In recent months, the COVID-19 crisis has profoundly affected societies around the world, plunging the global economy into a deep recession.

With the majority of cultural institutions forced to close their doors, the cultural sector has been one of the most affected. Tourism has largely ceased, impacting surrounding communities both socially and economically, and plunging artists and cultural professionals into a state of extreme economic and social fragility. Confined populations, unable to share and celebrate their heritage -notably their intangible cultural heritage -have suffered the loss of fundamental and structuring cultural elements of their daily social and individual lives.

Despite the challenges posed by this unprecedented crisis, many cultural institutions and professionals have continued to serve as a source of resilience and support to communities, devising new ways to provide access to culture and education in the context of containment measures. However, it should be noted that these innovations have not addressed the severe economic shortfalls experienced by cultural professionals. Moreover, almost half of the world's population currently has no access to the Internet, resulting in unequal access to cultural resources.

Museums have been particularly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with nearly 90% of them, or more than 85,000 institutions worldwide, having closed their doors during the crisis. The impact of these closures is not only economic, but also social. Museums play a vital role in our societies. They not only preserve our common heritage, but also provide spaces that promote education, inspiration and dialogue. Based on values of respect and cultural diversity, museums strengthen social cohesion, foster creativity and are conveyors of collective memory. Moreover, their role in the promotion of tourism is a key driver of sustainable economic development, both locally and nationally, which will be essential to overcoming the crisis in the coming months and years.

KEY TRENDS

Museums have been particularly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

% 10 %

The museum sector reacted very rapidly in developing its online presence.

However, the digital divide is more evident than ever. Only of museums in Africa and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have been able to provide online content. More than museums in the world, more than in 2012. 60% ! ! ! ! UNESCO Museums around the World in the Face of COVID-19 5

Faced with this situation, UNESCO launched a study to assess, on the basis of contributions from states and museum professionals, the impact of COVID-19 on museums and museum institutions. This initiative also seeks to understand how the sector has adapted to the constraints imposed by the pandemic and to explore ways of supporting affected institutions in the aftermath of the crisis. This report presents a first assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on the museum sector.

MUSEUMS AROUND THE WORLD

The survey revealed that there are an estimated 95,000 museum institutions worldwide.

) have less than 6 museums per million inhabitants.

of museums may never reopen.

Despite their differences, museums have been affected on all continents. Containment measures and physical distancing are still in place in most countries today, even though several states have already begun to reopen their institutions.

The closure of the vast majority of the world's museums was an exceptional event and, as in many sectors, has had considerable economic consequences, with a very large number of museums largely dependent on the income generated by visitors. The private museum sector fears numerous bankruptcies in the coming months and, according to the International Council of Museums (ICOM), more than one in ten museums may never reopen.

RESILIENCE OF MUSEUMS IN TIMES OF CRISIS

The museum sector reacted very quickly to the COVID-19 crisis, developing its presence on the Internet in order to maintain a link with the public.

This effort is in line with the 2015 UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Protection and Promotion of Museums and Collections, their Diversity and their Role in Society, which underlines the essential role of museums in the cultural field, both for education and for the development and well-being of populations, as well as the importance of information and communication technologies (ICTs). This report has identified more than 800 actions in response to the COVID-19 crisis worldwide, with a large part of the actions promoting virtual museums building on investments made before the pandemic. The growing importance of digital in the museum sector was further demonstrated by the transformation of many of the museum activities planned this year, including ongoing exhibitions, conferences, and outreach activities, to digital, in order to bring them to life on the Internet.

6

Activities on social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) have also been developed and, on a professional level, a large number of webinars have been organized mainly by professional museum associations. In addition, a large number of special activities, initiated to alleviate the challenges of confinement, have been developed by museums: games, colouring activities, quizzes, educational activities, and a large number of "challenges" relayed by the press. Such digital actions have been adopted on all continents, their intensity reflecting the distribution of museums around the world. While virtual museums and actions on social networks can be found on all continents, it is in countries where there are the greatest number of museums and where investment in digital technology and the use of these networks is the most active, that the most numerous and innovative actions have been observed. ICT initiatives and, even more so, the immediate digital responses formulated in the context of the COVID-19 crisis, seem almost absent in African states and Small Island Developing States.

FACINg THE CHALLENgES OF ACCESS TO CULTURE

The study revealed that the digital divide is now more evident than ever.

Indeed, for millions of people around the world, especially in developing countries, access to culture through digital means remains out of reach, making it difficult to launch virtual museums or access online collections. According to the International Telecommunication Union, almost half of the world's population does not have access to the Internet 1 . There is also an important gender gap in terms of access to digital technologies. Data from the OECD shows that around 327 million fewer women than men have a smartphone and can access mobile Internet. 2 The impact of the crisis on cultural institutions, especially museums, requires a global approach that reaffirms the central role of culture as a means of making societies resilient, as well as one that helps reactivate the economy and the cultural ecosystem, in order to promote a better future, especially for future generations.

In the midst of this truly global crisis, UNESCO's role is to accompany its Member States, including through the 2015 UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Protection and Promotion of Museums and Collections, their Diversity and their Role in Society, in supporting the development of museum policies, promoting training, sharing knowledge and disseminating good practices, in collaboration with its local, national and international partners, such as the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM).

INTRODUCTION

This report is line with the 2015 UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Protection and Promotion of Museums and Collections, their Diversity and their Role in Society whose first implementation report was drafted in 2019 on the basis of contributions from 56 Member States. The Recommendation places particular emphasis on the social role of museums:

"Museums are vital public spaces that should address all of society and can therefore play an important role in the development of social ties and cohesion, building citizenship, and reflecting on collective identities" ( § 17).

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered, as part of the measures designed to contain the spread of the virus, a lockdown process affecting all institutions in society, including museums. In order to continue their work, a great many museums have used ICTs to communicate with the public. The Recommendation already placed considerable emphasis on the importance of these technologies:

"The functions of museums are also influenced by new technologies and their growing role in everyday life. These technologies have great potential for promoting museums throughout the world, but they also constitute potential barriers for people and museums that do not have access to them or the knowledge and skills to use them effectively" ( § 29).

