250 museums & heritage institutes throughout Croatia free for Night of Museums

Museum of Arts & Crafts Zagreb (Photo: I.Vinkovic/ Zagreb Tourist Board)

ZAGREB, 29 January 2019 – The 14th Night of Museums, a cultural event held across Croatia in which entry to museums and cultural institutions is free, will take place this Friday, 1 February 2019.  

The popular event will be held this year up and down the country on with museums, galleries and other cultural institutions opening from 6 pm to 1 am with free admission.

The main theme of the 14th Night of Museums is “Museums – Innovations and Digital Future.” 

The annual event, which is traditionally held on the last Friday in January, aims to accomplish one of the basic strategic goals of the Croatian Museum Association which is to implement activities which deal with the perception of museums as heritage institutions, institutions of identity and important participants in the sustainable development of tourism. 

Through activities organised during the Museum Night, visitors are encouraged to recognise museums as dynamic institutions which connect people with global information resources, ideas and creativity they are searching for, as well as institutions that make up the richness of human expression and cultural diversity available to all users on all types of media. Furthermore, it encourages activities that develop curiosity as a motive for visiting museums, museums as institutions of knowledge, and also a space for fun and meaningful leisure activities.

(Noc Muzeja)

The first Night of Museums took place in Berlin in 1997. The concept has been very well received, and since then the number of participating institutions and exhibitions has risen dramatically, spreading to over 120 other cities throughout Europe, as well as elsewhere, in Argentina and the Philippines.

It started in Zagreb in 2005 as a pilot project with 6 museums. In 2011, there were more than 300,000 visitors. In 2015, 260,000 people turned up to visit over 200 museums and other cultural institutions in 100 cities and towns.