The Louvre was visited by 10.2 million people in 2018. On Thursday, January 3, the Agency France-Presse reports. As journalists specify, earlier such indicators could not be reached by any Museum in the world.

According to information published by the Louvre administration, the number of visitors to the Museum for the year increased by 25%. Most of them are tourists from the USA, China, Brazil and the European Union.

Thanks to the increase in attendance, the Museum’s revenues increased by 15 million euros. According to the Director of the Louvre Jean-Luc Martinez, the money will help to compensate for the reduction of state subsidies and will allow to purchase new paintings: the Directorate of the Museum spends about 20% of the funds received from the sale of tickets for the purchase of works of art.

In an interview with Franceinfo, Jean-Luc Martinez noted that the increase in attendance of the Louvre may be associated with the opening of a branch of the Museum in Abu Dhabi, as well as shooting the clip of Beyoncé and Jay-Z in the exhibition halls. In the video, which YouTube users watched more than 140 million times, famous musicians pose against the background of works of art, including the “Mona Lisa” Leonardo da Vinci and the statue of Nicki of Samothrace. According to the Director of the Louvre, after that they began to talk about the Louvre “all over the world”.

The previous record of attendance of the Louvre was set in 2012, when the Museum held special exhibitions of works by Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael. Then administration managed to sell 9.7 million tickets for 12 months.