The Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) disclosed the “Cultural Heritage Statistics” for the year 2022. According to the report, the number of museums in Turkey increased by 6.4% from the previous year, reaching a total of 552.
Of these, 211 are affiliated with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, while 341 fall under the category of private museums. The number of archaeological sites amounted to 144.
The number of artifacts in these museums witnessed a 0.8% rise from the previous year, with a total count of 3,750,120 items. The Ministry-affiliated museums recorded a 0.7% hike in artifact numbers, amounting to 3,325,643. Remarkably, 88% of these artifacts have been inventoried.
Private museums observed a 1.6% increase in artifacts, now housing 424,477 pieces.
Out of the total artifacts in Ministry-related museums, 60.1% were coins, 27.5% were archaeological materials, 6.8% were ethnographic materials, and 3.6% were tablets.
A staggering 97.1% surge was seen in museum and archaeological site visitor numbers, with a total of 45,822,525 visitors in 2022. Of these visitors, 67.5% chose Ministry-affiliated museums and archaeological sites. While 38.8% of the total, or 17,796,860 visitors, opted for paid entries at these sites, private museum visitor numbers surged by 125.3%, reaching 14,890,214.
The Ministry recorded an income of 1,076,007,587 lira from paid museum and archaeological site visits. The number of museum cards sold by the Ministry was 2,930,232.
2022 saw a 2.4% rise in immovable cultural assets, with the number reaching 122,124. Istanbul was the city with the highest count at 33,479, followed by Izmir with 7,899 and Muğla with 4,896.
Conservation areas saw a 6.3% increase from the previous year, with the total count reaching 23,632. Impressively, 96.9% of these were archaeological conservation areas.
The number of national parks in 2022 increased by 4.3% to 48, with the total area increasing by 0.3% to 911,204 hectares. Nature park counts rose by 0.4% to 261, but the total area decreased by 1.2% to 108,332 hectares.
The number of natural conservation areas remained unchanged at 31, while the count of natural monuments decreased by 0.9% to 113.
