British Museum
Photo: via Wikimedia Commons

A new report released by the UK’s Association of Leading Visitor Attractions shows that the British Museum recorded its most successful year ever in 2013, attracting 6,701,036 visitors, equivalent to a 20% increase on the previous year. That figure was likely buoyed by blockbuster shows like “Ice Age Art” and “Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum”. The National Gallery performed equally well: 6,031,574 people went through its doors last year, a 13% increase. The National History Museum jumped to the third position, with 5,356,884.

Tate Modern’s audience—boosted in 2012 by the record-breaking Damien Hirst exhibition—dipped by 8%, relegating the museum from the second to the fourth position with 4,884,939 total visitors.

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