The aim of this report is to present an initial estimate of the museums affected by lockdown measures, and the steps they have taken to continue their activity using ICTs.

Four questions were asked in this context, concerning:

-The number of museums in each Member State;

-The number of museums that closed during the COVID-19 crisis;

-Online activities (virtual visits, exhibitions of their collections, training, educational programmes, children's games, etc.) proposed by museums and the measures taken by Member States;

-The actions to be implemented in the medium/long term in a context of lockdown and the assistance that UNESCO could provide to museums in these unprecedented circumstances.

This survey was carried out in conjunction with 51 UNESCO Field Offices (excluding liaison offices). It was also completed using the responses provided in the first evaluation of the follow-up to the Recommendation, mentioned above.

The results presented in this report are estimates of the number of museums around the world, the number of museums closed and the actions taken by museums during lockdown. In the face of current challenges, it may be necessary to strengthen data gathering in order to be able to homogenize statistical tools implemented by Member States to monitor their cultural policy and succeed, on the one hand, in fully integrating culture as a transversal agent of economic and social transformation and, on the other hand, inform and adapt cultural policies to ensure the viability of this sector.

I. MUSEUMS AROUND THE WORLD

Fig. 1. Number of states and number of museums

The number of museums differs greatly between states (Fig. 1). While some have a total number of museums in the several thousands (e.g., Germany, Brazil, the Russian Federation, France and Japan) nearly half of states have a total number estimated at less than 50 establishments. Just 15 states, i.e., less than 8% of the 193 Member States, have more than 1,000 museums.

Number of museums

Number of countries

States* More than 5,000 museums 10 This first observation is linked to two of UNESCO's priorities -Africa and Small Island Developing States. Most of the states from these regions have a very limited number of museums (about 10), or even none at all. 30% of Member States have a network of 1 to 10 museums, or no museums at all. This observation is even more striking if the number of museums is compared with the populations of states. The following table shows the number of museums per million inhabitants. This statistic favours certain very small states (a state of 10,000 inhabitants with a single museum has a coefficient of 100; a state of 20 million inhabitants with 1,000 museums has a coefficient of 50), which initially led to a distinction being made between states with fewer than 100,000 inhabitants and other states.

Density of the museum network

Fig. 2. Number of states and number of museums per million inhabitants

Inequalities between states, in terms of the density of the museum network, are even more pronounced. Museum density varies widely. The countries with the most museums per capita (over 50 museums per million inhabitants) are almost exclusively from Western Europe and Others (this concerns 25 out of 27 states). Half of the states (100) have fewer than one to five museums per million inhabitants, while 13 states have no museums. African countries, Small Island Developing States and a large number of (heavily populated) Latin American and Asian states are mostly found in this category. It should be noted that these measures have been applied over time in very different ways:

Museums per million inhabitants

-Strict lockdown measures have been applied in some countries, sometimes for periods of 72 hours, but most often for several weeks or months.

-At present, some museums, particularly in Europe, are in the process of reopening after being closed for several weeks.

We must therefore speak of measures that may still be in force at this report's time of publication, and which have affected museums.

Number of museums temporarily or still affected by closure measures

Some states closed their museums at the beginning of 2020, and were sometimes able to reopen them in April. In May, a number of the affected museums were in the process of being reopened or had even completely reopened, while others were still closed or very largely closed. It is important to note that the figures given here provide a snapshot of a reality that dates back to the beginning of May and is constantly evolving.

The estimate thus focuses on museums that have been affected in one way or another by the closure and lockdown measures:

-Museum closures for a few days or a few months;

-Closure of the country to foreign tourists (affecting visits);

-Confinement of the inhabitants, discouraging all visits.

UNESCO Museums around the World in the Face of COVID-19

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With regard to closures, the estimated number of museums and the number of museums closed is summarized below.

The estimate for closed museums in the United States is given with a lower percentage of probability. No count has been carried out and measures may differ between states: for example, some US states have taken very strict measures; while others, which are less affected, have taken more limited measures, and most museums do not depend on the public authorities.

Region

THE IMpACT OF COVID-19 ON THE MUSEUM SECTOR

For the global museum landscape as a whole, which is estimated to include just under 95,000 museums, this study estimates that more than 85,000 museums, or about 90% of the museum institutions around the world, have been affected by temporary closures as part of the measures taken to combat COVID-19.

These are assessments, which can only be confirmed by the establishment of a reliable database listing museums around the world using the same counting method (see Appendices 1 & 2).

The financial consequences for the museum sector are very important. Some museums benefit in part from public subsidies, but a large number of institutions depend greatly on financial contributions from visitors (paid visits, purchases, etc.) and donors, which can account for 5% to 100% of their budgets.

The measures taken to counter the virus have not (at least in the short-term) directly impacted state funding for museums. On the other hand, funding from the public and donors has been greatly affected due to:

-A drastic decrease in cultural tourism, due to the closing of borders (for some large institutions, their public is 70-75% international). For tourist regions, the Network of European Museum Organizations (NEMO) estimates losses at 75-80% 4 .

-The loss of income from museum admissions and commercial activities in situ due to museum closures. According to the European NEMO survey, 30% of museums have reported losing up to €1,000 per week, and 25% up to €5,000. Large institutions reported losing between €100,000 and €600,000 per week.

-The economic aftermath suggests that there will be a drastic fall in the number of donors and sponsors, and likely a collapse in international tourism in the months and even years to come.

III. RESILIENCE OF MUSEUMS IN TIMES OF CRISIS

Around the world, museums have sought to stay connected with their audiences. They have thus launched a great many initiatives online and through social media.

Information collected from 86 states indicates nearly 600 references to online sites or activities. These have been supplemented by about 200 references from other organizations that have located these activities on the Internet (CLIC France, NEMO, e-flux). Even if this sample does not guarantee representativeness and is by no means exhaustive, it nevertheless provides an overview of the digital responses of museums around the world. It should be noted, at the outset, that museums' responses were based both on investments made before COVID-19 (digitization of collections, creation of virtual museums), which were widely used during lockdown, and on specific activities carried out during this particular period.

