The twentieth annual Nuit Européenne des Musées (European Museum Evening) takes place on Saturday, Might 18th, providing free night entry to museums throughout Paris and Europe. Some venues require reservations, whereas others provide open visits with potential lengthy wait occasions. Listed below are Heather’s suggestions and proposals for taking advantage of the night.
What to Anticipate on the twentieth Annual Nuit des Musées
The annual Nuit Européenne des Musées (usually simply referred to as Nuit des Musées) is sponsored by the French Ministry of Tradition, UNESCO, and the Council of Europe, with the objective of constructing museums extra accessible to those that won’t usually go to, significantly households. Whereas a lot of the night’s occasions are tailor-made for this demographic, that doesn’t imply the remainder of us will miss out.
Greater than merely a free night, every taking part museum often holds numerous particular occasions for the night — corresponding to concert events, actions for youths or adults, themed guided excursions, or demonstrations — along with open entry to the everlasting and non permanent museum assortment. Subsequently, it’s sensible to examine what’s out there earlier than making reservations or queuing for a very long time.
Don’t overlook! You’ll be able to go to these museums beneath calmer circumstances most days, albeit not at no cost. So weigh the advantages of ready in line for 2 hours simply to avoid wasting €15. The additional actions, concert events, and late-night opening hours are what make the occasion definitely worth the hassle, not simply the truth that they’re free. In the event you handle to squash in three or 5 museums, the financial savings do add up! However if you happen to’re there extra to see the collections in peace than to benefit from the atmosphere, don’t hassle your self.
Planning Forward for the Greatest Expertise
Much like Heritage Days in September, some museums don’t require reservations and are open to all, however this might imply lengthy wait occasions for the extra widespread museums just like the Musée d’Orsay or the Orangerie. Different museums may require you to guide one of many free timeslots on-line, which will be its personal headache since every museum has its personal reserving platform (and whereas some are already absolutely booked, others haven’t even opened reservations but). With lower than a month till the occasion, some museums are nonetheless including to their record of occasions. It could possibly be useful to examine the web site a number of days earlier than to catch any new additions.
Utilizing the Web site
The official web site for Nuit Européenne des Musées, although meant to be user-friendly with its interactive map and filters, is relatively sluggish and clunky, particularly when utilizing the English auto-translate perform. Navigating the positioning in French is advisable, if doable, however even you then’ll want a variety of persistence every time the web page reloads.
Click on on “Programme” to view the map of France. Zoom into the realm you’re excited about, and the map will mechanically present solely the taking part museums in that space. For instance, specializing in the sixth arrondissement may show solely 20 occasions, however zooming out to incorporate all of Paris and its suburbs may present over 250 occasions.
You’ll be able to filter the occasions by kind of museum, whether or not they require a reservation, accessibility, and different choices by clicking “Filtrer” on the best. When you’ve chosen your filters, click on on the blue “Fermer” tab on the backside proper and the record of venues will present on the best in an inventory, and on the map. If a museum has 5 totally different occasions that night time, it should present as 5 totally different occasions on the record on the best. You often click on on the venue or the occasion that’s underlined, then are taken to the web page that has info, and if a reservation is required (“Sur Inscription”), an enormous blue “RESERVER” hyperlink going to the museum’s web site (solely when you’re there’ll you understand if it’s already all booked). “Visite Libre” means you may go to any time with no reservation.
In the event you don’t wish to cope with the official web site, I made a shortlist of those I assumed value contemplating, break up into museums that supply open visits and museums that require reservations. I neglected any locations that solely had occasions and actions that require realizing French to give attention to the Visite Libre venues. So if you happen to can perceive French, I like to recommend you are taking a better take a look at the extra choices on the official web site.
Open Visits (No Reservation Wanted)
Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature (62 rue des Archives, third) – Open 7 pm – midnight. The Looking and Nature Museum is one in all my favourite Paris museums, a really whimsical assortment in a historic Marais mansion (it’s extra concerning the animals than the hunters, FYI). On the event of the Nuit des Musées, the museum presents “Ornithomix,” an immersive sound stroll of hen music to create the environment of a tropical forest tied to the non permanent exposition by artist Tamara Kostianovsky “The Flesh of the World.” There may probably be massive crowds right here.
