Its intense activity, spearheaded by the international exhibitions ".Vikings. Warriors of the North. Giants of the Sea"- This exhibition has been highlighted by the specialised critics as one of the best proposals on the Spanish exhibition scene in 2016,and that of "Uruguay in Guarani".The organisation of conferences and courses, as well as its extensive educational and training programme, have once again placed MARQ among the most visited museums in the country.
In the first days of August, the Ministry of Culture made public the visitor figures for 2016 for the 16 state museums under the exclusive management of the Directorate General of Fine Arts and Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture.
If the MARQ is one of the above-mentioned museums in the state museum network, it would be placed in the following category: "The MARQ is one of the most important museums in the state network of museums.It was ranked 10th in this ranking with 83,321 visits, far above such outstanding museums as the ARQUA, the National Museum of Anthropology or the Museum of Romanticism. If we were to add to this figure the visits registered at the sites managed by the MARQ, the Alicante centre would reach seventh place in the national ranking.
Thus, the parks, sites and monuments managed by the MARQ and integrated in the museum's cultural offer received a total of 15,453 visits as of 31 August 2016.
In this way, MARQ acknowledges the dedication and continuous effort of all its staff, MEN'S WATCHES by offering the whole province and all those who visit us a wide, attractive and first class cultural offer, adapting to the demand of an increasingly demanding public.
The volume of visits to the headquarters of the Plaza del Doctor Gómez Ulla has not stopped the upward trend since the opening in May of the international exhibition from the National Museum of Denmark dedicated to Viking culture, which has brought to Alicante a set of 670 outstanding pieces that had never before travelled to Spain, indeed, many of them had never even left this great museum. In addition to the people from Alicante, according to their place of origin, the presence of visitors from our neighbouring provinces -Murcia, Valencia and Albacete- stands out, followed by visitors from the capital of Spain, Catalonia and the Basque Country. From outside our borders, the influx of French and British visitors stands out, followed by Russians and Scandinavians..
In addition to the temporary exhibitions on display in the halls of the museum itself, the Marq also organises exhibitions in other venues such as "Light of Rome" in Sax -from 3 June to 24 July- and "Guardians of Stone" in Guardamar -from 8 July to 4 September.
Site visits
A total of 6,238 people visited Lucentum (Alicante) from January to August, 585 people were counted as participants in the I Jornadas de Recreación Histórica de la Ciudad Romana, held as part of the summer campaign "Veranea en el Marq" (Summer at the Marq). Likewise, the Illeta del Banyets (El Campello) opened its doors to 7,237 people, while the Neolithic Sanctuary of the "Pla de Petracos" in Castell de Castells (one of the main rock art sites in the Region of Valencia, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1998) and its Rock Art Interpretation Centre -located in the same town and recently renovated, inaugurated by the president of the provincial council César Sánchez on 11 July. received 840 visits.
For its part, the Almudaina Almohad Tower -incorporated in August 2009 into the network of sites and monuments managed by the MARQ-. received 1,304 visitors.
And also for the little ones
In the same way, a total of 920 friends of the Llumiq Club enjoyed the educational workshops organised at the MARQ and the recreational activities carried out at the museum on the occasion of the Summer Campaign, the aim of which was to arouse the curiosity of the youngest visitors towards archaeology.
These figures, This is in addition to the more than 186 children who participated in the Easter workshops, the 780 children and their families who took part in the International Museum Day workshops in May, and the 920 who enjoyed the initiatives of the summer campaign, Together, they represent 1,886 children who have learned and had fun through their participation in the Museum's children's activities.
Web and RRSS
The interest in the Marq extends beyond our borders, as revealed by the data on visits to the museum's website, which from January to 31st August received a total of 129,559 (15.55% more than in the same period last year) visits and 369,564 (10,98% more) page views from a total of 123 different countries, a figure that highlights the great interest that the MARQ awakens all over the world.
From the other side of the Atlantic, the most popular visitors came from Latin America - with Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Peru and Chile leading the way - as well as from the United States. Meanwhile, among our European neighbours, those who have visited the MARQ website the most are British, French, Italian, German and Spanish. Denmark, which from 79 different cities in the Scandinavian country has multiplied by almost 2.5 the number of visits compared to the same period last year, which is evidence of the great interest aroused in this country by the exhibition "Vikings" in the museum in Alicante, as a result of the collaboration agreement between the Marq and the National Museum of Denmark.
The province of Alicante leads the number of visits to the website, with a total of 65,598, while visits from the rest of Spain, especially to the section providing information on the location of the museum and its opening hours, amounted to 50,739.
This high number of followers highlights the interactive aspect of the museum which, together with its constant dynamism and updating, has contributed to the fact that in the world's most popular search engines, such as Google, the MARQ appears only after the National Archaeological Museum (Madrid).
Interest in the Marq spreads to social networks. During the summer period, the museum's Facebook page has increased its number of followers by 25% compared to the first quarter of the year.. Along the same lines, the Marq's Instagram has doubled its number of followers, thus demonstrating the attraction and interest generated by the images published by the museum. Taking advantage of the "pull" of the museum's images, and with the aim of increasing its interaction with the public, this summer the Marq has inaugurated its activity on Pinterest with a magnificent reception of the boards published. Likewise, the Marq is consolidating its activity on Twitter and Google
