MUSEUM bosses in York are celebrating after notching up a record number of visitors in the last year.

For the first time more than half a million people went to view exhibitions put on by the York Museums Trust.

The trust - which manages the Castle Museum, York Art Gallery, St Mary's and the Yorkshire Museum - welcomed 517,000 people from April 2006 to March 2007, up 12 per cent on the previous period.

Janet Barnes, chief executive for York Museums Trust, said: "We are delighted to have reached this milestone and believe the success of the last year will prove to be a solid foundation on which to build for the future."

"It is the investment in improving the actual experience visitors have that has helped the trust break the 500,000 visitors barrier for the first time in its short history. During this time the trust, with the financial support of the City of York Council and other funding bodies, has invested heavily in improving the overall experience for visitors and we are pleased that this investment has proved worthwhile."

The boost in visitors was partly due to high-profile shows including Constantine the Great - York's Roman Emperor, which attracted 53,000 people to the Yorkshire Museum, adding 7,000 to its usual total.

The refurbishment of Kirkgate, the re-creation of a Victorian street at the York Castle Museum, drew an additional 41,000 visitors.

Gillian Cruddas, chief executive of York Tourism Bureau, welcomed the news, saying: "We're delighted to hear that York Museums Trust received record visitor numbers last year.

"The continued development and investment in new and existing attractions, including exhibitions like Constantine, which attracted international media attention and St Mary's, a contemporary art space offering new art installations each year are beneficial to everyone.

The biggest attraction last year was the Castle Museum, with about 254,000 visitors, while York Art Gallery had 156,000 visitors. The Yorkshire Museum brought in 69,000 people while just 20,000 went to St Mary's.

The figures come in a report to City of York Council's leisure and culture advisory panel that will be held on Tuesday.

It shows that since the trust became independent in 2002 it had halted a long term decline in visitor numbers that had dipped to 395,000 over the year to March 2003.