Attendance at Swiss museums is surging, and even exceeds pre-pandemic volumes. In a report published this Monday, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) notes that, last year, the country’s museums displayed 14.95 million admissions. A figure much higher than that of the years 2020-2021 – hardly surprising, it was the period of closures due to covid – but which also marks a jump of 5% compared to 2019.
Considering a “pre-pandemic average” from 2015 to 2019, which stood at 13.30 million per year, the popularity of museums even increased by 12%.
Natural sciences and technology have the biggest increases
The OFS notes that the increase is particularly marked in natural science and technology museums, which attracted a quarter more visitors than the pre-pandemic average. Analysts further note that in 2023, “67 museums recorded 50,000 admissions or more”: the top of the list has never been so high. In 2019, only 60 institutions exceeded this threshold.
The OFS does not provide a table of entries by institution. It can be noted that the Transport Museum, among the most visited in the country, reached one million admissions in 2023, all installations included, including the Planetarium. Last year also, the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, which is also among the national stars, welcomed 352,000 curious people.
A country of museums if ever there was one, with a record number of establishments per inhabitant, Switzerland is however marking time a little. The OFS noted 1,104 pharmacies open to the public, 37 fewer than in 2022. The Association of Swiss Museums indicates that the most numerous institutions (31%) are those dedicated to a locality or canton, those “whose collections are specific to a region or a municipality. Art museums account for 15% of the total, followed by technical museums (13.6%) and history museums (11.1%). The association also reports that 40% of employees are volunteers.
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Bad points regarding the accessibility of institutions
In its assessment, the OFS also looked at accessibility. The office does not comment, but there, the results can be judged harshly. Last year, “nearly four out of ten museums (39%) were entirely accessible to people in wheelchairs.” The share varies greatly: houses dedicated to natural sciences are accessible to three-quarters of their wheelchair-bound clientele, while regional and local ones can only be used by 19% of this population.
The share of establishments that offer Braille texts or audio guides is only 17%. Museums offering texts in simplified language or large size represent 46 and 41% of the total. When it comes to cultural mediation dedicated to people with disabilities, art museums stand out: a good half of them offer it. Among local or regional exhibitions, only 20% have this offer.
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