Archives Nationales Hôtel de Soubise (60 rue des Francs-Bourgeois, third) – Open 2pm-midnight. The Nationwide Archives Museum, created in 1867, is housed within the Hôtel de Soubise, a former aristocratic mansion that incorporates elaborate 18th-century Rococo flats by architect Germain Boffrand, with work by the best French artists of the period of Louis XV – François Boucher, Carl van Lavatory, and Charles Natoire. The Nationwide Archives museum, devoted to archival paperwork in all their varieties, presents the facsimiles or originals on a rotating foundation in non permanent displays, corresponding to the present “Sacrilege! The State, Religions, and the Sacred, from Antiquity to Our Days” presenting greater than 100 works and beforehand unseen archival paperwork illustrating the historical past of sacrilege and blasphemy in politics, from Socrates (399 BC) to Damiens’ assassination try in opposition to Louis XV (1757), to President Sarkozy’s “Casse-toi, pov’ con!” incident. There are guided excursions each hour of the newly restored rooms of the Chancellery of Orléans, reserve on-site half-hour upfront. Anticipate reasonable crowds right here.
Musée d’Artwork et d’Histoire du Judaïsme (71 rue du Temple, third) – Open 6-10pm. The Nuit des Musées is a chance to find or rediscover the Museum of Jewish Artwork and Historical past assortment in one other Marais historic mansion. Along with the everlasting assortment, displays open embrace photographer André Steiner “The Physique Between Surpassing and Want” on the primary flooring, “The Baby Didi, the Journey of a Spoliated Work by Chana Orloff, 1921-2023,” on the second flooring, the set up “Raphaël Denis. Rosenberg Funds, the Parisian Years,” and “New Arrivals: Charlotte Henschel, Sonia Steinsapir, and Georgette Meyer.” For the European Museum Evening, the courtyard may have a efficiency by Adrianna Wallis, “11 Little Saucers,” from 7-10pm.
Institut Suédois (11 rue Payenne third) – Open from midday to 9pm. Situated within the coronary heart of the Marais, the “Hôtel de Marle,” named after its first proprietor within the Sixteenth century, has housed the Swedish Institute since 1971. Its facades, roofs, and grand staircase are listed as historic monuments. Don’t miss the French-painted ceilings. The everlasting artwork assortment options the Franco-Swedish inventive relations from the Seventeenth to the twentieth century, that includes works by Gustaf Lundberg, Alexander Roslin, Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller, and Louis-Jean Desprez. It’s also possible to go to the Swedish Institute’s widespread courtyard café throughout common hours.
Bibliothèque Polonaise de Paris – Musée Adam-Mickiewicz, Salon Chopin et Musée Boleslas-Biegas (6 quai d’Orléans, 4th) – The Polish Library of Paris, a serious heart of Polish emigration for the reason that mid-Nineteenth century and the most important cultural establishment representing Poland outdoors its borders, is situated on the Île Saint-Louis in a powerful Seventeenth-century constructing housing worthwhile books, archives, and a major artwork assortment. The library holds many relics of Adam Mickiewicz, the nice Nineteenth-century romantic poet, though most of you could be extra conversant in the illustrious Polish composer, Frédéric Chopin. For the Nuit des Musées, the Copernic exhibition is open from 2-8pm; and there will probably be Chopin concert events from 3-7pm.
Musée Curie (1 rue Pierre et Marie Curie, fifth) Open 5-11pm. The Curie Museum is situated on the bottom flooring of the historic premises of the previous Curie laboratory of the Radium Institute and laboratory the place Marie Curie labored to find radium. Do you know Marie Curie gained the Nobel prize for Chemistry AND Physics? At this time it’s an necessary heart for most cancers analysis.
Ecole des Mines de Paris (60 boulevard Saint-Michel, sixth) Open 6pm-midnight. On the twond flooring of this historic civil engineering college subsequent to Luxembourg Gardens is the completely underrated “Museum of Mineralogy”, presenting 5,000 minerals (together with items of the moon and Mars) in attractive picket instances. I visited in the course of the 2022 Nuit des Musées and was fascinated how lovely every “rock” could possibly be, nearly too colourful and bizarre to be pure!