The states for which information could be listed are the following: It should be noted that many of the activities that were widely reported in the media concerned the promotion of virtual museum projects, some of which had been underway for several years.

It is important to highlight the inequalities in the museum sector with respect to ICT investments. A similar observation had already been made in the Report on the Implementation of the 2015 UNESCO Recommendation concerning Museums and Collections, published in 2019. Internet access is unevenly distributed around the world. Furthermore, the implementation of a digital policy presupposes global thinking centered on (1) the digitisation of collections, which itself relies on (2) a sufficiently up-to-date inventory of collections, (3) a minimum IT infrastructure (photo-taking, scanning, computers), (4) sufficiently stable Internet access and (5) dedicated staff with the minimum skills to carry out these various operations. Many museums have not yet drawn up inventories of their collections, while some others (fewer in number) have large teams dedicated solely to their institution's digital strategy. Following the same principles as those of the star-system economy, the "big museums", i.e. the largest in terms of visitor numbers, which have invested heavily in digitising their collections and social media, have thus seen a substantial rise in the number of visitors to their websites during the lockdown period (the Louvre Museum, for example, saw a tenfold increase in visits to its website in the first few days of the confinement period in France, which then stabilised to a level three times higher than the average5 ).

TypES OF DIgITAL ACTIVITIES DEVELOpED DURINg MUSEUM CLOSURES

Here the various activities will be grouped into five categories according to the prominence of the site's digital policy, activities undertaken in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the social media coordination policy, the creation of new specific activities, and the organisation of scientific and professional activities.

Use of previously digitised resources

Digitisation of planned activities during the months of lockdown

A large number of events or exhibitions were already scheduled when lockdown was announced in many states. Many museums sought to put these events online in the form of more or less interactive digital visits. In this situation, many events -concerts or talks -were presented online rather than in situ, most often via social media, either live or recorded, often downloadable or available on digital platforms (YouTube, SoundCloud). For example, Bergamo, Italy's GAMeC (Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art) created an online radio show, while the MUO (Museum of Arts and Crafts) in Zagreb, Croatia launched numerous online initiatives.

Increased activity on social media

A number of institutions (e.g. the Leventis Gallery in Cyprus) made the most of the lockdown to develop their social media activities (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) or launch a YouTube or SoundCloud channel. The institutions already active on these networks continued their investment through the community managers already active, and also through all the museum teams (curators, management teams, mediation services), who became considerably more involved in order to offer specific content adapted to the digital format. The contribution of new content on social media -live via Facebook, audio sequences or videos broadcast via YouTube or Soundcloud -helped to partially transform some museums into diversified digital media.

Special activities created for lockdown

A few very active institutions have sought to develop original projects in the context of lockdown. Three types of intervention are emerging, designed to break away from the more traditional projects mentioned above.

The first source of intervention concerns exhibition projects and collections, for which specific mediation is envisaged. In particular, many museums have sought to take advantage of the deserted rooms to present an offbeat view of the collections or tours with a robot (e.g. Hastings Contemporary, United Kingdom). New forms of experience organised with curators have been launched, including the idea of participating in a "cocktail with the curators" (Frick Collection, New York), associating a work with a song (Valence Museum, France) or presenting the museum's collections using their reproductions in a video game (the Angermuseum, Germany with Animal Crossing), all aiming to engage the visitor.

Several museums took advantage of this particular period to present "the other side of the coin", i.e. the reserves or various "invisible" museum jobs (like collection management).

The methods regularly used by community managers to appeal to audiences through participatory actions have become widespread, especially throughout Western Europe and Others. The "#Get-tyMuseum Challenge" (Getty Museum, Los Angeles), also developed by "Between Art and Quarantine" (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam), calling on web users to take photos of themselves reproducing famous works, encouraged international participation, and was widely relayed by the traditional media. A huge number of challenges, educational games, children's stories, quizzes and even video games (Centre Pompidou, Paris), as well as colouring activities and games involving parents and children, have been set up to support parents seeking to occupy their children through fun and instructive activities. This is the case, for example, of the Museum of Relief Maps in Paris, which made a "memory" game for downloading. At the Museo de Arte Precolombino e Indigena in Montevideo, avatars of the staff proposed activities for children. Many museums also have also put in place COVID-19-related collection policies.

Professional and scientific activities organised in the context of lockdown

In a more strictly professional and scientific manner, several museums, and also many museum asso-ciations and museum programmes (Ibermuseos, ICOM, Ontario Museums Association, Association of Children's Museums, Virginia Association of Museums, Association of Academic Museums and Galleries) rapidly initiated web conferences in the form of webinars or meetings and talks via Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts and other videoconferencing media. Current work is essentially focused on topics related to the COVID-19 crisis, but could be continued in the future.

The 800 activities listed have been divided into different types of interventions to show the regional breakdown of the various categories (cat. 5, which concerns more professional responses, is not taken into account here) (fig. 3).

Distribution of digital response types

Fig. 3. Breakdown of digital responses by region

All of these museums have drawn on existing digital material, the result of previous investment, in order to enhance it (cat. 1). A much smaller number of institutions -mainly located in Western Europe and Others and the Asia and Pacific regions -appear to have possessed sufficient resources (infrastructure and staff) to present digital versions of current exhibitions or events during lockdown (cat. 2). Social media (cat. 3) has been used in much the same way (although with variations) as a means of communication.

On the other hand, it is mainly the museums in Western Europe and Others (and to a lesser extent Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean and Arab States) that seem to have had sufficient investment to offer tools adapted to the lockdown experienced by the population, seeking to respond as closely as possible to the educational, creative or resourcing needs of those in lockdown (cat. 4). These initiatives seem to be almost absent in Africa and Small Island Developing States.

CONCLUSIONS

Museums around the world are both repositories of works and artifacts, as well as spaces for meeting, knowledge sharing and building social ties. The situation facing museums today remains a concern in all regions of the world.

The study revealed that, since 2012, the number of museums worldwide has increased by almost 60%, representing almost 95,000 institutions worldwide.

