Tokyo exhibition’s crowd is largest

A Tokyo exhibition featuring an 8th century Buddhist shrine was the world’s best attended museum show last year, according to a survey by Art Newspaper. A New York show of 16th century Spanish artist El Greco was second.

Tokyo National Museum’s “Treasures of a Sacred Mountain,” showing texts and artifacts from mountain temples, drew 7,638 visitors a day during its run from April 6 to May 16, the monthly paper said. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “El Greco” attracted 6,897 entrants daily from Oct. 7, 2003, to Jan. 11, 2004, it said.

Better shows, and more media attention to art, have helped to expand the museum-going public. In 2004, 241 exhibitions attracted more than 1,000 visitors a day, a 21% increase from 2003, the paper said.