150,000th visitor of 2023

War Museum receives its 150,000th visitor of 2023 on Boxing Day

A milestone, as the last time the museum received so many visitors in a single year was in 1984, almost 40 years ago now. With two full days to go before Christmas, the 150,000th visitor is expected on 26 December. On Christmas Day, the museum is traditionally closed.

After 1984, visitor numbers at the museum gradually declined. With a low point in 2003, when 'only' 82,000 visitors passed the entrance gates. Since the arrival of the large military hall in 2006 and the rise of social media, the museum is (again) on the map and more and more visitors from home and abroad know how to find the museum. The events organised by the museum also increase brand awareness and visitor numbers. Yet there is always work to be done. The museum still regularly gets feedback from visitors that they did not know it was so big and that there is so much to see in the museum.

So this is Christmas...
To keep growing in terms of visitor numbers, the museum has been organising extra activities at the museum during holidays for a few years now. Experience and discovery take centre stage then. So too this Christmas holiday, from live displays at the Churchill tank and Horsa Glider to hanging in a parachute harness. Re-enactors will be present on several days to answer questions. As a visitor, it is possible to climb into a tank yourself for once or learn how to talk on the phone as it was done in wartime.

Children's director
Throughout the year, our children's director also thinks well of ways to make the museum as kid-friendly as possible. His idea this year is to hand out food vouchers to all visitors where they can then get a free war stew at the cosily dressed Christmas stand in the middle of the museum. The entire Christmas programme can be found here.