Museums and collections, 2011

The number of historical fine arts subjects was 640 000 in 2011. This is an increase of 200 000 from the previous year, but over half of this is due to an improved method of counting at the National Museum. There were over 4.6 million archaeological subjects in Norwegian museums; an increase of 5 per cent since 2010. The number of natural history subjects has increased by 2 per cent since 2010 and counts 10 million in 2011. The number of cultural history subjects was the same as the previous year; 3.6 million. The museums had almost 30 million registered photographs in 2011. The number has increased by 5 million from 2010, but over half of this is due to a new standard of counting the collections in a museum in Akershus.

Over 2 900 exhibitions

There were more than 2 900 exhibitions in Norwegian museums in 2011; an increase of 1 per cent from the previous year. There has been a small increase in the number of permanent exhibitions, which represent 55 per cent of all exhibitions. The number of temporary exhibitions and travelling exhibitions have on the other hand been slightly reduced and in 2011 constituted about a third and a tenth of all exhibitions respectively. Since 2006, the number of exhibitions has increased by 200, or 7 per cent.

Steady numbers of visits

Museums in Norway had in total 10.6 million visits in 2011, about the same as in 2010. From 2010 to 2011, the museums in Troms, Vest-Agder and Buskerud had the highest increase in visits, measured in per cent, with 27, 13 and 11 per cent increases respectively.

Since 2006, total visits have increased by 1.2 million, or 13 per cent. From 2006 to 2011, the museums in Troms, Sør-Trøndelag and Østfold had the highest increase in visits, measured in per cent, with 98, 51 and 50 per cent increases respectively.

An increase in FTEs the last five years

There were almost 4 000 full-time equivalents (FTEs) in the museums in 2011. Since 2006, this is an increase of almost 400 FTEs, or 11 per cent. During the last five years, the remunerated FTEs have been 95 per cent of the total FTEs, which means that the FTEs carried out by volunteers have been 5 per cent in the same period. FTEs by permanent staff constitute more than 2 800, or 75 per cent of the remunerated FTEs. This is an increase of one percentage point since 2006.

Fewer administrative units

There were 134 administrative units among the museums in Norway in 2011. This is a reduction of 23 per cent since 2006, but compared to 2010 there has been a reduction of 3 administrative units.

Tables:

• Table 1 Museums and collections. Visits and exhibitions. 2006-2011
• Table 2 Museums and collections. Size of collections. 2006-2011
• Table 3 Museums and collections. Finance, employment position and full-time equivalents (FTE). 2006-2011
• Table 4 Museums and collections. Visits, exhibitions and subjects, by number of visits. 2011