▲ This undated file photo shows the National Museum of Korea crowded with visitors. (Yonhap)

 

SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Yonhap) -- More than 5 million people visited the National Museum of Korea through August this year, marking another milestone following last year's record attendance.

 

According to cultural officials on Friday, a total of 5,254,884 people visited the National Museum of Korea from January through August, up 21.4 percent from 4,328,979 during the same period last year.

 

The museum could set another attendance record after attracting more than 6.5 million visitors last year, ranking around third among museums worldwide by attendance.

 

The museum announced that its cumulative annual attendance surpassed 5 million on Oct. 15 last year, meaning this year's milestone was reached about a month and a half earlier.

 

Annual attendance passed 3 million in May and exceeded 4 million in July. These were the fastest such milestones since the museum moved to Yongsan in 2005, as well as since its opening in 1945.

 

In particular, 688,443 people visited in July and 771,045 in August, meaning more than 1.45 million people visited during the two months covering the peak summer vacation season.

 

Domestic visitors accounted for 4,963,424, or about 94.5 percent of the total.

 

In January, February and August, more than 700,000 people visited each month, with the average daily attendance substantially exceeding the museum's estimated appropriate capacity of about 15,000 visitors a day, taking into account the facility's size and fire-safety regulations.

 

The surge appears to have been driven not only by the peak vacation season but also by growing interest among younger generations in MU:DS, the museum's cultural merchandise based on its collections, and traditional culture.

 

Foreign visitors totaled 291,460, roughly double the 147,643 recorded during the same period last year. The figure already exceeds last year's annual record of 231,192 foreign visitors. In August alone, 66,069 foreign visitors came to the museum.

 

With visitor numbers continuing to rise, the museum temporarily extended its opening hours by one hour from July 27 to Aug. 17 during the peak summer vacation period.

 

It has also raised parking fees in succession in an effort to address parking shortages on weekends and holidays.

 

Given the recent trend, expectations are growing that annual attendance will surpass 6 million for the second consecutive year following 2025, with the possibility of setting another record.

 

In the second half of the year, exhibitions introducing the history and culture of countries around the world are scheduled to open.

 

In October, the Central Asian Gallery will present a special exhibition of Dunhuang Buddhist sutra manuscripts, including the Da Zhidu Lun, believed to have been copied in 593 during China's Sui Dynasty.

 

In November, the museum will present "Birth of Modern Art," centered on works from the Kunsthaus Zurich collection. At the end of the year, an exhibition exploring the "style" of French Queen Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) is scheduled.

 

The museum is also working to reorganize its permanent Buddhist sculpture and Buddhist painting galleries.

 

The museum is closely monitoring recent visitor trends.

 

In its major business plan announced earlier this year, the museum said it planned to establish a customer relationship management (CRM) system toward the end of the year to better understand visitor information and usage patterns.

 

It is also preparing to develop and pilot an online reservation and ticketing system in anticipation of introducing admission fees.

[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]