2024-01-02 16:23:10
The year 2023 has been a record year for some of the large Spanish museums, which have recovered the pre-pandemic level of visits and have set new records. The Prado Museum has registered its historical mark with more than 3.3 million visits, surpassing that of 2019, the year of its bicentennial. The Guggenheim in Bilbao also broke its record, with more than 1.3 million visits, and the National Heritage, with 6.3 million. Not so the Reina Sofía, which lost more than half a million visitors, and the Thyssen, which once again exceeded one million visitors (1,012,660 people). La Caixa centers added more than eight million visits.
The Prado received 3,337,550 visits in 2023, with 3,241,263 at its main headquarters, figures that represent an increase of 33.51% compared to 2022, when it received 2,427,718 visitors. The ‘online’ project had more than 4.4 million followers on networks, with an increase of almost 20%,
Holy Week (April 3 to 9) was the busiest for the art gallery, with 81,724 visitors. The daily average rose to 8,954 visits, the highest since records began. The busiest day of the year was December 27, with 14,345 people.
Income from ticket sales reached 25,971,283 euros, an increase of 49.88%. Of the total number of visitors to the Prado, 48.21% (1,5547,213 people) entered for free.
With the recovery of international tourism, the presence of visitors from Japan (9%), Mexico (5%), Italy (4%) and France (3%) stands out. The national visitor increased slightly compared to 2022 (49.80%). Visitors from the rest of Spain represent 21% of the public compared to 27% last year. With respect to the Community of Madrid, in 2023 more Madrid residents went to the Prado Museum (30% compared to 23% in 2022).
The Prado audience is still young – 35% are between 18 and 34 years old – but the average age (45 years) is older than last 2022 (38). It is a predominantly female audience (57%), with higher education (81%) and stable employment (56%).
The Guggenheim in Bilbao also recorded the best year in its history in 2023, with an absolute record thanks to the 1,324,221 visitors received (35,074 more than in 2022). Of them, 1,152,072 came from outside the Basque Country. Figures that are “an exceptional achievement” for the Bilbao museum that remembers how in other years of great influx of public, -2017 and 2022, 20th and 25th anniversary of the museum- tens of thousands of Basques entered for free.
In 2023 it recovered the level of foreign visitors prior to the pandemic, with 60% of the global count (10% more than in 2022). 16% came from France, 7% from Germany, 6% from Great Britain, 6% from the United States and 4% from Italy. In public in the Basque Country it accounted for 13% of the total, followed by 5% of Madrid residents and 5% of Catalans.
It also surpassed its historical record for National Heritage visits with 6,370,770 people in all its centers. It represents 22% more compared to 2022 and 19% compared to the figures recorded before the pandemic. The most visited were the Royal Palace of Madrid (1,421,428), the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial (445,166) and the young Gallery of the Royal Collections, which received 336,058 people in its first half year of life.
Drop
There was no record for the Reina Sofía, which received 2,530,560 visitors compared to 3,063,092 in 2022. Of them, 1,409,113 correspond to the main headquarters, which represents an increase of 20% compared to 2022, with 1,171,367 visits in the same space. Its headquarters at the Palacio de Cristal in Retiro Park, closed since April for improvement works, received 479,281 visitors (compared to 1,318,823 in 2022). That of the Velázquez Palace registered 536,425 visits (491,086 in 2022).
Ticket collection increased by 29% compared to 2022. And 64.2% of visitors to the main headquarters had free access. Italians, French and Americans were the foreigners who visited the museum the most, with almost 73% of foreign visitors and 27% of Spaniards.
The day of the year with the most visitors to the main headquarters was October 12 with 10,345 people. April 7 was the date on which the most people attended the three venues: a total of 20,888.
More than one million people visited the permanent collection and temporary exhibitions of the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum in 2023, a figure similar to that of 2022, when it received 1,073,183 visitors. Despite the slight drop, it is the seventh year that it has surpassed the barrier of one million visits. 60.9% were of national origin (40.3% from Madrid and 20.6% from the rest of Spain) and 39.1% were international. In its digital aspect, museothyssen.org accumulated nearly 12.7 million page views.
Visits to the permanent collection increased by 17.6%, going from 608,356 in 2022 to 715,395 in 2023. The most viewed exhibitions were those dedicated to Lucian Freud (180,014 attendees) to the avant-garde in Ukraine (158,241) and Picasso, (117,200).
In 2023, more than 8.1 million people visited the CaixaForum centers and the CosmoCaixa Science Museum (4,349,926 visits) and the traveling exhibitions promoted by the La Caixa Foundation in 73 cities (3,807,567 visits. This represents an increase of 13.19% compared to the previous year.
The CosmoCaixa Science Museum is the most visited center, breaking its record with 1,266,989. It was followed by the CaixaForum centers in Valencia (899,339), Madrid, (655,422), Barcelona, (483,852), Seville, (324,495), Zaragoza, (242,357), Palma, (183,609), Girona, (71,082), Lleida (93,038). ), Tarragona, (82,210), and Macaya (47,533).
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