The 6th edition of the European Night of Museums attracted nearly 2 million visitors throughout France

Created in 2005 by the Ministry of Culture and Communication, this event
is now an essential event in the cultural calendar
attracting an increasing number of audiences each year and mobilizing a
of museums. This year, 40 countries under the patronage of the
Council of Europe associated with the event, which benefited for the second
the patronage of UNESCO.
The growing number of institutions participating in this operation attests to the awareness
of the event. It is worth noting the astonishing progress of this 2010 edition for
which more than 3,000 museums, including 1,300 in France, have mobilized throughout
Europe. This represents more than 500 additional museums compared to 2009, or
a 25% increase.
The general public was at the rendezvous of this festival of museums. For the region Ile-de-facto
France, we can mention the following events: the Nave of the Grand Palais intoxicated more than
23,000 people thanks to the perfume bubbles of Francis Kurkdjian; the Musée du Quai
Branly, with nearly 10,000 visitors, and the Petit Palais Museum, nearly 3,000, have
reached their maximum attendance threshold for an opening evening; the exhibition
L'Hommage aux romantismes du musée d'Orsay welcomed more than 11,000 visitors, the
Centre Pompidou increases its attendance with nearly 10,000 people in the
spaces of the museum, the Carnavalet Museum has gathered more than 6000 visitors around its
exhibitions, the Orangerie Museum has more than doubled its
visitors with nearly 5000 visitors. Around Paris, at the National Museum of
castles of Versailles and Trianon, the famous voices of Chantal Thomass or Lorànt
Deutsch have commented the collections to nearly 6000 visitors, through
the audioguide set up for La Nuit des musées.
In the region, the Centre Pompidou-Metz, inaugurated on 11 May by the President of the
Republic, welcomed more than 50,000 visitors; more than 25,000 visitors participated in
the treasure hunt on the theme of sustainable development in museums of
Mulhouse; the three museums in La Rochelle increased attendance by 80%
with more than 3000 people welcomed. Visitors also rushed into the
museums of the city of Angers (8000), the city of Troyes (5000), the Augustinian Museum
of Toulouse (5000), at the Museum of Art and Industry – La Piscine in Roubaix ( 4000).
In Europe, the mobilization of certain cities like Rome, Moscow, London, Barcelona,
Bucharest (more than 120,000 visitors), Warsaw, Riga (nearly 100,000), where all the
museums were open for the occasion, confirms the contribution of the European Night of
A Europe of culture.
Finally, the European Night of Museums has firmly entered the era of modernity in
creating a unique online space on which users could exchange live
night (blog.nuitdesmusees.culture.fr).