In Amsterdam it is called n8, in Copenhagen Kulturnatten, in Rome La Notte Bianca and in Paris Nuit Blanche. They have one in Basel, Lausanne and Prague. Reykjavik is organising one and even Buenos Aires has adopted the concept. Museum nights are now all the rage.
The idea was conceived in Berlin, and the first Lange Nacht der Museen (long night of museums) took place at the end of January 1997. The city's 19th museum night will take place on 28 January.
The concept of a museum night is pretty simple. On one evening the participating museums organise events on their premises and keep their doors open until 2am. Ticket holders are entitled to visit all the participating museums and institutions and to use the public transport that runs between the venues.
'The starting point was the question of how to make museums more attractive for the public,' says Wolf Kühnelt from the Museum Educational Services Berlin, who has organised the project from the start. 'We tried out longer opening hours, but it didn't really work. Combining events like concerts, readings or dance that relate to the exhibitions with longer opening hours really did the trick.'
Only 12 museums took part in the first of Berlin's long nights. But it was such a lively event and the atmosphere was so good that the next one was planned immediately. Since then Berlin has organised two museum nights every year, one in January and one in August.
The number of museums participating has jumped from 12 to 24 to 48, and now about 100 take part. Visitor numbers have soared too, with 40,000 tickets sold for each night.
'It helps to bring people in contact with museums,' says Kühnelt. 'They like the relaxed atmosphere during the long night and they often come in groups and talk about what they have seen and experienced.'
Inspired by Berlin's success story, other cities have taken up the concept. Officials from different cities have visited Berlin, and Kühnelt is happy to share his experience in organising and financing the event. In Germany alone there are now about 100 cities organising their own museum night.
Lübeck, a town in northern Germany with 200,000 inhabitants, celebrated its fifth museum night last August. No public transport is needed here; most people walk or cycle from museum to museum.
'People love it,' says Brigitte Templin, the director of the local ethnological museum. 'We had an exhibition on Japan and invited Japanese drummers to play. We had a sushi stand in front of the museum. Children made origami herons.'
In Lübeck, as in Berlin, the museums organise their own events but have a joint management group. Each museum gets the same sum of money to pay for its events and extra expenses, and they also get a small amount of money per visitor.
Altogether, one long night in Berlin costs about €500,000 (£350,000). Around two-thirds goes on the shuttle service and marketing material. But Kühnelt says: 'We need no extra funding. Everything can be financed with ticket sales and some advertising.'
Across the border in Austria, more than 500 museums opened their doors until the small hours on one day in October last year. In Vienna, 73 museums took part.
Kolja Kramer, the director of the Museum of Young Art, was overwhelmed by the success: 'We did not really expect more than a 100 visitors as we just opened earlier this year. We had 1,554.'
To experienced organisers such as Kühnelt and Juha van 't Zelfde from n8 in Amsterdam these numbers don't come as a surprise. 'We believe the small and not so well-known museums benefit from these nights in particular,' explains van 't Zelfde.
'The Bible Museum, for example, has 100 visitors on busy days but 1,500 during the long night. Museums that usually have a few hundred visitors have 6,000 to 7,000.'
The opportunity to get to know various museums in just one night clearly attracts people. Surveys from Berlin show that on average each ticket holder visits five museums a night. The total number of museum visits is between 200,000 and 250,000 a night.
People do express a wish to revisit museums when it is quieter. To encourage this, a ticket for n8 allows the holder a return visit to one museum within two months of the event.
Museum nights also appeal to people who don't usually go to museums. According to Kühnelt, about 60 per cent are not typical museum-goers and 70 per cent of n8 visitors are 18 to 35, an elusive age group: 'We found out that young people regard museums as something old-fashioned but the museum night as something young and fresh.'
Critics of the long night were wary that art and culture would take second place to the festival atmosphere, but you won't see people running though exhibition halls with beer and bratwurst.
'The emphasis is on museums and their collections, but of course there is another side to it,' van 't Zelfde says. 'Different sorts of events take place and it can get quite crowded, which automatically creates a kind of festival atmosphere. But the museum is still the starting point.'
Considering the success of the long museum nights, it is surprising that there aren't similar events in Britain. Museums in the UK are invited to join the second Nuit des Musées in May, an initiative by the French ministry of culture. Last year about 500 museums all over Europe participated. This year Ingrid Baron, one of the organisers, hopes for 4,500 takers.
The Pitt Rivers Museum and the Oxford University Museum of Natural History took part in 2005, offering an intimate, after-hours encounter with their collections, accompanied by Javanese music and with the lights down low. There were far more visitors than expected, a higher than usual proportion of Asians and young people among them.
There is no doubt that the long nights are a good way of altering people's experience with museums and collections. But what about the UK? 'It is a huge waste of an opportunity,' says Mark Taylor, the director of the Museums Association, 'but getting all museums together and coordinating them is notoriously difficult. Other than that I don't see any reasons why it should not work in Britain.'
There has already been one experiment. In 2000, the Campaign for Museums organised a long night as part of the Museums and Galleries Month. According to its executive director, Ylva French, the event was 'relatively successful'.
'Some London museums were quite happy with the number of visitors but the ones a bit out of the way had hardly any as there was a huge thunderstorm that night. We decided that it is not worth organising it again soon.'
Instead, the Museums and Galleries Month is focusing on its Welcome Weekend (28 April to 1 May), when doors are thrown open across the country and special events staged to attract new visitors. It is hoped that the curious will come in the same numbers as they do to night-time events abroad.
