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Crowds view the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, Paris.
Crowds view the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, Paris. Photograph: Lydie/EPA
Crowds view the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, Paris. Photograph: Lydie/EPA

‘We’re going to need a bigger door’: how museums manage blockbuster crowds

This article is more than 8 years old

The British Museum is considering widening its entrance to get visitors inside more quickly, while the Sistine Chapel is experimenting with a digital replica of its famous ceiling

Getting around an overcrowded exhibition is an art itself. Do you go the “wrong” way round the room? Is it safe to stand back to appreciate the work – or does that risk your view being blocked by someone wielding a selfie stick? But, sometimes, the challenge is just getting in the door.

The British Museum is considering making its two one-metre-wide front doors wider to ease the queues of people trying to get inside. This July was the museum’s busiest on record, and with more than 6.7 million visitors each year, and up to 2,500 people an hour trying to make their way in, it has become the second most visited art institution in the world, behind the Louvre.

Faced with this tide of tourists, the doors in the museum’s main entrance have begun to look slightly narrow. Tour guides are being asked to register their groups before they arrive – or risk being asked to wait until the queues shorten.

The museum said encouraging the use of its north entrance is another idea, and because the building is listed, any changes would require planning permission. What they won’t do is charge an entrance fee or offer timed tickets, because they want the institution to be open to all.

The Louvre, which issues tickets for timed slots to reduce overcrowding, is also taking steps to ease the flow of visitors. Back in 1989, IM Pei’s crystal pyramid was built to allow 4.5 million visitors a year into the museum. Today, more than 10 million people try to get through its door. To help them, the gallery announced last year it would spend €53.5m (£38m) to double the number of doors, improve the flow of people and reduce the noise of the visitors streaming through.

Outside the British Museum. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

At the Vatican, they are considering a more hi-tech approach for the 25,000 visitors who want to visit the Sistine Chapel every day. With the chapel’s artwork at risk, a virtual pavilion is being planned. The idea is that, given a set of Google Glass-style viewers and a digital simulation or replica of the ceiling, people will spend less time in the real chapel. There are also plans to put a cap on the number of visitors at six million.

At the Tate Modern, they have taken a more simple approach: opening on Sundays and until 10pm on Friday and Saturday nights. During its popular Matisse cut-outs exhibition, the Tate opened for 36 hours straight. In 2012, the Prado took a similar decision, and now opens seven days a week and until 8pm on weekdays.

And if you think all this is not enough, you could always take the advice of the director of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, who responded to a complaint about overcrowding by saying: “Buy your own Rembrandt, then.”

  • This article was amended on 3 November. The Sistine Chapel receives 25,000 visitors every day, not every year.

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