Berfin Bozdemir - 12

Some museums and art galleries charge admission fees, while others have free entry.

Do you think the advantages of charging for admission outweigh the disadvantages?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Museums and art galleries reflect and protect our heritage both nationally and internationally. It has always been a controversial fact that some museums require admission fees while some of them have free entry. This essay tries to examine and discuss both views with the advantages and disadvantages along with the author's point of view.

Since the museums, art galleries or exhibitions carry essential value for the humanity to show the cultural heritage and history, these important places should be free to enter. This facility leads millions of people to visit these precious places with an increasing interest every year. To illustrate this fact, we can say that schools are in a demand for arranging tours to visit museums and it would be perfect not to charge them with fees as it has an importance to help young generation to learn their past. In addition, it would not be fair if a citizen or student can not enter museums just because of a lack of money and it would be such a shame of humankind to exclude the people without financial opportunities away from this common heritage that actually belongs to everybody in the world.

Despite the fact that having free entrances have so many advantages to the public, there can exist some disadvantages of imposing entrance fees. Firstly, museums and art galleries have so many expenditures when trying to serve people properly. For instance, there can be some outgoings of cleaning facilities or the salaries of the workers, officers or cleaners inside of the museums. While cleaning these areas which usually host valuable or priceless historical artifacts, monuments or remainings from ancestors, they should be carefully handled. Secondly, museums need much electricity as it is crucial for an art gallery or exhibition to show the visual features of a painting or sculpture. As a consequence, if museums require entrance fee, it would not be fair and ethic to want people to compensate these expenses; hence, all these expenditures should be supplied by the governments or authorities rather than individuals.

In conclusion, it has always been the case that whether museums and art galleries should be free to enter. I am of the opinion that the advantages of this situation outweighs its drawbacks and also I hold the idea that it should be definitely free of charge for all public.