MINSK, 15 May (BelTA) – The National Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve Nesvizh became the most popular museum in Belarus in 2012 with 431,000 visits. The figures were revealed by the National Statistics Committee of Belarus in the run-up to the International Museum Day celebrated on 18 May, BelTA has learnt.

The list of Belarus’ most popular museums features a memorial complex Brest Hero-Fortress (355,400 visits), Gomel Palace and Park Ensemble (309,200 visits), Mir Castle Complex (275,500 visits), Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War (234,900 visits), National Polotsk Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve (223,900), National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus (215,800), as well as Khatyn state memorial complex (204,500 visits). A total of 5.7 million people visited Belarusian museums in 2012, up by 44% compared to 2005.

Belarusian museums preserve and celebrate the traditional culture and promote cultural relations with other states. Museums pay much attention to preservation, study and promotion of holdings that have a great cultural, historical, scientific and artistic value.

There were a total of over 3 million exhibits in Belarusian museums, up by 347,000 or 12.5% compared to 2005. Museums constantly work to improve their research and educational activities, like exhibitions and excursions. In 2012 museums held 5,100 exhibitions (up 2.2 times compared to 2005) and arranged 135,300 excursions (up by 62.8%).

There are 162 museums in Belarus, including 43 history museums, 91 museum complexes, 14 art museums, 7 literature museums and 7 branch-wise museums. Of them 21 museums are located in Brest Oblast, 27 in Vitebsk Oblast, 28 in Gomel Oblast, 19 in Grodno Oblast, 17 in the City of Minsk, 25 in Minsk Oblast and Mogilev Oblast each.

Belarus ranked third in terms of museum visits in the CIS in 2011 (559 visitors per 1,000 population) following Armenia (675) and Russia (601). Armenia leads the CIS in terms of the number of exhibits per museum (27,200), and is followed by Russia (23,100), Ukraine (21,500), and Belarus (19,100).