Our selection for European Museum Night

Museum Night is back this Saturday, 23 May. On the evening in question, numerous museums across France and Europe will open their doors free of charge from dusk until midnight. But why at night? Primarily to attract a rather elusive audience: young people are the target demographic. Of course, given its festive nature, Museum Night is not aimed solely at young people. The wider public is invited. For one night, many museums open their doors to make culture more accessible to all. It is also an opportunity for museums to strengthen their connection with the public and promote their role in the art world. Museum TV has put together a programme of visits in France and across Europe for you.

Museums to visit in France:

Une nuit mélodique à bord du voilier Duchesse Anne 

Join the vocal ensemble Les Lunaisiens on board the training ship Duchesse Anne for an evening of music. You can also enjoy self-guided tours of the vessels (the Sandettié light vessel, the Entreprenant tugboat, and the Guilde barge) as well as the museum’s permanent exhibition.

• Date: From 1am on Saturday 23 May 2026 to 1am on Sunday 24 May 2026.
• Location: Maritime and Port Museum, 9 Quai de la Citadelle, 59140 Dunkirk, France, Nord, Hauts-de-France, France.

Mediators: it’s your turn!

This year, the Palais de Tokyo ran an arts and cultural education project entitled ‘Mini-Médiateurs’, involving 18 Year 8 and Year 9 pupils from the CHAAP (Class with Adapted Timetables for Visual Arts) class taught by Ms Garance Malbreil at the Collège Louise Michel in Corbeil-Essonnes (Paris region). Over several months, at the Palais de Tokyo and at the school, the pupils were introduced to the practice of cultural mediation and were able to gain a broader understanding of how the art centre operates.

• Date: Saturday 23 May 2026, from 6.30 pm to 7.30 pm.
• Venue: Palais de Tokyo, 13 Avenue du Président Wilson, 75016 Paris, France, Île-de-France, France.

Lyon, the home of the Lumière family

To mark European Museum Night, come and explore the Lumière Museum – dedicated to the cinematograph and the history of the Lumière family – during our evening opening! A team of guides (on a roving basis) will accompany you on your tour, sharing fascinating stories about the various technical innovations of Louis and Auguste Lumière within the very villa where the Lumière family once lived.

• Date: Saturday 23 May 2026, from 7.00 pm to 10.30 pm.
• Lieu : Musée Lumière, 25 rue du Premier-Film, 69008 Lyon, Métropole de Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France.

A découvrir aussi : Le Musée des Confluences - Museum TV

An Unreal Night at the Museum

For one evening, the enigmatic troupe Les Irréels invite you to explore the museum’s collections. These guides will awaken our dormant senses and offer us a moment suspended between imagination and reflection. Since their formation in 2013, Les Irréels have been treating audiences to a performance woven from poetic imagery. Like living tableaux, they invite everyone on an intimate journey and create opportunities for encounters.

• Date: Saturday 23 May 2026, from 7.00 pm to 11.59 pm.
• Lieu : Musée des arts précieux Paul-Dupuy13 Rue de la Pleau, 31000 Toulouse, France, Haute-Garonne, Occitanie, France.

Museums to visit in Europe:

Are you familiar with Egyptian culture?

Guided tours of the temporary exhibition featuring photographs of the excavations at the Theban tomb TT 209 will be available, as well as various workshops and demonstrations on ancient Egypt.
Admission is free, subject to availability.

• Date: Saturday 23 May 2026 from 9.00 pm to 11.59 pm, Sunday 24 May 2026 from midnight to 1.30 am.
• Lieu : Museu de Prehistòria de València36, Calle Corona, Valencia, Comunidad Valenciana, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain.

A voir : La Pyramide du roi Djoser à Saqqarah - Museum TV

When art comes together for peace

At the Museum of Contemporary Art in Latina, a late-night opening featuring musical and literary events. “How many of these girls and young women would have wanted to become artists?” This is the question that must stir artistic consciences, crushed by so much persistent violence. The world, understood as a timeless community, has been deprived, stripped bare, robbed of this feminine touch, of these voices that become echoes shouted from another dimension, relatively distant from us.

• Date: Saturday 23 May 2026, from 7.30 pm to 11.59 pm.
• Lieu : MadXI Contemporary Museum - LatinaTor Tre Ponti, Latina, Latina, Latium, Italy.

‘Realistic compositing through lighting’

The gallery at the Druskininkai City Museum (Lithuania) invites you not only to experience Museum Night, but also to immerse yourself in a creative process where light becomes a living, ever-changing tool. ‘Realistic superimposition through illumination’ is an original technique developed by Severa Mirga Giliūtė, a graphic arts student at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, born out of experiments with light and created using personal photographs and graphic design software.

• Date: Saturday 23 May 2026, from 6 pm to 10 pm.
• Lieu : Druskininkai Town Museum GalleryM. Čiurlionio str. 37, Druskininkai LT-66164, Druskininkų savivaldybė, Alytus County, Lithuania.

The hidden beauty of minerals

Even the most thoroughly studied natural objects can reveal something unexpected. ‘The Hidden Beauty of Minerals’ is a new display at the museum, forming part of the exhibition ‘Minerals of the Earth’. It showcases minerals that possess luminescent properties. Some only glow under long-wave ultraviolet light, others under short-wave ultraviolet light, and some under both types of radiation. Luminescence can serve as a reliable diagnostic feature, particularly in the study of gemstones. The 35 items on display were selected from a collection of 12,000 specimens.

• Date: Saturday 23 May 2026, from 6.30 pm to 11 pm.
• Lieu : National Museum "Earth and Man"Sofia, Bulgaria Cherni Vrah Blvd. 4, Sofia-city, Bulgaria.

Retrouvez l'ensemble du programme sur Nuit européenne des musées | Nuit des Musées.