John:

Apart from the normal problems in gathering statistics, there's the added
one of definition.

In the UK we have just under 1,800 museums formally Registered  by the
Museums and Galleries Commission under its Royal Charter powers, as
meeting defined minimum standards in terms of its collections and other
obligations, but registration is entirely voluntary.  Also, many other
organisations and institutions (e.g. historic houses and sites,
educational institutions etc.) may exercise museum functions in relation
to at least part of their mission and activities, but might not be
regarded as primarily museums.  Also, some very small
community museums may never get to the starting gate for
registration.  (For example, they may not have the required
degree of permanence of tenure of the building they use, or they may not
have a permanent, non-profit, constitution, but are instead the private
property of individuals or commercial companies. Consequently, some
estimates (and directories) would put the total number of UK museums
as nearer to 3,000.

So far as visiting is concerned, the best estimate is that there are
around 80 million visitors a year to the Registered museums each year, but
a wider definition - including historic monuments with a museum function,
at least in part, would take the total to well over 100 million.

The problems are similar in many other countries.  If you asked the French
museum authorities they will give you a figure of -say - 800 or so
museums.  However, a government-owned commercial bank sponsors a
publication entitled (in French) "Guide to the 5,000 museums in France".

I also remember that in 1987 the then Soviet Union was very proud of the
fact that there were almost 1,500 museums in the USSR - compared with
less than a dozen at the time of the Revolution 70 years earlier.
However, a survey by our colleagues in ICOM-USSR suggested that in
addition to these officially recognised museums, there were around 20,000
unofficial ones - despite that apparently highly regulated and controlled
Soviet system.

Patrick J. Boylan
(Professor of Heritage Policy and Management)

City University, Frobisher Crescent, Barbican, London EC2Y 8HB, UK;
phone: +44-171-477.8750, fax:+44-171-477.8887;
Home: "The Deepings", Gun Lane, Knebworth, Herts. SG3 6BJ, UK;
phone & fax: +44-1438-812.658;
E-mail: [log in to unmask];  Web site: http://www.city.ac.uk/artspol/