Maison d’Auguste Comte (10 rue Monsieur-le-Prince, sixth) – Open 6-10pm. The final residence of the French thinker Auguste Comte (1798-1857), situated at 10 rue Monsieur le Prince within the sixth arrondissement of Paris, the place he lived from 1841 till his demise in 1857. It is a little bit of an obscure museum, owned by a world affiliation devoted to Auguste Comte, however the condominium presents guests a glimpse into the thinker’s dwelling quarters as they have been in his lifetime—a time capsule full with unique furnishings and private belongings.
Musée Zadkine (100 bis rue d’Assas, sixth) – The museum entrance doesn’t appear to be a lot from the road, however when you comply with the hall you’ll enter a stunning backyard the place the Cubist sculptor Ossip Zadkine lived and labored from 1928 till his demise in 1967. It was one other nice shock for us in the course of the 2022 Nuit des Musées. This 12 months’s there a live performance trio of harp, flute, and violin at 7:30pm, which you’ll take pleasure in whereas searching the everlasting assortment and non permanent exhibition for the event of the Olympics, “The Physique in Play”.
Monnaie de Paris (11 quai de Conti, sixth) – Open 7pm-midnight. The previous Paris mint overlooking the Seine nonetheless makes medals — together with this 12 months’s Olympic medals, on show in the course of the Nuit des Musées. The museum highlights the metalsmiths’ savoir-faire via workshops, demonstrations, and academic movies. You’ll uncover the historical past of cash and minting strategies. Extra Data
Musée d’Histoire de la Médecine (12 rue de L’école de Médecine, sixth) – Open 6-11pm. Housed in a stunning Nineteenth-century setting throughout the Descartes Medical Faculty close to Odéon, the Museum of Medical Historical past is each creepy and engaging, value a go to (earlier than you eat if you happen to’re sqeamish). The present exhibition is “The Physician Going through Ache: Sixteenth-18th Centuries” detailing alternative ways medical doctors handled ache.
Musée de la Légion d’Honneur et des Ordres de Chevalerie (2 rue de la Légion d’honneur, seventh) – Open 6pm-midnight. The Museum of the Legion of Honor and Orders of Chivalry proper subsequent to the Orsay Museum is without doubt one of the few museums on the planet specializing within the area of French and overseas decorations. You’ll see extra medals and different honorary decorations you ever thought doable. The setting itself is definitely worth the go to. If the form of the constructing seen from the Seine appears acquainted to American guests, it’s as a result of it was modelled after Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello (the statue of the previous Ambassador to France is correct throughout the road).
Les Egouts de Paris (Esplanade Habib-Bourguiba seventh) – Open from 5-10pm. Utterly renovated and reopened in 2021, the Paris Sewers Museum contains an attention-grabbing academic heart earlier than guests entry the precise tunnels. Advisable particularly if you happen to’re within the noteworthy city engineering feats of Nineteenth-century Paris. Does it odor? Nicely, you’re strolling alongside the sewer, so sure. But it surely’s well-ventilated, so that you gained’t be overwhelmed (however perhaps breathe via your mouth if essential).
Europa Expertise (28 place de la Madeleine, eighth) – Open 6-10pm. Newly opened on the Place de la Madeleine (I’ve handed by a number of occasions however haven’t ventured inside but), this museum-cum-information heart is a multimedia journey with immersive installations and a 360-degree cinema, explaining how the European Union features and the way European residents can form its future (fairly well timed contemplating the EU elections are June eighth). Content material is out there within the 24 official languages of the Union (Eire’s nonetheless a member, so that features English).
Musée de la Franc-Maçonnerie (16 rue Cadet, ninth) – Open 7pm-midnight. Created in 1889 (though at the moment the constructing is fashionable, nearly futuristic), the Museum of Freemasonry’s major objective is to reply questions on this “secret” society via a presentation of the historical past of Freemasonry and the contribution of the lodges in numerous fields: philosophical and political – from the unfold of the Enlightenment within the 18th century to the republican development within the Eighties – but in addition spiritual, literary, and inventive. The museum additionally goals to clarify the origin and nature of symbols and rites utilized in Masonic Temples, and what initiation into Freemasonry consists of.
