Despite the declining economic downturn throughout 2008, and the severity of financial news and losses of the fourth quarter of 2008, more than 1 million people visited the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh in the 2008 calendar year. According to museum officials who recently reported on their annual admissions statistics, 1,185,000 visitors toppled the previous 2001 admissions record of 1,013,000 for the four museums that include the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History in Oakland, Carnegie Science Center, and The Andy Warhol Museum. The two Oakland neighborhood museums– Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History, which share a building and an inclusive admissions price– saw the largest percentage increase in visitation year-over-year, attributed in large part to the longest-ever run of the Carnegie International (the 55th edition), the Carnegie Museum of Art’s extensive survey of contemporary art, and the opening of the final phase of Dinosaurs in Their Time, Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s premier dinosaur exhibit.

More than 279,000 people visited the Carnegie International during its seven-month run, as compared to 148,973 visitors who visited the 2004/2005 International and the recorded 162,230 visitors of the 1999/2000 International.

Admissions at the Oakland museums increased 30 percent over 2007, to a record 386,300 visitors. The Carnegie Science Center hosted BODIES…The Exhibition in 2007- 2008, a controversial traveling exhibition that attracted 266,000 visitors during its seven-month run through May 2008. The exhibit welcomed 711,700 visitors in 2008, a 27 percent increase over the previous year. The Andy Warhol Museum, which kicked of the year with the popular Ron Mueck exhibition, welcomed 87,400 visitors, a six percent increase over 2007.