INCREASES SEEN IN UK MUSEUM ATTENDANCE

Five years after entry charges were dropped, more people are visiting British museums than ever before, reports The Guardian‘s Deborah Summers. Museums are drawing visitors in the millions, with an 83 percent increase in visitors to museums that once charged. Increases were apparent at the National History Museum in London, where attendance has risen from 1.7 million in 2001 to 3.5 million today, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, which has had an increase from 1.1 million in 2001 to 2.5 million today. Overall, the British Museum—famed for its glass ceiling and Egyptian artifacts—remained the country’s most popular museum, with 4.8 million visitors last year, but this was only a 1 percent increase on 2001, as entry to the museum was always free.