One of the Louvre's treasures ...

In 2011 Paris was again the city with the highest number of visitors.

15 million came here.

And now I can say with certainty: the world loves Paris.

D'Orsay Museum

The visitors also loved Paris’s museums, so that these also had a bumper year.

Here are the official statistics:
Louvre – 8.8 million visitors which is 5% more than in 2010.
Château (Palace) of Versailles – 6.7 million visitors which is 10% more than in 2010.
Pompidou Center – 3.6 million which is an increase of 29% in a year which is attributed to the Munch Exhibition.
D’Orsay Museum – 3.1 million which is a 4% increase from 2010.
Quay Branly Museum – 1.4 million which is a 9% increase from 2010.

That is a total of 23.6 million people which means that the French themselves visited Paris’s museums.

Crowds in the Louvre

The most visited exhibitions were:

The Steins at the Grand Palais – 520,000 (This one started in October 2011 and ends at the end of this month.)

Munch at the Pompidou Center – 480,000 (This one started in September 2011 and also ends at the end of this month.)

Manet at D’Orsay – 470,000 (From April-July 2011).

Beauty in the time of Oscar Wilde at D’Orsay – 400,000. (This one started in September 2011 and also ends at the end of this month.)

Anish Kapoor at the Grand Palais – 277,000 (Was on from May-June 2011).

In those museums where the exhibitions end at the end of this month (January), new exhibitions will start in March. These will be:

Beaubourg Center – Matisse and Dali
D’Orsay – Degas
Grand Palais – Edward Hopper
And wait for it … Raphaël and Leonard de Vinci at the LOUVRE.

I will soon be giving more information (specific dates, ticket prices etc) in the near future, so do keep on checking on my site.

Another of Louvre's treasures