Musée de la Libération de Paris – Musée du Général Leclerc – Musée Jean Moulin (4 avenue du colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy 14th) – The everlasting assortment of the WWII Liberation of Paris Museum throughout the road from the Catacombes is all the time free, so the one distinction tonight is that it’s open from 10am-8pm, two hours later than common. The non permanent exhibition and underground command publish bunker will not be open for the occasion.
Musée Bourdelle (18 rue Antoine Bourdelle, fifteenth) – Open 6-11pm, together with the café. One other one in all my favourite small museums for its backyard setting, the brand new non permanent exhibit presents an immersion into the artwork and lifetime of the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929) presenting the private objects that impressed his sculptures. Contemplating the dimensions, it might get a bit crowded for the Nuit des Musées.
Musée Nationwide Jean-Jacques Henner (43 avenue de Villiers, Seventeenth) – Open 6-10pm. Situated close to the Park Monceau, the mansion that now homes the museum devoted to the painter Jean-Jacques Henner (1829-1905) was initially the house and studio of Guillaume Dubufe (1853-1909). The constructing is exceptional for its decorations and architectural parts from numerous eras and civilizations. The museum’s collections hint the artist’s journey from his native Alsace to Paris, the place he made his profession, together with his time on the Villa Medici after successful the Grand Prix de Rome in portray, presenting the trajectory of an artist thought of one of the vital necessary of his time at first of the twentieth century. The everlasting assortment is open at no cost visits, however you could reserve time slots to go to the non permanent exhibitions.
Musée de la Musique – Cité de la Musique-Philharmonie de Paris at Parc de la Villette (221 avenue Jean-Jaurès, Nineteenth) – Open 7:30pm-midnight. The Music Museum on the very modern Paris Philharmonic gathers a set of almost 9000 musical devices and artworks, 1000 of that are on show. The gathering spans the historical past of music from the late Sixteenth century to the current day and presents an perception into the key musical cultures of the world. Within the museum’s galleries are uncommon and strange devices such because the turtle guitar, the charango, the mouth organ, the octobass, and the electrical violin. Some devices belonged to personalities corresponding to Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, Django Reinhardt, Frank Zappa, or Pierre Henry. Keep away from slicing via the huge Parc de la Villette after darkish if you happen to’re by yourself.
Reservations Required (Timed Entrance Ticket)
Musée des Arts Décoratifs (107 rue de Rivoli, 1st) – Open 6-11pm. Situated in one of many wings of the Louvre Museum, the Ornamental Arts Museum presents their spectacular choice of high fashion and ready-to-wear items, in addition to jewellery and costume jewellery within the everlasting galleries devoted to design from the twentieth and twenty first centuries. You’ll discover 30 style silhouettes and 100 items of bijou from designers and prestigious homes corresponding to Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Christian Dior, Lanvin, and Balmain, in addition to massive names in design corresponding to Ettore Sottsass, Ron Arad, Philippe Starck, and the Campana brothers. This thematic presentation unfolds throughout the 5 flooring of the Marsan Pavilion, the place you may peek on the views of the Tuileries Backyard from the home windows. Reservations nonetheless open for the 10pm time slot as of this morning!
Bourse de Commerce (2 rue de Viarmes, 2nd) – Open 7pm-midnight. The historic Bourse de Commerce (Commodities Change) at Les Halles has housed the private artwork assortment of French billionaire François Pinault since Might 2021. Fairly widespread with followers of latest artwork, some reservations nonetheless open within the final two time slots of the night, 10pm and 10:30pm.
Musée de la Maison Gainsbourg (14 rue de Verneuil, 7pm) – Open 7pm-midnight. Opened in September 2023, the Maison Gainsbourg is devoted to the lifetime of the controversial French musician Serge Gainsbourg (1928-1991), who lived in the home at #7 within the final a long time of his life. The precise museum throughout the road is split into eight chronological chapters from his life and 450 objects: manuscripts, works, trinkets, clothes, and jewellery. Guests exit via the Gainsbarre piano bar (which is value a go to at night time for its wonderful cocktails) and reward store, each which will be visited with no museum ticket. Solely the museum is open the Nuit des Musées, registration beginning Monday, Might 6, 2024, however if you happen to see slots open for the go to to his home, I extremely suggest signing up for that, rather more fascinating than the museum’s memorabilia (until you’re an enormous Gainsbourg fan and perceive French).
