In the first hour of its opening, almost two visitors per second passed through the museum’s new entrance
By Lauren Gelling
THE recently refurbished National Museum of Scotland has revealed that a record-breaking 100, 000 visitors passed through its doors in less than a week of its re-opening.
In just six days, entry figures for the museum topped 100, 000, a high figure which venue staff expected would take at least two weeks to reach.
Thousands of visitors have been flocking to see the museums new look, which includes attractions such as a Tyrannosaurus rex and a great white shark.
The National Museum of Scotland re-launched itself last Friday after an extensive three-year redevelopment.
Chamber Street was closed for the morning of the grand re-opening and excited visitors held a celebratory street party.
Within the first hour of its opening, some 6000 visitors had made their way through the museum’s new entrance and the total number of visitors on the day surpassed 22, 000, which was double the expected attendance.
The 100,000th visitor was recorded yesterday afternoon when the Vass family from Gorebridge passed through the doors.
The family, which consists of dad Ian, mum Kim and daughters Riannon, ten, and Layla, six, received a goody bag from the museum.
New exhibits have been described as ‘fantastic’ by visitors
Rachel Sim, from the museum’s visitor services, presented the family with the gift, which included badges, postcards, a voucher for the shop and a year’s family membership.
A thrilled Mrs Vass said: “We came here quite a lot before it shut, and this is our first visit since it reopened. It looks fantastic – I can’t believe you don’t have to pay to get in.”
Husband Mr Vass added: “It’s amazing that there’s been 100,000 people here already. Lucky for us that we came in when we did.
“There’s so much to see, we’ll need to come back a few times to take it all in.”
Gordon Rintoul, director of National Museums Scotland, said: “The number of visitors we have had so far is absolutely fantastic.
“We were always confident that there would be a high level of interest in our transformed museum, but to get over 100,000 people in less than a week really has surpassed all of our expectations.”
