Museums and collections, 2009

Exhibitions constitute an important part of the museums' activities. The permanent exhibitions count for just over half of all exhibitions, whereas the temporary exhibitions represent 38 per cent. All the categories of exhibitions have seen an increase in 2009. Travelling exhibitions have the largest increase in per cent; 19 per cent, but this category only represents 10 per cent of all exhibitions.

Norwegian museums had just over 43 million objects in their collections in 2009; approximately the same number as the previous year. Fifty-four per cent of the objects are in the category of photographs, whereas 27 per cent are natural history objects. Just over 8 per cent are cultural history objects. Archaeological objects counted for just 10 per cent.

The number of visitors to Norwegian museums was just over 10 million in 2009. The number of visits thus remains at the same high level as in 2007 and 2008. Almost four million, or 38 per cent, visited museums in Oslo.

The museum statistics for 2009 cover 148 museums. The number of museums shows that the consolidation process in the Norwegian museum sector is still ongoing. The total income for the museums was NOK 3.53 billion, of which NOK 2.5 billion was public contributions. Total expenditure for the museums was NOK 3.4 billion. The number of man-years was 3 840, of which remunerated man-years accounted for 3 640. Women covered 53 per cent of the remunerated man-years. A total of 200 man-years were carried out by volunteers.

Tables:

• Table 1 Museums and collections. Visits and exhibitions. 2009
• Table 2 Museums and collections. Size of collections. 2009
• Table 3 Museums and collections. Finance, employment position and man-years. 2009
• Table 4 Museums and collections. Visits, exhibitions and subjects, by number of visits. 2009