By Jerry Karg
A photo of the old Real Madrid Museum display before Real won its 32nd La Liga championship in 2011-2012
Real Madrid is not only winning on the pitch but they are also collecting victories off it, as their brand new museum is attracting more and more visitors.
“The Real Madrid Museum is the most visited museum of Madrid,” says tour guide Arianna at the Bernabéu stadium in the Spanish capital. This line is part of the opening statement of every tour. It is not completely true but it shows the ambition of Real Madrid. The Madrid football club is widely considered as the best of the twentieth century. FIFA awarded them with a special trophy confirming that status. Real has won the most cups in international football history, and their stadium has seen some spectacular and historical matches, including Champions League finals, ´El Clasico´ and the World Cup final between Italy and West-Germany in 1982..
International visitors
Now the club wants to have the most successful club museum too. This is what has attracted Christopher from South Africa to visit the Real Madrid Museum with his father. They settled for the tour as Real Madrid has away games this week.
¨It is amazing to see the rich history of this club. To stand in the stadium where Real Madrid plays is a dream come true. Coming to the club museum is definitely worth the journey¨, he smiles.
Pedro came all the way from Colombia to visit the Bernabéu stadium. It was at the top of his list as his idol, Colombian native James Rodriguez, plays for Real. He is a real ´Madridista´ as he has been supporting the club from overseas for many years.
Many international guests have visited the Real Madrid Museum in recent years, partly thanks to the refurbishment of the museum in May 2014, which include video walls of over 70 synchronous full HD screens, multi-touch interactive tables and blending projections. Those guests leave Bernabéu thinking they have just visited the most popular museum in the city.
In fact, the most visited museum of Madrid is the Reina Sofia. It is Spain’s national museum of twentieth century art and was named after Queen Sofia. In 2015, the museum attracted over 3,6 million visitors. Furthermore the Del Prado museum, otherwise known as ‘Museo Nacional Del Prado’, is the second most visited museum of Madrid. It has almost 20,000 pieces of art in its collection. The museum had close to 3 million visitors in 2015. Finally, the Real Madrid Museum attracted over one million visitors in 2015, which puts them in third place. Even though it has fewer visitors annually, the Real Madrid Museum makes the most money. Because they charge 24 euros per adult while Del Prado costs 15 euro and Reina Sofia is 8 euro. In addition Del Prado museum has reduced prices and free entry for certain demographics while Reina Sofia has free hours during the day with certain buildings that do not charge any fee at all. Real Madrid Museum´s annual revenue exceeded 16 million euro last year, while Del Prado got stuck on 15 million euro and Reina Sofia only made 3 million euro.