Activity of museums and galleries, 2022

Key statistics, compared to 2019 as the pre-COVID year: 

• museums, museum collections and galleries in Slovenia prepared 1,005 exhibitions, or 28% fewer than in the last year before the epidemic, including 786 temporary (30% less than in 2019) and 219 permanent exhibitions (25% less);
• all exhibitions combined were seen by slightly more than 2,17 million visitors (22% less);
• there were almost 571,000 visitors to exhibitions from abroad, which is about a third less than in 2019.

Cultural wealth of museums and galleries

These institutions had around 9.2 million museum or gallery objects; 57.8% of them were inventoried. The largest share, 46.8%, consisted of visual or art objects, including photographs (photographs alone accounted for 93.8% of visual or art objects).

Last year, more than 404,000 objects and works with a total estimated value of around 2.3 million euros were newly acquired and purchased.



Earnings from ticket sale higher than the year before

Museums and galleries earned around EUR 4.3 million from ticket sale, i.e. around EUR 450,000 more than in 2019. Visitors paid on average about EUR 4,00 to view the exhibition; the fees have mostly not changed for the last seven years. However, not everyone had to pay an entrance fee. According to our data, museums and galleries issued almost 527,000 free tickets (4% less than in 2019).

Were museums and galleries accessible to people with impairment?

32 museums, institutions with museum collections and galleries provided fully arranged access to exhibition and event premises for people with physical impairment, 49 had partly arranged access, and 16 did not yet set up any such access.

For the time being, access to the mentioned institutions is still available to a lesser extent for sensory impaired persons: it was fully arranged in seven, partly arranged in 46, and not arranged at all in 44 of them.

Students represented largest share among external associates

Institutions covered by the survey had 1,058 employees and 2,199 external associates. Of the permanently employed persons, 10% were under the age of 35, and the majority (955) had full-time employment. 

As in previous years, the largest share of external associates consisted of students (33%), followed by the self-employed in culture (28%) and associates with contracts for a copyrighted work (19%).

How were museums and galleries financed?

The total revenues of museums and galleries for the implementation of activities amounted to EUR 63.0 million, most of which (84%) was revenues from public resources. The total expenditure for the implementation of museum and gallery activities in Slovenia amounted to EUR 62.2 million, of which 59% was spent on labour costs, including payments to external associates, and 33% on museum and gallery activities; the rest was earmarked for investments and operations. 

Minimal impact of the epidemic

In 2022, two months were still part of the COVID-19 epidemic period. Among 96 museums and galleries, 38 reported that their activity was diminished, while for 58 the epidemic had no effect on their operations.


Tables with the latest data are available in the SiStat Database.