Cinémathèque Française – Musée du Cinéma (51 rue de Bercy, twelfth) – Open 6pm-midnight. Housed within the putting Franck Gehry constructing overlooking Bercy Park, the Cinema Museum is open for its present exhibition “The Artwork of James Cameron” in addition to the everlasting assortment of the whimsical Méliès Museum of Cinema Historical past, reserve your time slot to depart time for each.
Grand Palais Immersif (110 rue de Lyon, twelfth) – Open 7:30-10pm. Situated in an annex of the Bastille Opera, the Immersive Grand Palais hosts immersive digital exhibitions. For the Museum Evening you may go to “Synthetic Goals,” a performance-exhibition of AI-artistic creations and collaborations between artists and supercomputers. “An immersive dive into the dreamlike world of machines that questions the spectator concerning the speedy enlargement of synthetic intelligence.” Reservations open Might 1st at 9 am.
Musée d’Artwork et d’Histoire de l’Hôpital Sainte-Anne (MAHHSA) (1 rue Cabanis 14th) – Situated within the 14th arrondissement of Paris, the Museum of Artwork and Historical past of Sainte-Anne Hospital (MAHHSA) is a little bit of a darkish horse I’ve by no means heard about earlier than this occasion. It preserves quite a few works created by artist-patients relationship from the Nineteenth century to the current day from hospitals in France but in addition from all over the world (Brazil, India, Japan…). “The Sainte-Anne Assortment is exclusive in its quantity, range, heritage, historic, and aesthetic worth. With almost 1,800 works in its stock so far, it continues to develop because of donations from psychiatrists, establishments, sufferers’ households, and artists.” A part of their mission is to destigmatize the view of works produced in a hospital context. The exposition “Ecrire l’Picture” (Writing the Picture) is open free to the general public for the Nuit des Musées from 1-6pm (so not likely at night time).
Maison de la Tradition du Japon à Paris (101 bis quai Jacques-Chirac,fifteenth) – Open 11am-8pm. The Japanese Cultural Heart of Paris is internet hosting free visits of the exhibition “Kenzô Tange – Kengo Kuma. Architects of the Tokyo Video games” from the 1964 and 2020 Olympics. It focuses on their affect on at the moment’s Japanese structure, their fascination with the Imperial Villa of Katsura (Kyoto, Seventeenth century), in addition to their ties with France. This exhibition is all the time free, however to see it for the Nuit des Musées you could reserve a time slot.
Reservations to the Musée Nissim de Camondo (Seventeenth), Musée Nationwide Eugène-Delacroix (sixth) and Hôtel de la Marine (1st) are already full.
Open Visits on the Most Common Venues (Anticipate Very Lengthy Traces)
Musée Nationwide de l’Orangerie (Jardin des Tuileries, 1st) – Open 6-11pm. Beginning at 9 pm, entry to the museum is through the doorway to the Tuileries Backyard situated at Place de la Concorde, riverside. Get pleasure from a free go to of the everlasting collections, Claude Monet’s Water Lilies, and the exhibition “Robert Ryman, The Act of Seeing.”
Musée Nationwide Picasso-Paris (5 rue de Thorigny, third) – Open 6pm-12:30am. Open this night for the brand new presentation of the museum’s collections and the exhibition “In Léonce Rosenberg’s Residence: De Chirico, Ernst, Léger, Picabia…”
Grande Galerie d’Evolution (Jardin des Plantes, 36 rue Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, fifth) – Open 7pm-midnight. The Grand Evolution Gallery is a legendary Parisian museum of pure historical past renovated in 1994. It’s immensely widespread with households, so they are going to be lined up early. Open visits of the everlasting exhibition can be found from 7pm, final entry at 11 pm.
