Some six million people visit museums online amid virus

ISTANBUL

Museums and archaeological ruins, which hosted more than 35 million visitors in 2019, were visited online by 6 million people during a time when museum buildings are closed to visitors as part of measures to mitigate the spread of novel coronavirus, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has said.

Sharing a message on International Museum Day, Ersoy said that not only museums and exhibitions were important but the way in which they teach individuals was also important.

“Information awaits you in museums, however and whenever you want to reach it,” he said, inviting citizens to the online museums once again.

“We continue our efforts to raise awareness of this invisible part of the iceberg,” he added.

Some 800,000 visits were carried out in the virtual museums of Turkey one month into the country’s self-isolation period.

The museums, which host millions of rare works of culture and arts, were made available to visit online on sanalmuze.gov.tr.