18 MAY IS INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM DAY

Last year museum attendance was record high

The attendance at museums, which had shown a falling trend at the beginning of 1990s, has increased considerably during the last decade. Last year, there were 1,542 museum visits per thousand inhabitants In Estonia, i.e. about three visits per two inhabitants. The attendance at museums per thousand inhabitants was 1,059 persons in Latvia and 925 in Lithuania.

In 2007, there were 210 museums in Estonia. During the last decade, the number of museums has increased the most in Harju county where 17 museums have been added, 9 of them in Tallinn. Lääne-Viru county with 12 museums follows. Last year, there were 9.2 million museum pieces in the main collection of museums, 2% of them were exhibited. Since 2002, the main collection has increased by nearly 2 million museum pieces.

1,522 full-time employees worked in museums, in addition 153 employees worked on the basis of employment contract, and 353 — as volunteers. During the last decade, the number of full-time employees has risen by 11%. The increase has been the biggest in Põlva county where 47 new employees have been employed. In Tallinn, the number of employees has decreased during the past 10 years by 57 persons at most. In 2007, 40% of full-time employees had higher education, 12% of them were senior officials or research staff with academic degree.

Last year, the income of museums was 449.5 million kroons out of which 274.5 million kroons were covered from the state budget and 46.9 million kroons from the budgets of local governments. 16.8 million kroons were donated or received from foundations, and 30.7 million kroons were received from the sale of tickets. 32.7 million kroons were received from other fee-charging services (e.g. income from rent, guide services, etc.). The expenses of museums amounted to 385.4 million kroons of which 2.2% were spent on the completion of collections and 53% on labour. Museums invested 62.3 million kroons.

Museums, 2007