A Night at the Museum (or a Grand Day Out)

The state museums under the control of the Ministry of Culture and Sports will once again join in with the celebration of International Museum Day 2023, celebrated on 18 May. Promoted by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) since 1977, this year’s motto is ‘Museums, sustainability and well-being’. Around this event, the nineteenth edition of the European Night of Museums is also celebrated, in which the state museums participate with extraordinary activities on Saturday May 13 (Madrid, Santillana del Mar and Toledo) and Saturday May 20 (Cartagena, Valladolid, Merida and Valencia).

International Museum Day: free visits

On International Museum Day itself, May 18, admission to the 16 state museums of the Ministry of Culture and Sports will be free. In addition, throughout the week there have been activities for all audiences: from workshops for adults, youth and children, concerts, guided tours, dramatized animation, conferences, performances and shows. This edition wants to highlight the contribution of museums to the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda: from supporting climate action and promoting inclusion, to fighting social isolation and improving mental health.

European Night of Museums: evening activities

On the European Night of Museums, the state museums will open their doors free of charge during extra hours at night. On Saturday, May 13, the Neocave of the Altamira Museum will be shown with its original light, with marrow lamps, as the people who lived there thousands of years ago saw it; and in Toledo, the Museo del Greco will offer a workshop to promote well-being in its garden and the Sephardic Museum will present a concert of contemporary Sephardic music.

In Madrid, the Costume Museum. CIPE will dress up as a zarzuela and will organise thematic visits to its store, among other activities; the National Museum of Anthropology will organise a concert by Boudanga, a Gnawa music group with a long tradition in Morocco since the 16th century; and the Cerralbo and Romanticism Museum will allow visitors to travel back in time to the 19th century.

On Saturday, May 20, the National Museum of Sculpture in Valladolid, the National Museum of Ceramics and Sumptuary Arts ‘González Martí’ in Valencia and the National Museum of Roman Art in Mérida will join the celebration with extraordinary openings. In addition, the ARQVA National Museum of Underwater Archaeology in Cartagena has prepared workshops and activities for children, as well as a nightly ‘escape room’ for the adults.

The International Day of Museums and the European Night of Museums are presented as two proposals that frame special activities to enjoy and learn more about the cultural heritage guarded in these institutions. Information on the activities and access conditions for each one is available on the website of the State Museums.

The network of State Museums, state-owned museums managed by the Ministry of Culture and Sports, is made up of:

Cartagena (Murcia)

• Museo Nacional de Arqueología Subacuática ARQVA

Madrid

• Museo Arqueológico Nacional
• Museo del Traje. Centro de Investigación del Patrimonio Etnológico
• Museo Sorolla
• Museo Cerralbo
• Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas
• Museo Nacional del Romanticismo
• Museo de América Museo Nacional de Antropología

Mérida (Extremadura)

• Museo Nacional de Arte Romano

Santillana del Mar (Cantabria)

• Museo Nacional y Centro de Investigación de Altamira

Toledo (Castilla-La Mancha)

• Museo del Greco
• Museo Sefardí

Valencia

• Museo Nacional de Cerámica y Artes Suntuarias ‘González Martí’

Valladolid (Castilla y León)

• Museo Nacional de Escultura
• Museo Casa de Cervantes

Remember, all of them offer free admission on Thursday.

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