The European Night of Museums confirms its place in the European cultural calendar and a growing awareness among young people. Since its creation in 2005, this Ministry of Culture and Communication event has attracted more and more participating museums and more visitors. At dusk, lemusée becomes a place of creation, sharing and discovery and thus invents a new approach with the public to offer a new look at the collections. With more than 2 million visitors on the evening of May 14, 2011, this festival affirms its popularity and the interest of the French for their museums.

This European operation, placed under the patronage of the Council of Europe,
UNESCO and the International Council of Museums (ICOM), participates in the establishment of a
cultural network that proves that the Europe of culture is a reality since more than 40 countries and
3200 museums are mobilized on the evening of the event.

The public was present for the seventh European Night of Museums. In the regions
Parisian: the Centre Pompidou welcomed nearly 10,000 visitors who were able to live one night
interactive with the Twitter device imagined by Florent Deloison, nearly 11,000 visitors are
to discover ultra-marine cultures at the Quai Branly Museum, the evening dedicated to
the tragic love at the Musée d'Orsay gathered 9700 visitors, the exhibitions of the Grand
Palaces attracted 10,000 visitors, including 2,600 for one evening for Monumenta Anish
Kappor” (limited access). More than 5,500 people were able to discover Mathias Poledna’s film at
Rodin Museum, the National Museum of the Middle Ages welcomed more than 4,500 visitors, 40% of whom
and the aerial choreographies of the company Les Passagers have bewitched
7500 spectators at the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie. Elsewhere in Île-de-France, the
contemporary art performances were able to seduce 1200 night owls at MAC/VAL, the courses
the Palais de Compiègne were attended by 2500 visitors, while the
National Museum of the Versailles and Trianon Castles hosted more than 12,000
walkers in the groves of the small park, who could admire the projections of the bestiary of
ceilings of the Hall of Mirrors and Large Apartments on the garden façade.

Regional museums have also been a great success: museums in the city of
Bordeaux mobilized nearly 28,000 people, the Centre Pompidou-Metz welcomed more
of 4000 visitors, 3700 music lovers were seduced by the baroque concert of the museum of
Castle of the Dukes of Brittany, the Crieuse public and the exhibition From Turner to Monet, the
Brittany by 19th century landscape designers» from the Quimper Museum of Fine Arts have attracted
1200 visitors, the site visit of the Adrien Dubouché National Museum in Limoges was followed
by more than 1500 people. For its 6th edition, the Night of Mysteries, large intermuseum circuit
in Mulhouse, played more than 20,000 people, 70% of whom were young
25 years old. Art-loving night owls also flocked to European museums:
Moscow (500,000 visitors), Belgrade (almost 300,000), Barcelona (almost 100,000), Austria
Bucharest National Museum (20,000 people).

Finally, this seventh edition offered a resolutely digital Night to all its audiences, with a
multimedia deployment, which met with great success, including the operation La Nuit
Tweete» and the puzzle game «Search for Tom in the Night», reinforcing the dimension
exchange and sharing in the heart of The European Night of Museums.