York's Castle Museum is planning a major series of exhibitions to lure back the missing visitors.

And across the city, the Yorkshire Museum is hoping to stage another monster show next year to repeat the success of last year's Carnosaur event, following a slump in attendances in 1998.

A major international exhibition on the scholar Alcuin's vital role in York's history may also be staged in 2001.

The Castle Museum, which has suffered a steady decline in attendances over the past decade and is now planning to cut staff pay to help meet budget problems, is determined to halt the slide.

Two exhibitions being planned for 1999, to attract more visitors and income, are Crime and Punishment at York Castle, looking at the history of the museum site and the stories of the men and women imprisoned there, and Exploring Armour, an interactive display giving new insight into how people protected themselves with armour.

In 2000, a "challenging and ground-breaking" exhibition, called The Circle of Life, will look at the traditions and customs surrounding the three rites of passage, birth, marriage and death.

The event is expected to cost £140,000 to stage, although there is considerable potential for attracting outside grants and sponsorship, says a report to City of York Council's heritage sub-committee, which recommends approval of the exhibitions.

Meanwhile, the Yorkshire Museum is experiencing a sharp decline in visitor numbers following the departure of last year's monster hit exhibition about dinosaurs, starring animated robotic creatures. Up to June this year, 23,000 visitors have been to the museum, compared with 48,000 in the same period last year.

The museum says the drop was expected, and this year's exhibition Animal Magic has been well received by those who have come.

However, the committee is being urged to approve plans to hire another monster show next year from the Natural History Museum in London.

The NHM is touring the show, Myths and Monsters, featuring large animated creatures, and the report suggests this could be staged between March and August next year, supplemented by specimens from the Yorkshire Museum's collection. Officers think it could attract about 120,000 visitors to the museum.

Alcuin, an 8th century York scholar and tutor to Charlemagne, first Holy Roman Emperor, could be the subject of an international touring exhibition at the museum in 2001, which could also be staged in Barcelona, Paderborn, Brescia and Split.

There have already been discussions about applications for EU grants and Sir Paul Getty has offered £10,000 towards a feasibility study.

The council is being urged to put up £5,000 from the museum budget towards the rest of the cost.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.