BOLZANO. While the expropriation of the former Enel area in Bolzano has begun, the first fundamental step in the process for the construction of the new archaeological museum of Alto Adige, in 2024 at archaeological museum in via Museo in Bolzano the threshold of 300,000 visitors was exceeded for the first time: specifically, 310,744 people from all over the world visited the Iceman. The museum continues to be at the top of the list also as a destination for study and school trips: never have so many South Tyrolean school groups visited Ötzi. The permanent exhibition dedicated to the Iceman and his Copper Age equipment continues to attract people from all over the world. Since its opening in 1998, the museum has been visited by over 6.5 million people. With the exception of the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, the museum has reached an annual number of visitors between 222,000 and just under 300,000, with a growing trend.
“The months with the greatest influx were, as usual, July and Augustwith over 40,000 visitors each. But now the museum frequently reaches its capacity limits at many other times of the year – comments Elisabeth Vallazza, director of the museum -. We are happy that the provincial government is concretely carrying forward the project for the construction of the new museum headquarters. With the limit of 300 people, the capacity of the current building is not sufficient to meet the growing demand”.
Most international visitors come from outside Europe. The Germania holds the highest share of visitors with the 41%, followed by Italy with 30%from Austria with 9%, from the rest of Europe with 15% and from non-European countries with 5%.