Louvre has 8.5 million visitors in 2009, holding steady from 2008

Louvre has 8.5 million visitors in 2009

PARIS — The Louvre Museum says it had 8.5 million visitors last year, the same number it had in record-breaking 2008.

Temporary exhibits, including a show about the ancient Egyptians and another on Venetian Renaissance masters Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese, helped attract art lovers.

On top of the 8.5 million people who toured the Paris museum, another 3.5 million visited traveling shows of Louvre works in France and abroad. One traveling exhibit on 18th-century European painting drew in 1.5 million visitors in Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan.

The Louvre released its annual figures on visitors Monday.