The situation facing museums remains compromised by the global health crisis, which has hit the museum sector particularly hard. According to UNESCO estimates presented in this study, 90% of the world's museums, or more than 85,000 institutions, have closed their doors and a number may never reopen. It is very clear that these temporary closures have had serious economic and social consequences that may affect museums in the long term.

The data presented in this study therefore highlights the enormous challenge facing museums if they are to continue to play their role in the fields of education, the dissemination of culture, the promotion of social cohesion and the strengthening of the local and regional creative economy in the future. The important place that this sector has assumed in national cultural policies during the past decade could be weakened if urgent policies to support this sector are not adopted by states.

The shutdown of cultural tourism endangers the financial stability of a great many institutions, since it constitutes one of the main resources on which museums rely on to ensure their operation and economic survival. The main players affected by this loss are museum professionals, especially the self-employed, three out of five of whom have lost their jobs and are in urgent need of support. Consequently, reflections on strategies to revive tourism must not forget that museums are at the center of the cultural experience that visitors have of the country, city or site that they are discovering.

Among the main challenges is the immediate risk to the security of collections in this period when museums have minimal staff on site. UNESCO's recommendations provide useful guidance to Member States, as well as to art collectors.

The physical closure of museums has led these institutions to seek, throughout the crisis, alternatives and opportunities for recovery.

Resilience is one of the fundamental characteristics of museums and this has become even more evident since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. Museums have always been able to reinvent themselves and adapt to changes in society. This report indicates that they are already rethinking their operations and their relationship with the public in order to move forward and survive post-COVID-19. There is no single answer; each region, each country and each museum will have to make its own assessment and identify the lessons that will enable it to adapt to a new reality and new challenges.

The report also indicates that many museum institutions have devised new ways of maintaining contact with their audiences and generating alternative financial resources, using the digital environment through virtual visits and the use of social networks. Although these initiatives are led largely by "big museums", they could inspire other museums, especially in African countries and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), where only 5% of museums are able to offer online content to their audiences. However, if nothing is done to promote Internet access in these regions, the growing imbalance observed with the regions of Western Europe and Others risks aggravating existing inequalities and widening the creative and technological gap in the course of this digital transition, which is already well under way.

In this respect, the implementation of a more balanced digital policy requires an overall reflection, focusing on the digitisation of collections, an up-to-date inventory of collections, minimum IT infrastructure, sufficiently stable Internet access and adequate staff skills.

There are also significant gender disparities in terms of access to technology. These disparities also apply to the museum context, particularly if online access remains the only means of access for a long period of time. According to the OECD, 327 million fewer women than men own a smartphone and can access mobile internet, while women are four times less likely than men to be digitally literate. The COVID-19 crisis underscores the vital importance of culture as an essential common good and a source of resilience. It inevitably highlights the fundamental role of UNESCO and the museum sector in particular.

UNESCO's role is thus to provide a common frame of reference so that states can put in place urgent measures for museums, by developing appropriate policies that will enable these institutions to navigate the transformations imposed by the crisis, and by mobilizing international cooperation to enable them to survive economically while providing more balanced access to museum collections. In this way, the growth in the role of museums, observed before the COVID-19 crisis, will hopefully regain momentum in the near future, for the good of humanity. Thus, based on the 2015 UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Protection and Promotion of Museums and Collections, their Diversity and their Role in Society, heritage authorities and practitioners, states and cultural professionals are working to make museums more diverse and inclusive, and to highlight their role in the fields of education, communication, research and heritage preservation.

APPENDIX 1. DATA COLLECTION METHOD

This report was drawn up by UNESCO to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the museum sector. The survey began on 16 April 2020, with the latest information returned being incorporated up to 20 May 2020.

Four questions were asked in this context, concerning:

-The number of museums in each UNESCO Member State;

-The number of museums that closed during the COVID-19 crisis;

-Online activities (virtual tours, exhibitions of their collections, training, educational programmes, children's games, etc.) proposed by museums and the measures taken by Member States;

-The actions to be implemented in the medium/long term in a context of lockdown and the assistance that UNESCO could provide to museums in the present unprecedented circumstances.

Contribution of Field Offices

Of UNESCO's 51 Field offices (excluding liaison offices), 45 Offices provided responses to the abovementioned questions.

All in all, the collective work carried out by UNESCO's Field Offices has made it possible to gather information on 88 Member States, i.e. almost 45% of all the 193 Member States of UNESCO (to which Israel and the United States have been added to complete the statistics).

Region

Countries for which answers (sometimes partial) were provided by the offices

Collection of additional information on closed museums

In order to determine the number of museums around the world, research was undertaken using previous data (museum statistics), particularly information in the Report on the Implementation of -From the sites of museum associations and museums programmes that have developed an index related to the challenges of COVID-19, notably the European NEMO museum network and the Ibersmuseos Programme;

-From sites listing containment measures around the world (France Diplomatie Agency; global economic and security sites such as Bloomberg and GardaWorld);

-From sites specialising in the collection of digital data on museums (CLIC France, e-flux);

-From press sites (to assess containment measures, especially when the museum network was very small).

Statistical observation

The contribution of the Field Offices made it possible to collect information that was not widely disseminated and did not circulate on the Internet (e.g. for states with few museums) and to gather information in languages that are poorly or not identified by search engines. The contribution of the Field Offices was invaluable in terms of identifying online activities and actions to be implemented in the medium or long term.

However, information required on the number of museums and their closures around the world showed that the use of the Field Office network alone is insufficient. It should also be noted that relying solely on the information provided by Member States (especially as regards the Report on the implementation of the Recommendation) was not enough to make this report exhaustive. The low availability of information on museums is due in particular to the fact that some are not government-funded, and that states do not always have information on all the institutions located in their country.

To date, the way museums are counted, although based on the same definition of a museum presented by the ICOM in 2007 and included in the 2015 Museums Recommendation, is applied differently from one state to another. Some states include only public museums in their statistics, others include all establishments that describe themselves as museums, and others include only those open all year round. Some states include science and exhibition centers, as well as virtual museums.

