Generally, some museums require fees for admission, while others offer charge-free entry. While admission-free art exhibitions are considered an advantage for making these places accessible for people who cannot afford them, this essay believes that the downsides of such a scheme are far greater, as it does not offer museums an alternative source of income which is needed for maintenance.
On the one hand, a large number of aesthetes travel around the globe in pursuit of fine pieces of art, which exhausts their budgets and hinders such a pursue from going further. Hence, by providing chargeless museums, they will be able to visit as much of them as they can without spending large sums of money. Furthermore, an improvement in public taste can be achieved by subjecting more audience to those artistic places, and a fine sense will be instilled in the younger generations as more school trips will be available. For instance, there has been a national campaign for allowing Egyptians to visit some of Egypt’s most famous museums for free, which is considered to be one of the most successful programs there.
On the other hand, by imposing a no-charge system on museums without offering them another steady financial source, this industry is doomed to failure. In fact, the amount of work required for maintaining these places is tremendous, and subsequently necessitates funding. That is to say, if the rare pieces of art do not get proper care, they will definitely perish. In 1965, the Tombs of Nobles in Aswan suffered a partial damage due to a raise in water level, and, consequently, demanded an immediate repair. Huge amounts of money were spent then, which exhausted its funds; therefore, upon restoration, the place was opened for visitors for a quite high charge in order to continue its maintenance.
In conclusion, although allowing free museums is good for the public, the disadvantages of this outweighs its advantages, as no other source for income is provided for up-keeping these places.