Christine Hoffmann is a freelance journalist who works in Germany and the UK
Amsterdam, n8, November: www.n8.nl
La Nuit des Musées, May: www.culture.gouv.fr /nuitdesmusees2005/
Berlin, Lang Nacht der Museen, January and August: www.lange-nacht-der-museen.de
Museum nights in Germany: www.deutsche-museen.de/museumsnacht.php
The idea was conceived in Berlin, and the first Lange Nacht der Museen (long night of museums) took place at the end of January 1997. The city's 19th museum night will take place on 28 January.
The concept of a museum night is pretty simple. On one evening the participating museums organise events on their premises and keep their doors open until 2am. Ticket holders are entitled to visit all the participating museums and institutions and to use the public transport that runs between the venues.
'The starting point was the question of how to make museums more attractive for the public,' says Wolf Kühnelt from the Museum Educational Services Berlin, who has organised the project from the start. 'We tried out longer opening hours, but it didn't really work. Combining events like concerts, readings or dance that relate to the exhibitions with longer opening hours really did the trick.'
Only 12 museums took part in the first of Berlin's long nights. But it was such a lively event and the atmosphere was so good that the next one was planned immediately. Since then Berlin has organised two museum nights every year, one in January and one in August.
The number of museums participating has jumped from 12 to 24 to 48, and now about 100 take part. Visitor numbers have soared too, with 40,000 tickets sold for each night.
'It helps to bring people in contact with museums,' says Kühnelt. 'They like the relaxed atmosphere during the long night and they often come in groups and talk about what they have seen and experienced.'
Inspired by Berlin's success story, other cities have taken up the concept. Officials from different cities have visited Berlin, and Kühnelt is happy to share his experience in organising and financing the event. In Germany alone there are now about 100 cities organising their own museum night.
Lübeck, a town in northern Germany with 200,000 inhabitants, celebrated its fifth museum night last August. No public transport is needed here; most people walk or cycle from museum to museum.
'People love it,' says Brigitte Templin, the director of the local ethnological museum. 'We had an exhibition on Japan and invited Japanese drummers to play. We had a sushi stand in front of the museum. Children made origami herons.'
In Lübeck, as in Berlin, the museums organise their own events but have a joint management group. Each museum gets the same sum of money to pay for its events and extra expenses, and they also get a small amount of money per visitor.
Altogether, one long night in Berlin costs about €500,000 (£350,000). Around two-thirds goes on the shuttle service and marketing material. But Kühnelt says: 'We need no extra funding. Everything can be financed with ticket sales and some advertising.'
Across the border in Austria, more than 500 museums opened their doors until the small hours on one day in October last year. In Vienna, 73 museums took part.
Kolja Kramer, the director of the Museum of Young Art, was overwhelmed by the success: 'We did not really expect more than a 100 visitors as we just opened earlier this year. We had 1,554.'
To experienced organisers such as Kühnelt and Juha van 't Zelfde from n8 in Amsterdam these numbers don't come as a surprise. 'We believe the small and not so well-known museums benefit from these nights in particular,' explains van 't Zelfde.
'The Bible Museum, for example, has 100 visitors on busy days but 1,500 during the long night. Museums that usually have a few hundred visitors have 6,000 to 7,000.'
The opportunity to get to know various museums in just one night clearly attracts people. Surveys from Berlin show that on average each ticket holder visits five museums a night. The total number of museum visits is between 200,000 and 250,000 a night.
People do express a wish to revisit museums when it is quieter. To encourage this, a ticket for n8 allows the holder a return visit to one museum within two months of the event.
Museum nights also appeal to people who don't usually go to museums. According to Kühnelt, about 60 per cent are not typical museum-goers and 70 per cent of n8 visitors are 18 to 35, an elusive age group: 'We found out that young people regard museums as something old-fashioned but the museum night as something young and fresh.'
Critics of the long night were wary that art and culture would take second place to the festival atmosphere, but you won't see people running though exhibition halls with beer and bratwurst.
'The emphasis is on museums and their collections, but of course there is another side to it,' van 't Zelfde says. 'Different sorts of events take place and it can get quite crowded, which automatically creates a kind of festival atmosphere. But the museum is still the starting point.'
Considering the success of the long museum nights, it is surprising that there aren't similar events in Britain. Museums in the UK are invited to join the second Nuit des Musées in May, an initiative by the French ministry of culture. Last year about 500 museums all over Europe participated. This year Ingrid Baron, one of the organisers, hopes for 4,500 takers.
The Pitt Rivers Museum and the Oxford University Museum of Natural History took part in 2005, offering an intimate, after-hours encounter with their collections, accompanied by Javanese music and with the lights down low. There were far more visitors than expected, a higher than usual proportion of Asians and young people among them.
There is no doubt that the long nights are a good way of altering people's experience with museums and collections. But what about the UK? 'It is a huge waste of an opportunity,' says Mark Taylor, the director of the Museums Association, 'but getting all museums together and coordinating them is notoriously difficult. Other than that I don't see any reasons why it should not work in Britain.'
There has already been one experiment. In 2000, the Campaign for Museums organised a long night as part of the Museums and Galleries Month. According to its executive director, Ylva French, the event was 'relatively successful'.
'Some London museums were quite happy with the number of visitors but the ones a bit out of the way had hardly any as there was a huge thunderstorm that night. We decided that it is not worth organising it again soon.'
Instead, the Museums and Galleries Month is focusing on its Welcome Weekend (28 April to 1 May), when doors are thrown open across the country and special events staged to attract new visitors. It is hoped that the curious will come in the same numbers as they do to night-time events abroad.
Christine Hoffmann is a freelance journalist who works in Germany and the UK
Amsterdam, n8, November: www.n8.nl
La Nuit des Musées, May: www.culture.gouv.fr /nuitdesmusees2005/
Berlin, Lang Nacht der Museen, January and August: www.lange-nacht-der-museen.de
Museum nights in Germany: www.deutsche-museen.de/museumsnacht.php