Comments on the museum figures

The In the light of the above, these statistics should be viewed with caution. For example, the number of museums given for the United States of America has a large impact on the overall statistics (over 33,000 museums). On the other hand, the statistics given for Chinese museums (1,030) is clearly lower than other estimates found on the Internet (more than 5,000), but as these had not yet been validated by China in a previous report to UNESCO or by a Field Office, it was decided to maintain the figure given in the Directory of World Museums.

The same applies to the estimate of closed museums. It is thus possible that more museums have remained open in the United States (the information is not very precise in this respect), which would mean significant differences in the statistics. If 50% of American museums had remained open, this would mean that 72,000 museums around the world had closed. In addition, the information provided by the Beijing Field Office on closed museums in Japan reports that 1,143 museums out of over 5,700 have closed. It is possible that the number of closed museums is higher.

APPENDIX 2. NUMBER OF MUSEUMS AROUND THE WORLD

UNESCO

  Museums around the World in the Face of COVID-19 21 the 2015 UNESCO Recommendation concerning Museums and Collections drafted in 2019. The background research on the context of COVID-19 was carried out on the Internet:

  estimate of the number of museums given in this report (see Appendix 2) is based on the same data used in the Report on the Implementation of the 2015 UNESCO Recommendation on Museums and Collections (figures presented by the OCLC, based on Saur's Museums of the World directory, and figures for American museums from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in Washington, D.C.). These figures have been amended on the basis of the reports provided by Member States for the Recommendation follow-up (in 2019) and the data provided this year by UNESCO Field Offices.

  This report's estimate of the number of museums worldwide is based on the same data used in the Report on the implementation of the UNESCO 2015 Recommendation on Museums and Collections, whose figures were collected by the OCLC (Online Computer Library Centre), from Saur's Museums of the World directory, and, for American museums, from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in Washington, D.C. These figures have been amended according to the statistics provided by the 56 Member States for monitoring the Recommendation (in 2019) and by the data provided in this present survey by UNESCO.

	The current 3 estimate of the number of museums in the world is about 95,000.
				Region			Estimated number of museums	% world
	I. Western Europe and Others				61 634			65.3 %
	II. Eastern Europe					11 465			12.1 %
	III. Latin America and the Caribbean				7 810			8.3%
	IV. Asia Pacific						12 195			12.9 %
	Va. Africa							841			0.9 %
	Vb. Arab States							473			0.5 %
	195 States						94 418			100 %
					Museum network around the world
		60		55
		50
	Number of States	10 20 30 40	13		33	17	17	13	22	9	7	5	4
		0
			No museums	1 to 10	11 to 25	26 to 50	51 to 100	101 to 200	201 to 500	501 to 1000	1001 to 2000	2001 to 5000	More than 5000
							Number of museums

It should be emphasized that this is only an estimate, based on statistics drawn up according to sometimes varying criteria by Member States. As long as different counting methods are used, the number of museums cannot be accurately calculated.

Number of countries States

	More	than	100	4	Niue, Andorra, San Marino, Monaco
	(States with under
	100,000 inhabitants)
	More	than	100	9	Iceland, Montenegro, Georgia, Malta, Estonia,
	(States with over		Switzerland, Norway, Mongolia, United States of
	100,000 inhabitants)		America
	51 to 100		14	Austria, Cyprus, Hungary, Belgium, Latvia, Ger-
					many, France, Croatia, Luxembourg, Ireland, Den-
					mark, Finland, Canada, Italy

Museums per million inhabitants Number of countries States 26 to 50 22

  Information concerning the closure of museums was provided for 88 Member States by UNESCO Field Offices, and completed by additional data collected from various museum associations and agencies, who relayed the general instructions of states.

	New Zealand, United Kingdom, Greece, Japan, II. MUSEUM CLOSURES DURING THE PANDEMIC
				Slovenia, Armenia, Netherlands, Portugal, Slova-
				kia, Lithuania, Russian Federation, Spain, Australia,
				Moldova, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Poland, Cuba,
				Sweden, Albania, Mauritius, Belize
	11 to 25 Number of countries that adopted closure measures 16 Barbados, Bahamas, Argentina, Romania, Re-
				public of Korea, Serbia, Brazil, Uruguay, Vanuatu,
	Measures taken 16 No museums 6 to 10 1 to 5 62 no measures Minor measures (restrictions) or	No. 13 11	Cabo Verde, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Namib-States ia, North Macedonia, Israel Antigua and Barbuda, Cook Islands, Djibouti, Dom-Ecuador, Kyrgyzstan, Bolivia, Mexico, Seychelles, inica, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Samoa, Tonga, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grena-Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Iran, Colombia, Peru, Tuni-dines, Palau, South Sudan, Tuvalu sia, Azerbaijan Suriname, Sao Tome and Principe, Jordan, Sol-Nicaragua, Saint Lucia, Turkey, Jamaica, Bhutan, Benin, Belarus, Burundi, Chad, Guinea, Liberia, Mal-
				omon Islands, Panama, South Africa, Botswana,
				Dominican Republic, Lesotho, Cambodia, Costa
				Rica, Timor-Leste, Gambia, Lebanon, Palestine,
				Turkmenistan, Qatar, Chile, Oman, Paraguay, Cen-
				tral African Republic, Burkina Faso, Malaysia, Ne-
				pal, Singapore, Honduras, Venezuela, Maldives,
				Myanmar, Bahrain, Togo, El Salvador, Sri Lanka,
				Philippines, Vietnam, Eswatini, Laos, Gabon, Unit-
				ed Arab Emirates, Libya, Congo, Senegal, Zimba-
				bwe, Guyana, Thailand, Belarus, Cameroon, Niger,
				Morocco, Comoros, Fiji, Guatemala, Algeria, Saudi
				Arabia, Ethiopia, Mali, Kuwait
	Less than 1	39		Papua New Guinea, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea,
				China, Guinea, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, Benin,
				Eritrea, Indonesia, Syria, Zambia, Côte d'Ivoire,
				Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Mauritania, Dem-
				ocratic People's Republic of Korea, Liberia, Mo-
				zambique, Iraq, Sudan, Madagascar, India, Yemen,
				Tanzania, Kenya, Chad, Uganda, Nigeria, Malawi,
				Pakistan, Burundi, Rwanda, Bangladesh, Sierra
				Leone, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the
				Congo, Somalia
	No museums	13		Antigua and Barbuda, Djibouti, Cook Islands,
				Dominica, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia,
				Nauru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the
				Grenadines, Palau, South Sudan, Tuvalu

dives, Niue, Somalia , Sweden, Tajikistan Partial measures (closure of some museums) 15 Albania, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Japan, Malaysia, Mali, Niger, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tanzania, United States of America Measures for all museums 156 All other countries According to this data, 182 states have at least one museum. Only 11 states have taken no measures or developed minor restriction measures (for example, Benin has left its museums open, but they are not visited), i.e. 6% of states with a museum.

