RALEIGH — The N.C. Museum of Art's Ansel Adams exhibit closed Sunday, but not before bringing prestige and many new visitors to the museum.

Thousands of art lovers and aspiring photographers crowded into the museum on the final day of the Ansel Adams exhibition. Inside the museum, visitors admired photographs that capture the beauty of the outdoors.

"In fact, North Carolina is a beautiful state from coast to mountains, so we share something with western America, because our state is beautiful," says the museum's Rebecca Moore.

Visitors must agree, because 100,000 people have toured the exhibit since October. Attendance last month was four times the usual number. Residents are embracing the cultural experiences the museum is known for.

"This is wonderful," says visitor Jim McDanie. "The state of North Carolina does the citizens proud by allowing the public to share some of the art that's in the world."

The museum's goal is to make this location the premier art museum between Washington, D.C. and New Orleans.

In recent years, average attendance has been as high as 300,000 visitors a year. The Rodin and Adams exhibits helped to attract about 400,000 visitors in 2000.

So many people turned out for the final day of the Ansel Adams exhibit that it sold out by 2 p.m. Sunday.