On the occasion of the publication of the Annual Review of 2010/11, the British Museum announces future plans alongside a review of international successes in the last year
The British Museum remained the most popular cultural attraction in the UK for a fourth year running, receiving 5.8 million visitors in 2010/2011, 4.9% more than in the previous year.
The BM website continued to diversify with the launch in 2010 of a Chinese language version and a version in Arabic, both supported by the World Collections Programme. Online collection records grew to 1.93 million. There are now nearly 800,000 images of the collection available for public consultation on the BM website. About 8.7 million people accessed the main BM website in 2010/11, with 21 million visits overall to all the BM websites.
Popular temporary exhibitions continue to draw in large numbers of visitors, with Italian Renaissance Drawings, supported by BP, receiving over 116,000 visitors and Journey Through the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, also supported by BP, receiving 192,000 visitors. Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World, supported by Bank of America Merrill Lynch has received over 95,000 visitors so far and has been extended by a month to 17th July 2011.
Over 400,000 visitors enjoyed temporary exhibitions in the Reading Room and Room 35 in 2010/11.
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