MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/. A total of 1.2 million people have visited Moscow’s famous Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts this year, which is the maximum of visitors the museum can accommodate, Director Marina Loshak told reporters.
"Museum attendance has retained the highest possible numbers - 1.2 million people. We cannot accommodate more physically. The museum is old and our task is to keep it in the condition of normal functioning," she explained.
According to the director, high attendance figures persist even after the Museum of Private Collections, Pushkin Museum’s department, has been closed this year to become temporarily a museum’s depository. "We have been left practically with two buildings. That is why we had the maximum attendance this year," Loshak said.
She also told reporters that this year the museum has hosted 83 exhibitions, while the museum’s website has had more than two million visitors.
"We have recently begun working with e-tickets, which is also a very active phase of our expansion," Loshak said.
"We earn a lot on our own. The results of this year are not known as of yet, but judging by the previous experience, the money earned by the museum itself accounted by practically half of the budget," the museum director added.