The Auschwitz Memorial, Poland's most-visited museum, set a new record in 2009 with 1.3 million visitors, the museum press service said on Sunday.

Auschwitz was the largest Nazi concentration camp, where more than million people - 90% of them Jews - died. The museum has been operating for 62 years and on January 27 will mark the 65th anniversary of the camp's liberation be Soviet troops.

This year's record number of visitors, which surpassed the previous high of 1.22 million in 2007, prompted the authorities to restrict access during peak summer months to people in guided groups.

More than 800,000 of the visitors were students.

The museum hit the headlines last month when the famous "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Sets You Free) sign over the gate was stolen. Although the sign was swiftly recovered and several suspects were arrested and charged, the gate still has a replica as the original was sawn into three pieces and has been sent away to be restored.

The sign was allegedly stolen for an individual in Sweden, who reportedly agreed to pay 30,000 euros ($43,000) for the historical artifact.

WARSAW, January 3 (RIA Novosti)