  Although the answers given by Western European and Other States (particularly in North America) have not been fully recorded, and more in-depth work should be pursued in order to bring out many more initiatives, it is nonetheless interesting to stress, with all due caution, the importance of the initiatives taken in Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region and the low representation of the African and Arab States regions.

	Region	List of sites and activities during COVID-19	% of total
	III. Latin America and the Ca-		226	27.4 %
	ribbean
	IV. Asia and Pacific		168	20.3 %
	Va Africa		17	2.1%
	Vb Arab States		58	7.0 %
	Total		826	100 %
	Region	Number	List of museums that developed a digital presence during COVID-19
	I. Western Europe and Others 16	Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece,
			Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzer-
			land, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of
			America, Israel
	II. Eastern Europe	12	Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia,
			Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland,
			Romania, Russia Federation, Serbia, Slovenia
	III. Latin America and the Ca-	18	Argentina, Barbados, Bermuda, Brazil, Chile, Co-
	ribbean		lombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ec-
			uador, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru,
			Sint Maarten, Uruguay, Venezuela
	IV. Asia and the Pacific	19	Australia, Bangladesh, China, Cambodia, India, In-
			donesia, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal,
			Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore,
			Tajikistan, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Vietnam.
	Va. Africa	10	Benin, Cabo Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya,
			Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Af-
			rica
	Vb. Arab States	11	Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon,
			Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab
			Emirates
	However, this result suggests significant disparities between states and regions.
	Furthermore, the distribution of activities collected on the Internet, as reported here, yields the fol-
	lowing results, categorized by region:
	Region	List of sites and activities during COVID-19	% of total
	I. Western Europe and Others		220	26.6 %
	II. Eastern Europe		137	16.6 %

  Many institutions have taken advantage of the digitisation and digital communication work done on existing collections (online collections, 360° tours, virtual museums, online publications, digital exhibitions) to showcase them more effectively. In this context, the Google Arts & Culture website

has been the subject of great interest (especially with traditional media). Many institutions have developed their own projects, often as part of digitisation policies developed by public authorities, including, for example, at the Bangabandhu Museum in Bangladesh, the National Costume Museum of Grand Bassam in Côte d'Ivoire and the portal set up by the Department of Antiquities in Jordan. A large number of institutions have also put digital productions, applications and games from pre-16 vious exhibitions back online to give them a new lease on life.

  Compiled by Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), Global Library Statistics, which lists libraries and museums (https://www.oclc.org) from the following sources: Sauer compilation, Museums of the World, Munich, KG Sauer Verlag/ De Gruyter, 2016 (23rd ed.). Except for the United States of America (Institute of Museums and Libraries Services, Museums data files https://www.imls.gov/research-evaluation/data-collection/museum-data-files)2. Statistics provided by UNESCO Member States that replied to the questionnaire on the implementation of the 2015 Recommendation concerning the Protection and Promotion of Museums and Collections, their Diversity and their Role in Society (published in 2019).3. Statistics provided by UNESCO Field Offices that replied to this 2020 COVID-19 Survey.

