The National Museum of Australia has overcome past doubts and public criticism to establish itself as one of the capital's most popular attractions.
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The museum attracted 843,763 visitors to its Acton facility during the previous financial year, beating out the Australian War Memorial at 832,242 and the National Gallery of Australia at 506,846.
It is the first time in the past five years that the museum has topped the list for visitor numbers through the door at the Canberra institutions. In 2009-10 the museum had 716,642 visitors.
Museum director Andrew Sayers said the figures showed that the museum was now ''firing on all cylinders''.
''Some of the doubts about the National Museum, some of the hostility towards its architecture and some of the political questions that surrounded the museum in its early history, they're all fading,'' he said.
''I think after 10 years people are now prepared to embrace the National Museum and that's what we're seeing happen.''
Mr Sayers said the numbers also reflected the quality of recent exhibitions Yiwarra Kuju: The Canning Stock Route and Not Just Ned: A True History of the Irish in Australia, which had been developed over a number of years.
''We are not, I think, in the business of getting overseas blockbuster exhibitions and putting them into the museum and maybe doing very well in terms of getting visitors to that exhibition,'' he said.
''I think we've got a much bigger role in terms of telling Australian stories.''
His comments come after the National Gallery of Australia's astounding success in 2009-2010, when more than 470,000 people visited the Masterpieces from Paris exhibition.
NGA assistant director Shanthini Naidoo said the success of the exhibition during the 2009-10 financial year explained the fall in visitor numbers to the gallery from 836,375 to 506,846 in 2010-11.
''You can see if you take away the Masterpieces, you're pretty much on track,'' she said.
''We had another big difference this year which was in the lead-up to the opening of the new building we didn't have any major exhibitions ... If you take all of that into account, it's an extremely pleasing result.''
Ms Naidoo said the aim of the gallery was not simply getting people through the door in Canberra but to increase access for people nationwide, with a focus towards online records and travelling exhibitions.
''Because we're a national institution, our brief is to give access to the national art collection to people all around the country,'' she said.
The Australian War Memorial recorded more than 298,000 visitors to travelling or touring exhibitions during 2010-2011, in addition to the 832,242 visitors to the site in Canberra.
In 2009-10 the memorial had 868,828 visitors to the site.