Museum Night

Once a year, on a Saturday evening in May, museums and other memory institutions open their doors later than usual and free of charge to celebrate the all-European Museum Night. The Estonian Museum Association has been organising Museum Night since 2009. That was also the first time Museum Night was held across the country.

To paraphrase President Toomas Hendrik Ilves’ anniversary speech in 2014: Maybe it’s the right moment and a good time to ask if what has brought us here will also take us further? That’s why the Estonian Museum Association, as coordinator of Museum Night, has decided that Museum Night will take a break in 2021 to rethink Museum Night and find a fresh approach. We will make new plans for the future format of the grand event to make sure both the museums and the audience enjoy it.

The next Museum Night will take place in 18 May 2024.

Museum Night is organised by Estonian museums and the Estonian Museum Association every year. The mottos of Museum Night were “Things in the Night” in 2009, “Stories in the Night” in 2010, “Treasures in the Night” in 2011, “Cinema in the Night” in 2012, “People in the Night” in 2013, “Stars in the Night” in 2014, “Music in the Night” in 2015, “Waves in the Night” in 2016, “Games in the Night” in 2017, “Night of Parties” in 2018 and “Night of Patterns” in 2019. More than 102,000 museum visits were made on Museum Night in 2019.  In August 2020, 181 museums and memory institutions participated in Museum Night. The VEMU Museum of Estonians Abroad in Toronto participated digitally for the first time. According to the feedback questionnaire filled by museums, approximately 42,500 visits were made to museums and other institutions on the evening of 29 August. The number of visitors is estimated because a few places did not provide their visitor counts. In 2020 the motto was “Time in the Night”, in 2021 Museum Night was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, the motto was “Dreams in the Night”, in 2023 “Movement in the Night”.

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