03/07/2008 00:24:00
The British Museum has been revealed as the most visited cultural attraction in the UK 2007-08 - touted to be its most successful year since it started counting visitors.
A record six million people visited the London museum, beating the Tate Modern and adding one million visitors onto its previous year's figures.
On Chinese New Year 2008, 35,000 people turned up at the museum's gates to take part in a special day of events and activities. Attendance was so great that the museum had to close its doors to any more people.
The Guardian reports that the museum's director, Neil MacGregor, said: "We had to shut the main gates on Great Russell Street to prevent more people from coming in.
"It was the first time we did that since the Chartist riots of 1848 - although on that occasion the staff were actually on the roof, armed with stones."
The First Emperor Chinese Terracotta Army exhibition proved to be the museum's main attraction, bringing in 850,000 visitors.
The exhibition, which showcased lifesize terracotta warriors that were rediscovered in 1974, brought the London museum its highest attendance levels since 1972's Tutankhamun display and has allowed it to overtake various other popular British attractions, such as Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Edinburgh Castle and York Minster.
It was so popular that the high demand for tickets caused the museum to extend its opening hours.
The box office was flooded with up to 180 phone calls an hour and hopeful visitors queued from 5:30am to ensure they would obtain one of the 500 day tickets to the exhibition.
Niall FitzGerald, chairman of the museum, admitted that the exhibition had witnessed a full capacity for its entire duration.