Strong performance by Leopold Museum in poll

More than seven in 10 visitors of Vienna’s Leopold Museum have rated the institution with the highest grade in recent research.

Around 1,000 visitors were interviewed as part of a study by market analyst Sensor. Seventy-two per cent of people who attended the Leopold Museum said they found it “excellent,” the institution’s managers announced today (Tues). The Leopold Museum board pointed out that another 27 per cent of questioned visitors gave it the second-best mark in the poll.

The research has also shown that 43 per cent of people visiting the Museumsquartier (MQ) complex in Vienna-Neubau came due to its cultural offers. Only 33 per cent said the same. The MQ, which turns 10 this year, has also developed into a popular meeting place and location to hang out among young people living in the capital city and holidaymakers thanks to its many bars and open air seating facilities.

The Leopold Museum counted 316,000 visitors in 2009, up from 219,000 the previous year. Apart from the institution which has some of the best known works of late Austrian artists Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt on display, the MQ also includes the Museum of Modern Art (MUMOK) and the Kunsthalle.

The MUMOK is currently undergoing an extensive restructuring process. It is closed and will reopen on 9 September. A temporary exhibition currently on at the Kunsthalle investigates how artists have approached the myths of space. Another exhibition focuses on the impact of late Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali.

Pollster Integral announced last month that approximately 3.8 million people were visiting the MQ per year. Around 53 per cent of people visiting exhibitions and relaxing in one of its many bars and cafés were women.