Yearly attendance tops 5M at NYC's Met museum

[July 01, 2010]  NEW YORK (AP) -- The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a popular place. Really popular.

Museum officials said Wednesday that 5.24 million people visited the museum in the fiscal year ending June 30. It's the first time since 2001 that attendance has topped the 5 million mark.

The figure covers visitors to the site on Fifth Avenue as well as The Cloisters museum and gardens in northern Manhattan. It's among the highest attendance numbers in the museum's history.

The museum had more than 30 exhibitions over the past year. They included "Vermeer's Masterpiece: The Milkmaid" and "Picasso in the Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Picasso exhibit opened in April and is running until Aug. 15.

[Associated Press]

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