NIGHT OF THE MUSEUMS. On the occasion of the 19th edition of the European night of museums, cultural establishments open their doors until one o’clock in the morning and will offer new entertainment to the public. Consult the menu and program selection.
[Mis à jour le 11 mai 2023 à 17h14] Highlights, musical, theatrical or literary performances, new creations… For one night, monuments and museums of France give you a cultural meeting not to be missed.
On the occasion of the European Night of Museums this Saturday, May 19, the majority of French museums are opening their doors free of charge. We have chosen for you the best events all over France.
The Ministry of Culture and Communication provides the interactive map below to find the European Night of Museums event that suits you. Thanks to geolocation, you can discover the events taking place around you or carry out your search by city in France. Discover without further delay the details of the nearby program as well as our selections of museums by major French city thanks to the summary opposite.
The capital puts its finest museums in the spotlight during the event. Here is a selection of the museums participating in the program of the 19th Night of Museums:
- Centre Pompidou : The pupils of the Lagarche elementary school are invited to imagine a mediation project around modern and contemporary art. After visits to the museum, students choose works and study them during the year before presenting them to visitors to the Center Pompidou during the European Night of Museums. Hours: 7 p.m.-8 p.m.
- Romantic Life Museum : 9th graders from Collège Marx Dormoy imagined, wrote and produced a short sound piece linked to a work chosen from the exhibition Francoise Petrovitch : To like. To break up which inspired them to create and record dialogues, poems, sound effects or ambient sounds. These sound paintings dedicated to nine works of the route will be offered to the public throughout the duration of the exhibition.
THE Dourdan castle museum offers a concert in the courtyard of the medieval castle of Dourdan with the Essonne artist Ol Kainry who will perform on various rap-influenced sounds accompanied by Jango Jack and Kamnouze to thus reform, for the time of a few titles, the group Factor X.
THE Lyon contemporary art museum offers a concert by the artist High-lo in the hall of the museum with a rap program that puts the body in the spotlight.
THE MUCEM – Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations – will be exceptionally open all evening from 7 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
A rich program awaits visitors to the Aquitaine museum from 6 p.m. to 11:59 p.m. First of all, the public will be able to freely visit the museum’s new temporary exhibition: Prehistoric art, from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean.
Then, with the participation of students from the Illustration master’s degree from the University of Bordeaux Montaigne, the young public will be able to draw mammoths, horses and rhinos on the wall of the dark room and then discover them by the light of a flashlight. Young and old can also carve their flint.
Also, a guided tour is offered in front of the majestic Gothic rose window with students from the Literature preparatory school of Camille Jullian high school who will read passages from Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo and La Cathédrale by Joris Karl Huysmans from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
The public will be able to let themselves be led by young people from the E2C (Second Chance School), who will share their vision of Bordeaux heritage through a selection of key objects presented in the rooms of the museum from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The most playful can take part in a unique game-tour around the architecture of Bordeaux.
Finally, between 8:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., there will be a concert on silent short films from the beginnings of cinema on the theme of prehistory with the students of the Conservatory’s instrument department who will improvise musical themes.
- Saint-Raymond Museum – Toulouse Archeology Museum : visitors can freely discover a museum in the colors of superheroes and, in costume, prepare magical mysteries, defeat enemies and take their picture!
- Slaughterhouses : SoundFari DJ sets on the forecourt (soul, hip-hop, funk and Latin). On the forecourt of the hemicycle, it is with a DJ set of Latin music that it will be possible to dance. Hours: 6 p.m. to 11:55 p.m.
- Toulouse Museum : surrounded by mummies and circus acrobats, visitors will take part in an eventful experience of the museum. For a calmer atmosphere, they can go to the Henri Gaussen botanical garden for a stroll to music, between shadows and lights.
A rich program awaits visitors to the MAMAC – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. First of all, theVisitors will be able to watch the film Marcel Alocco, la Manu-facture du Sens by Alain Amiel from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
In the workshop, visitors will be able to use reproductions of faces from materials various, cutouts and overlays to create hybrid portraits from different countries from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The Machine collective will offer a masked reading of dreams (at 6 p.m., 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.). With “En Circulo”, the Cie El Tercer Ojo will explore the phenomenon of the circle of ants, strange on a human scale (from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.). The young dancers of the Pôle National Supérieur de Danse Rosella Hightower will offer a stroll through the museum (at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.).
Finally, a concert will be given with the student percussionists of the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Nice who will offer a concert in dialogue with the works rooms dedicated at Pop art and at Yves Klein (at 8:30 p.m., 8:45 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.). They will also offer a musical finale on the roof terrace of MAMAC To 10 p.m.
The European Night of Museums was created in 2005 by the Ministry of Culture and Communication and this year 2023 it will celebrate its 19th edition on Saturday 13 May.
The Night of Museums is a totally free event that has taken place every year for 18 years.