Musée de Cluny – Musée Nationwide de Moyen Age (28 rue Du Sommerard, fifth) 6-11 :30pm. The everlasting assortment of the Latin Quarter’s Cluny Medieval Museum, additionally residence to the Roman scorching baths ruins, all the time attracts massive crowds, so anticipate to attend in lengthy traces to see the well-known Unicorn Tapestries.
Musée du Luxembourg (19 rue de Vaugirard, sixth) – Open 7pm-midnight. On the event of the Paris 2024 Olympics, the Musée du Luxembourg subsequent to the eponymous gardens has an exhibition devoted to the way forward for sport and design. “MATCH: Design & Sport – A Future-Oriented Historical past” traces the function of design within the progress of sport. The exhibition will even discover how the world of sport constantly conjures up nice designers and vice versa, in sectors corresponding to automotive or ready-to-wear.
Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac (37 quai Branly, seventh) – Open 6pm-midnight. You’ll be able to go to the everlasting assortment of this contemporary museum devoted to the indigenous artwork and cultures of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas, or take pleasure in distinctive entry to the panoramic rooftop (7-11pm) with views over the Seine and neighboring Eiffel Tower.
Musée d’Orsay (1 rue de la Légion d’Honneur, seventh) – Open 6-11pm. One of the vital widespread museums in Paris is all the time going to be crowded. In the event you handle to get in tonight, you’ll have entry to a lot of the everlasting collections (sure rooms could also be closed). Doesn’t embrace entry to the present non permanent exhibition on Impressionism, which you’ll reserve for €13.
Cité de l’Structure et du Patrimoine (1 place du Trocadéro et du 11 novembre, Sixteenth) – Open 7-11pm. The structure museum overlooking the Eiffel Tower is providing free entrance to a few non permanent exhibitions: a primary retrospective to the architect and engineer Paul Andreu (1938-2018) following the donation of his 69 sketchbooks and archives; “Metro!” concerning the historical past of the metro; and the exhibition “Notre-Dame de Paris, from Builders to Restorers”, an distinctive alternative to (re)uncover the cathedral and its historical past, from its development to at the moment’s development website. Heaps happening right here; the yoga session is already absolutely booked.
Palais Galliera, Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris (10 avenue Pierre Ier de Serbie, 16th) Open 6:30pm-11pm. As Paris hosts the Olympic and Paralympic Video games in the summertime of 2024, the Paris style museum Palais Galliera is holding a sports-themed exhibition “Style in movement #2”. There are additionally musical occasions and “poetic ping pong” within the museum gardens. Anticipate there to be lengthy traces to get in right here, fashions museums are having a second.
Musée Nationwide des Arts Asiatiques – Guimet (6 place d’Iéna, 16th) Open 6pm-11 :30pm. Based in 1889 by the industrialist Émile Guimet, this museum preserves one of many richest collections of Asian artwork on the planet. Additionally they have modern artwork and pictures non permanent exhibitions. The everlasting assortment in addition to non permanent exhibition “T’ang Haywen, a Chinese language painter in Paris (1927-1991)” are open, and there are a number of musical occasions all through the night. Price checking the size of the traces if you happen to’re already visiting one other museum within the space.
Nationwide Maritime Museum (17 place du Trocadéro, 16th) Open 7-11pm. The museum is situated within the Thirties Palais de Chaillot with wonderful views of the Eiffel Tower. Simply reopened this 12 months after years of renovations, it’s one of the vital prestigious maritime museums on the planet, as a result of age and variety of its collections. Like most of the museums capitalizing on Olympics fever, they’ve a short lived exhibition specializing in nautical sports activities. I assume it will likely be packed just because it’s been closed for therefore lengthy, and youngsters love boats, proper?
Yves Saint Laurent Museum Paris (5 avenue Marceau, Sixteenth) Open 6 :30-10 :30pm. For the Nuit des Musées, the YSL museum presents open visits of their newest exhibition “Transparencies, The facility of supplies.” Among the many forty gadgets offered are the primary topless shirt and the Nude Costume from the 1968 collections. A number of fashionable and modern works – drawings by Anne Bourse, pictures by Man Ray, a movie by the Lumière brothers that includes a choreography by Loïe Fuller, and a portray by Francis Picabia – will even be on show. Once more, anticipate lengthy traces.