Photo: Ethan Wall with artist Ben Johnson and David Fleming, Director of NML
2 MILLION VISITORS TO MUSEUMS
National Museums Liverpool visitor numbers rise again
National Museums Liverpool are celebrating bumper visitor figures and will welcome their 2 millionth visitor of the year this week. Since April 2007 crowds have been flocking to the city venues and around 1 million have visited William Brown Street favourites the Walker Art Gallery and World Museum Liverpool alone. Visitor numbers are on course to show an overall increase of around 25% on the previous year.
Executive Director John Millard said: ‘Over the last few years our museums in Liverpool have shown an extraordinary increase in the number of people visiting. It’s part of what makes Liverpool a real City of Culture.’
An incredible number of visitors have already descended on the seven venues in the first few months of Capital of Culture year. Over 58,000 have passed through the doors of the Walker Art Gallery since January where Ben Johnson has been completing his Liverpool Cityscape. Visitor numbers at the Merseyside Maritime Museum have increased by over 80% as people have taken the opportunity to discover the story of Liverpool at Magical History Tour.
Five year old Ethan Wall from Hale, as the 2 millionth visitor, was awarded a goody bag and the opportunity to return next week to help Ben Johnson put the finishing touches to his Liverpool Cityscape artwork.