Between the thousand and one exhibitions on sport, access restrictions and closures to ensure the security of the opening ceremony and the events of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the news of the capital’s museums has been strongly affected . And yet. Despite a drop in attendance at cultural venues compared to 2023 during the Olympics, museums managed to do well. Some even achieved attendance records. It’s time to take stock.
Negligible drops in attendance
In this special year of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, museums have stayed the course. The Louvre welcomed 8.7 million visitors, compared to 8.9 million in 2023. A negligible drop which can be explained by the closures of the institution and traffic restrictions due to sporting festivities. However, the museum benefited from the visibility of the Olympic Games, whether during the passage of the flame through the former royal palace on July 14, during the opening ceremony or during the road cycling and marathon events. .
© Paris 2024 / Guillaume Ruchaud / SIPA PRESS
Same observation at the Orsay and Orangerie museums, which attracted 4.9 million people in 2024, compared to 5.07 million in 2023. However, the public establishment observes an increase of 15% compared to 2022. The Museums of the City of Paris received 4.8 million visitors this year across all of its sites, a relatively small drop of 8.5% compared to 2023 but in increase of 6.79% if we compare the result to 2022. “ The closures for renovation of the Museum of Romantic Life in September and the Archaeological Crypt of the Île de la Cité for a month, due to the reopening ceremonies of Notre-Dame, also impacted attendance. », Explains Paris Musées in a press release. In terms of immersive and digital places, the Atelier des Lumières received 800,000 visitors in 2024, compared to 1 million in 2023.
“The Egypt of the pharaohs. From Khufu to Ramses II”, presented at the Atelier des Lumières, from February 9, 2024 to January 22, 2025 © Culturespaces / C. de la Motte Rouge
Other museums have even managed to reverse the overall trend. Site of horse racing events, the Palace of Versailles saw its attendance increase by 5% compared to 2023 with 8.4 million visitors. La Monnaie de Paris attracted more than 170,000 visitors, an increase of 30% compared to 2019. The Catacombs attracted 607,730 curious people, a stable figure compared to 2023. With 3.2 million visitors in 2024, the Center Pompidou notes an increase of 22%. In addition to the success of its exhibitions on Brancusi, the history of comics and the centenary of Surrealism, this increase is also due to people who wish to make a last modern Art pilgrimage before the museum closes for renovations for five years.
View of the “Brancusi” exhibition at the Center Pompidou in Paris © Center Pompidou / Audrey Laurans, 2024
Ditto at the Marmottan Monet museum. Despite the drop of around 20% during the summer of 2024, the institution brought together nearly 290,000 annual visitors, an increase of 12.63% compared to the previous year.
What are the attendance records for 2024?
2024 was also the year of all records. Supported by its free Street Art exhibition “We Are Here” and its 550,000 visitors (a historic record for the institution) and located in a strategic location during the Olympic Games, the Petit Palais attracted nearly 1.5 million people , an increase of 22% compared to 2023. The Museum of Fine Arts of the City of Paris thus presents its best score since its reopening in 2005.
View of the “We Are Here” exhibition at the Petit Palais in Paris in 2024 © Connaissance des Arts / Agathe Hakoun
At the National Museum of the History of Immigration, located at the Palais de la Porte Dorée, which welcomed 635,000 visitors, a record for the institution. The same goes for the National Library of France: all of the BnF sites received 1.7 million people, or 200,000 more than in 2023, making it one of the busiest libraries in the world. With 546,824 visitors welcomed in 2024, compared to 522,693 in 2023, the Château de Chantilly is also experiencing record attendance.
View of the exhibition “Mark Rothko” at the Fondation Vuitton in Paris © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko – Adagp, Paris, 2023
Same success for the Parisian exhibitions. The Louis Vuitton Foundation’s Mark Rothko retrospective attracted 852 million visitors, making it one of the most visited exhibitions of 2024. The Musée d’Orsay hosted its record exhibition with “Van Gogh in Auvers, the Last Months” , which ended in January 2024 with 794,000 visitors. A few months later, 722,000 people discovered “Paris 1874. Inventing Impressionism”, the museum’s third historical record. At the Orangerie Museum, “Amedeo Modigliani. A Painter and His Dealer” attracted 452,000 visitors, also becoming the most attended exhibition since the museum opened.
AMEDEO MODIGLIANI. A PAINTER AND HIS MERCHANT – Commissioner interview – FR | Orangery Museum