	Country APPENDIX 3. NUMBER OF MUSEUMS CLOSED UNESCO Electoral Group Info. Source N° of museums Population (millions) Country UNESCO Electoral Group Source of Info No. of muse-ums COVID Closure % closed Total or partial closure Country UNESCO Electoral Group Source of Info No. of muse-ums COVID Closure % closed Total or partial closure Country UNESCO Electoral Group Source of Info No. of muse-ums COVID Closure Total or % closure closed partial	Museums/ mil. inhab. Notes Notes Notes
	Trinidad and Tobago Jamaica Palau Mali Sources of Information 1. Country Andorra Austria Belgium Canada Cyprus Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Iceland Ireland Italy Luxembourg Malta Monaco Netherlands Norway Portugal San Marino Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey United Kingdom of Great Brit-ain and Northern Ireland Total Group I Albania Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Tajikistan Ukraine Total Group II Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Bahamas Barbados Belize Bolivia (Plurinational State of) Brazil Chile Colombia Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Uruguay Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) Total Group III Afghanistan Australia Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Darussalam Cambodia China Cook Islands Democratic People's Republic of Korea Fiji India Indonesia Iran (Islamic Republic of) Japan Kazakhstan Kiribati Kyrgyzstan Lao People's Democratic Republic Malaysia Maldives Marshall Islands Micronesia (Federated States of) Mongolia Myanmar Source of Information -Legend III III 5 IV Va 1 UNESCO Electoral Group I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I II II II II II II II II II II III III III III III III III III III III III III III III III III III IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV 1 UNESCO Field Office, complete to fairly complete reply 1 16 0 19 Info. Source museums 16 1 9 N° of 2 25 1 741 1 912 1 2112 2 99 1 359 2 326 1 4811 1 6257 1 487 1 68 1 319 1 3195 1 42 3 72 1 10 2 688 1 609 2 405 1 11 2 1732 2 301 2 1111 3 451 1 3183 28326 2 82 2 131 1 61 1 12 3 32 2 232 3 287 3 71 2 574 11465 2 0 2 1017 1 9 1 7 1 10 3 120 3 3835 1 47 3 366 1 17 3 338 1 0 1 41 3 183 1 61 3 57 7810 2 4 1 919 1 23 1 4 3 6 3 60 1 1030 1 0 1 11 1 1 3 500 1 163 2 628 3 5738 3 245 1 0 3 67 1 12 1 73 1 1 1 0 1 0 3 342 2 104 2 UNESCO Field Office, partial reply 3 NEMO (Network of European Museums) 4 Ibermuseos Programme 5 Internet 6 Museum associations Mexico City III 1,4 1320 1320 Papua New Guinea IV 8 8 Mauritius Va 1 36 36 Notes Nicaragua III 1 38 38 Philippines IV 1 192 17 Mozambique Va 5 12 12 1 with restrictions 100 47.36 Population 1.39 (millions) 0.077 8.847 11.422 37.058 1.189 5.797 5.518 66.987 82.927 10.727 0.353 4.853 60.431 0.608 0.484 0.039 17.231 5.314 10.281 0.034 46.723 10.183 8.517 82.32 66.489 544.409 2.866 2.952 9.942 9.485 3.324 7.024 4.089 9.101 44.623 346.247 0.096 44.495 0.386 0.287 0.383 11.353 209.469 18.729 49.649 4.999 11.338 0.071 10.627 17.084 3.449 28.87 637.578 37.172 24.992 161.356 0.754 0.429 16.25 1392.73 0.022 25.55 0.883 1352.617 267.663 81.8 126.529 18.277 0.116 6.316 7.062 31.529 0.516 0.058 0.113 3.17 53.708 100 100 100 100 8.85 100 Panama III 1 19 19 100 Republic of Korea IV 2 1102 1102 100 Namibia Va 5 31 31 100 2 probable Paraguay III 4 17 17 100 Samoa IV 5 2 0 0 Niger Va 1 3 1 33.33 3 very likely Peru III 1 227 227 100 Singapore IV 1, 5 12 6 50 Nigeria Va 2, 5 48 48 100 4 preventive measures (Ibermuseos) Museums/ 0.7 mil. inhab. 324.7 83.8 79.8 57 83.3 61.9 59.1 71.8 75.5 45.4 192.6 65.7 52.9 69.1 148.8 256.4 39.9 114.6 39.4 323.5 37.1 29.6 130.4 5.5 47.9 52 28.6 44.4 6.1 1.3 9.6 33 70.2 7.8 12.9 33.1 0 22.9 23.3 24.4 26.1 10.6 18.3 2.5 7.4 3.4 29.8 0 3.9 17.7 2 12.2 0.1 36.8 0.1 5.3 14 3.7 0.7 0 0.4 1.1 0.4 0.6 7.7 45.3 13.4 0 10.6 1.7 2.3 1.9 0 0 107.9 -4 -2 -7 -3 -3 -7 -2 -3 Saint Kitts and Nevis III 0 0 Solomon Islands IV 5 3 3 100 -3 Rwanda Va 5 2 2 100 -3 5 at least a significant part Saint Lucia III 5 1 1 100 -3 Sri Lanka IV 1 40 11 27.5 Sao Tome and Principe Va 5 1 1 100 -3 6 unreliable information 7 but quarantine measures 8 museums open, but without public closed partially open closed Country UNESCO Electoral Group Source of Info No. of muse-ums COVID Closure % closed Total or partial closure Notes Andorra I 5 25 25 100 Austria I 3 741 741 100 Belgium I 3 912 912 100 Canada I 5 2112 2112 100 Cyprus I 1 99 99 100 Denmark I 3 359 359 100 Finland I 3 326 326 100 France I 3 4811 4811 100 Germany I 3 6257 6257 100 Greece I 1 487 487 100 Iceland I 3 68 68 100 Ireland I 3 319 319 100 Tajikistan II 1, 5 71 0 -2 Ukraine II 5 574 574 100 Total Group II II 11 465 11 311 98.65 Antigua and Barbuda III 0 0 Argentina III 4 1017 1017 100 Bahamas III 5 9 9 100 Barbados III 5 7 7 100 Saint Vincent and the III 0 0 Thailand IV 1 88 23 26.13 Senegal Va 1 21 21 100 Grenadines Suriname III 5 3 3 Timor-Leste IV 1 4 4 100 Seychelles Va 5 1 1 100 -3 100 Trinidad and Tobago III 5 1 1 100 Tonga IV 5 1 1 100 -3 Sierra Leone Va 5 1 1 100 -2 -3 Uruguay III 1 61 61 Turkmenistan IV 5 16 16 100 -3 Somalia Va 5 1 1 -2 100 Venezuela (Bol. Rep. of) III 1,4 57 57 100 Uzbekistan IV 5 278 278 100 -2 South Africa Va 5 233 233 100 -3 -4 Total Group III III 7810 7787 Tuvalu IV 0 South Sudan Va 1 0 0 99.7 Afghanistan IV 1 4 4 Vanuatu IV 5 5 5 100 -3 Togo Va 5 15 15 100 -3 100 Australia IV 5 919 919 100 Viet Nam IV 1 170 170 100 Uganda Va 5 11 11 100 -3 -5 Bangladesh IV 1 23 3 13.04 Bhutan IV 1 4 0 0 Brunei Darussalam IV 1 6 6 100 Cambodia IV 1 60 60 100 China IV 2 1030 1030 100 Cook Islands IV 0 Democratic People's Republic of Korea IV 5 11 11 100 Fiji IV 5 1 1 100 -3 India IV 1 500 500 Total Group IV IV 12 195 7 237 59.34 Angola Va 1,5 15 15 100 Un. Republic of Va 5 19 5 26.31 -2 Tanzania -3 Benin Va 5 8 0 0 Zambia Va 5 10 10 100 -3 -8 Botswana Va 5 9 9 100 Zimbabwe Va 5 19 19 100 -3 -3 Burkina Faso Va 1 46 5 Total Group Va Va 841 738 87.75 10.86 Burundi Va 1 2 Algeria Vb 5 46 46 100 -3 0 Cabo Verde Va 1 9 9 Bahrain Vb 5 3 3 100 -3 100 Cameroon Va 1 31 22 Egypt Vb 5 86 86 100 -3 70.96 Central African Republic Va 5 11 11 100 Iraq Vb 1 15 15 100 -3 Jordan Vb 1 46 46 100 100 Indonesia IV 2 163 163 Chad Va 1 4 0 0 Kuwait Vb 5 4 4 100 -3 100 Iran (Islamic Republic of) IV 1 628 628 Comoros Va 1 1 1 100 Lebanon Vb 1 21 21 100 100 Congo Va 1 7 7 100 Libya Vb 5 9 9 100 -3 1.9 Nauru IV 1 0 0.013 0 Italy I 3 3195 3195 100 Belize III 5 10 10 100 Japan IV 1,5 5738 1143 19.91 -2 Côte d'Ivoire Va 1,5 14 14 100 Mauritania Vb 5 2 2 100 -3 10.7 El Salvador III 1 12 6.42 Nepal IV 3 60 28.088 2.1 Luxembourg I 5 42 42 100 Bolivia III 1 120 120 100 Kazakhstan IV 1,5 245 245 100 -3 Dem. Rep. of the Congo Va 1, 5 6 6 100 Morocco Vb 5 44 44 100 1.9 Grenada III 1 1 0.111 New Zealand IV 1 236 4.886 48.3 Malta I 1 72 72 100 Brazil III 4 3835 3835 100 -4 Kiribati IV 0 Djibouti Va 1 0 0 0 Oman Vb 5 12 12 100 -3 9 Guatemala III 1 19 17.247 Niue IV 1 1 0.0016 625 Monaco I 5 10 10 100 Chile III 1 47 47 100 -4 Kyrgyzstan IV 1,5 67 67 100 -3 Equatorial Guinea Va 5 1 1 100 -3 Palestine Vb 2 13 13 100 -3 1.1 Guyana III 1 1 0.779 1.3 Haiti III 3 8 11.124 0.7 Honduras III 2 19 9.588 2 Jamaica III 1 16 2.935 5.5 Mexico City III 2 1320 126.191 10.5 Nicaragua III 1 38 6.466 5.9 Panama III 2 19 4.177 4.5 Paraguay III 1 17 6.956 2.4 Peru III 1 227 31.989 7.1 Saint Kitts and Nevis III 1 0 0.052 0 Saint Lucia III 1 1 0.182 5.5 Saint Vincent and the Grena-dines III 1 0 0.11 0 Suriname III 1 3 0.576 5.2 Pakistan IV 1 46 212.215 0.2 Palau IV 1 0 0.017 0 Papua New Guinea IV 1 8 8.606 0.9 Philippines IV 1 192 106.652 1.8 Republic of Korea IV 2 1102 51.635 21.3 Samoa IV 1 2 0.196 10.2 Singapore IV 1 12 5.639 2.1 Solomon Islands IV 1 3 0.653 4.6 Sri Lanka IV 3 40 21.67 1.8 Thailand IV 1 88 69.429 1.3 Timor-Leste IV 3 4 1.268 3.2 Tonga IV 1 1 0.103 9.7 Turkmenistan IV 1 16 5.851 2.7 Netherlands I 3 688 688 100 Norway I 5 609 609 100 Portugal I 3 405 405 100 San Marino I 5 11 11 100 Spain I 3 1732 1732 100 Sweden I 3 301 30 10 -1 Switzerland I 3 1111 1111 100 Turkey I 1 451 451 100 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland I 6 3183 3183 100 Total Group I I 28 326 28 055 99.04 Albania II 1 82 82 100 Colombia III 1 366 366 100 Costa Rica III 1 17 17 100 Cuba III 1 338 338 100 Dominica III 5 0 0 Dominican Republic III 5 41 41 100 Ecuador III 1 183 183 100 El Salvador III 1 12 12 100 Grenada III 5 1 1 100 Guatemala III 4, 1 19 13 68.42 Guyana III 5 1 1 100 -3 Haiti III 1 8 8 100 Honduras III 1 19 19 100 Lao People's Dem. IV 5 12 12 100 Eritrea Va 1 2 2 100 Qatar Vb 5 7 7 100 -3 Republic Malaysia IV 1 73 22 Eswatini Va 5 2 2 100 -3 Saudi Arabia Vb 5 36 36 100 -3 30.13 Maldives IV 1 1 Ethiopia Va 1 115 115 100 Sudan Vb 5 16 16 100 -3 0 Marshall Islands IV Gabon Va 1 3 1 33.33 Syrian Arab Republic Vb 5 10 10 100 -3 0 Micronesia IV Gambia Va 1 7 7 100 Tunisia Vb 5 80 80 100 -3 0 Mongolia IV 5 342 342 Ghana Va 1 16 16 100 United Arab Emirates Vb 5 13 13 100 -3 100 Myanmar IV 1,5 104 104 Guinea Va 1 9 0 0 Yemen Vb 5 10 10 100 -3 100 Nauru IV Guinea-Bissau Va 1 1 1 100 Total Group Vb Vb 473 473 100 0 Nepal IV 1 60 60 Kenya Va 1 15 15 100 Israel 5 226 226 100 -3 100 New Zealand IV 5 236 236 100 -3 Niue IV 1 0 -6 Pakistan IV 1 46 37 80.43 Lesotho Va 5 8 8 100 -3 Liberia Va 1,5 2 0 United States of 5 33 082 30 000 90.68 America 0 Madagascar Va 1 10 10 Total Non-members 33 308 30 226 100 Malawi Va 5 4 4 100 -3 TOTAL 94 418 85 827 90.9
	29

This estimate includes the United States and Israel because the objective of the study was to have a global view of the museum sector.

https://www.francetvinfo.fr/culture/arts-expos/louvre/avec-le-confinement-le-louvre-voit-la-frequentation-de-sonsite-internet-multipliee-par-dix_3898219.html

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

UNESCO would like to thank Member States, their delegations and ministries, institutions and museums concerned for their detailed and meticulous responses that served as the basis for the preparation of this report.

We would also like to thank Mr. François Mairesse of the New Sorbonne University -Paris 3, for his work in analyzing and consolidating the contributions. This report was made possible thanks to the financial support of the Zhi Zheng Museum of Art.