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Tate Modern reveals record visitor numbers Tate Modern reveals record visitor numbers
(about 7 hours later)
Damien Hirst's solo show complete with a rotting cow's head and a shark suspended in formaldehyde helped Tate Modern attract a record-breaking 5.3 million people last year. A major retrospective of Damien Hirst's work helped Tate Modern attract a record-breaking 5.3 million people last year.
The gallery on the South Bank in London recorded a 9.5% increase in visitor numbers, making 2012 the busiest year in its history, figures released by Tate show.The gallery on the South Bank in London recorded a 9.5% increase in visitor numbers, making 2012 the busiest year in its history, figures released by Tate show.
The Hirst exhibition, which ran from April to early September and featured the artist's diamond-encrusted human skull For The Love Of God, was the most popular solo show in the gallery's history, attracting about 463,000 visitors – equating to almost 3,000 a day. The Hirst exhibition, which ran from April to early September and featured his 1991 work The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living in which a shark is suspended in formaldehyde, was the most popular solo show in the gallery's history, attracting about 463,000 visitors – equating to almost 3,000 a day.
Other highlights of the show were A Thousand Years 1990, in which flies emerge from maggots, eat from a rotting cow's head and die, and the formaldehyde shark piece The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living. Other highlights of the show were A Thousand Years (1990), in which flies emerge from maggots, eat from a rotting cow's head and die.
About 1.5 million people visited Tate Britain in Pimlico, central London, over the same period, up 4.3% on 2011. About 1.5 million people visited Tate Britain in Pimlico, London, over the same period, up 4.3% on 2011.
Tate's deputy director Alex Beard said: "It has been an extraordinary year at Tate Modern, opening the world's first museum galleries permanently dedicated to exhibiting live art, performance, installation and film works alongside an outstanding exhibition programme which has undoubtedly fuelled the increase in visitors."Tate's deputy director Alex Beard said: "It has been an extraordinary year at Tate Modern, opening the world's first museum galleries permanently dedicated to exhibiting live art, performance, installation and film works alongside an outstanding exhibition programme which has undoubtedly fuelled the increase in visitors."