French national museums and monuments notched up a record number of visitors in 2023, according to a study by the country’s ministry of culture. Across the board, French museums, monuments and stately homes “saw entries return to pre-Covid levels”, with 46.8 million total visitors, 13% more than in 2022 and 7% above 2019 levels, with a marked rise in young visitors (under 25). However, the survey also found persistent social disparities in the visitors to cultural sites.
More than 1,450 museums and 46,000 monuments are covered in the report, from Victor Hugo’s house in Guernsey to the Mont Saint-Michel, the châteaux of the Loire Valley and the Musée du Louvre. These heritage sites are supported by large public subsidies and benefit from an abundance of special events like the annual Heritage Days, or Journées du Patrimoine (the most popular national event), European Museum Night, the Rendez-vous aux Jardins garden festival and the Impressionist festival in Normandy.
According to the report, 62% of French citizens visited a cultural institution of some form in 2023. Almost 60% visited a historical monument and one-third entered a museum or art exhibition (this figure is down from the 2019 high of 41%).
The report notes, however, that wealthy elites and Parisians are “overrepresented” in these figures. Inflation may have contributed to this. Fifty-four percent of visitors paid more than 10€ for an entrance ticket, with half of them paying more than 16€, which is up five points on 2020. One in three said they had to forgo at least one visit to an art exhibition, a museum, a national park or a monument because of the cost, preferring to go to the cinema instead. And 61% of the 3,000 people interviewed said they had never seen Modern or contemporary art in an exhibition or a museum.
For major institutions, the numbers are also uneven. The Musée d’Orsay and the the Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac reached new attendance records (with 5.1 million and 1.4 million visitors, respectively, up 9% and 27% on 2019). Versailles received 8.4 million visitors (+2%). But others have not yet returned to their pre-Covid levels. These include the Louvre (8.8m, -7%) and the Centre Pompidou, which suffered from weeks of strike actions (2.6m, -20%). The return of foreign tourists (slower for those from Asia) helped to boost attendance at national monuments across France, which welcomed 11.6 million visitors in 2023.
Next year’s report might tell a different story. Paradoxically, the 2024 Summer Olympic Games had a catastrophic effect on museums. Attendance dropped by 22% at the Louvre, by 25% at Versailles, by 29% at the Orsay and by 35% at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris. Residents fled Paris due to the heavy military and police presence in the city, which blocked access to museums and monuments along the Seine. Tourists also stayed away, with 15% fewer foreign visitors in July.
