Long Night of Museums
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The Long Night of Museums (German: Lange Nacht der Museen) is a cultural event organized together by multiple museums and cultural institutions in a location during which the establishments remain open late into the night. Marketed together, the event seeks to introduce new individuals to the cultural institutions.
The first Long Night of Museums took place in Berlin in 1997. Since then, the number of participating institutions and exhibitions has risen from 12 to 125. A common entrance pass allows visitors to access all exhibits, as well as to access the public transportation required to reach these various locations.
Because the concept has been so well-received (154,000 individuals took part in the January 2005 Berlin night), the nights have now expanded and taken place in over 120 cities. In addition to the Langen Nacht der Museen in Berlin, a Nuit Blanche has taken place in Paris and a museums-n8 event in Amsterdam. Coordinated long nights organized by ORF have also taken place in Austria, Italy, and Liechtenstein. In Switzerland long nights have taken place in Basel, Bern, Lucerne, St. Gallen, and Zürich.
In Poland and Hungary, this event is called simply Night of Museums (Polish: Noc Muzeów; Hungarian: Múzeumok Éjszakája). The first Polish edition took place in 2003 in Poznań in Poznań National Museum.
In Bulgaria, under the name Night of museums and galleries, this event was successfully held for the first time on a national scale on the 30th of September, 2005. During the course of this night Plovdiv gave thanks to the initiative of Sariev Galleryand the civil committee “Night of Museums and Galleries – Plovdiv”. Now "The Night" has become an astoundingly successful cultural product - emblematic for Plovdiv - that attracts many tourists and guest to the town.
Museums in Great Yarmouth, England are also participating.
[edit] History
The current all-night festivals trace their roots to several cities. The first Long Night of Museums took place in the newly re-united Berlin in 1997 with a dozen participating institutions and exhibitions; since then the number has risen to 125 with over 150,000 people taking part in the January 2005 night. The idea has spread to other cities: in addition to the Langen Nacht der Museen in Berlin, there is a museums-n8 event in Amsterdam.
It drew on a European heritage of all-night cultural events. St Petersburg, for two hundred years capital of the Russian Empire and still a major European cultural centre, is one of the world's most northerly cities, and as such has long summer days - a near-endless twilight from mid-May to mid-July (this was a celebrated phenomenon known as the white nights). This led to the annual celebration known as the White Nights Festival, which features months of pop culture (e.g. the Rolling Stones in the open air at Palace Square) and high culture events ("Stars of the White Nights Festival" at the Mariinsky Theatre), street carnivals, and the Scarlet Sails celebration - known for its fireworks displays. So "white nights," in the Russian context, is both a natural phenomenon of the summer, and a long-standing cultural festival that spreads over weeks or months in mid-summer.
The Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë took this idea in 2002 and spread it to culture more broadly, including performing arts, and under the banner of Nuit Blanche (White Nights, and various related names) the concept has spread. (See the Nuit Blanche article for many examples around the world.)
[edit] See also
- Nuit Blanche, where many examples of all-night cultural festivals are listed
[edit] External links
- Lange Nacht der Museen in Berlin
- Lange Nacht for Cologne museums
- Nacht der Museen in Frankfurt am Main
- Lange Nacht der Museen in Stuttgart
- Nacht der Museen in Düsseldorf
- Lange Nacht der Museen in Munich
- Museum night in Kassel
- Lange Nacht der Museen in Zürich
- Lange Nacht der Museen in Austria
- La Nuit des Musées in France
- Lange Nacht in all of Austria with ORF
- Night of museums and galleries in Plovdiv, Bulgaria
- Museum night in Amsterdam
- Culture night in Dublin
- Pražská muzejní noc in Prague
- Múzeumok Éjszakája in Budapest
- Noć muzeja in Belgrade
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