The Tate Modern is one of nine Lottery-funded millennium projects apart from the Millennium Dome which are well ahead of visitor targets, the Millennium Commission has said.

The free modern art museum, on London's South Bank, has pulled in 2.7 million visitors in five months, 118% over target.

It is the biggest Lottery-funded millennium success.

Other projects which have done particularly well include the Eden Project in St Austell, Cornwall (70% above target), the Lowry Centre in Salford, Greater Manchester (54% over target) and the Dynamic Earth attraction in Edinburgh (32% over target).

With just two months to go before the troubled Dome closes, it has hosted only 5.39 million visitors - well down on the 12 million projected.

Three other attractions fell marginally below target.

'Encouraging'

The first of these was the �5m Third Millennium Muncaster project in Cumbria where the commission has funded improvements to Muncaster Castle.

The June-September visitor figure was 52,000 compared with the target figure of 55,000.

The �5m Sensation science attraction in Dundee received 33,000 visitors from July-September, compared with a target of 34,000.

The �6m improvement of Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, opened in February, welcomed 164,000 visitors - 20,000 short of target.

Millennium Commission chairman and Culture Secretary, Chris Smith, said: "These figures are very encouraging and illustrate that commission projects are proving to be extremely popular."