increased as well, which is expressed by more active involvement in enthusiastic art activities and also in increased rate of exhibition visits. Several new museums have been established, which provide exciting ways of spending time for people with different interests.

In 2008, there were 224 museums in Estonia. At the top by the number of museums is Harju county with 56 museums (of which 41 are in Tallinn), followed by Tartu and Lääne-Viru counties. There were 9.4 million museum pieces in the main collection of museums, 2% of them were exhibited. During the last decade, the main collection has increased by four million museum pieces.

About 1,600 employees worked in museums, in addition 400 worked as volunteers. During the last decade, the number of full-time employees has increased by 16%. 45% of full-time museum employees had higher education, 12% of them were senior officials or research staff with academic degree.

Last year, the income of museums was 575 million kroons, of which 339 million kroons were covered from the state budget and 70 million kroons from the budgets of local governments. 20 million kroons were donated or received from foundations, and 38 million kroons from the sale of tickets. 36 million kroons were received from other fee-charging services (e.g. income from rent, guide services, etc.). The expenses of museums amounted to 488 million kroons, of which 2% were spent on the completion of collections and 49% on labour. Museums invested 146 million kroons.

Museum attendance per 1,000 inhabitants, 1998–2008