Hundreds of museums to keep doors open at night on June 16
Fully 218 museums and cultural institutions up and down the country will keep their doors open at night on June 16.
Hungary’s 10th Museum Night will also include libraries, archives and universities for the first time, the deputy state secretary for culture told journalists on Thursday.
The popular Museum Night provides a chance for museums to reveal their "hidden treasures" to the public, Judit Hammerstein said.
At the news conference, Geza Szocs, state secretary for culture, mentioned among the highlights the public display of Raphael’s Esterhazy Madonna on loan from the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts in the Esterhazy Castle of Fertod. He also noted the concert the Budapest Festival Orchestra will give on the Fine Arts Museum’s steps and a "night of witches" he will attend at a Baja Museum.
Events will be augmented by children programmes such as a treasure hunt tour in Nagykanizsa, knights jousting in Szekesfehervar and the feeding of "man-eating" plants in the Budapest Fuveszkert gardens.
At the Night of the Museums event last year a total of 191,000 people in Budapest and 138,000 in the countryside visited at least three museums, Szocs said.
Details about this year’s programmes can be found at www.musej.hu web site
