Budapest Museums celebrate their “museumness” on the Night of Museums Festival: such a festival in Budapest may sound boring for those who feel in a vacuum in museums, but this night is special with lots of things to do and see. To make things more fun, Budapest has over a hundred museums, and most of them participate in the night festival. The Night of the Museums is one of the best things to do in Budapest in June. Not sure? Just head to the Buda Castle to get a feel for it.
Indian Dance at the Museum of Applied Arts, Night of the Museums – Redteam Photography
Date: June 21, 2013
Museums: participating museums all over the city of Budapest (approx. 80!)
Although Ben Stiller won’t be rushing around in Budapest and neither will be any T-Rex coming to life, the Night of the Museums is still a very nice cultural event and festival. If only there were shorter queues…
The annual cultural festival is about celebrating the tokens of our cultural inheritance, the intelligence of humankind, and finally being able to look around in museums late at night – without breaking and entering!
Sadly, as this is a major event in Hungary and crowds flock to the museums, you won’t have the chance to play at museum thieves or guards with flashy torches, but it would be fun… maybe an idea for Halloween? But enough of night dreaming, and back to June to the well-groomed ‘Night of the Museums’ festival and the hundreds of programmes that make the event more colourful.
Museum of Applied Arts on the Night of the Museums – Redteam Photography
Many of the museums all over Hungary, including Budapest, will stay open until very late (usually until 2:30 am or so) for this annual event.
But not only that, there will be special programmes too, in recent years we have seen Indian dance at the Museum of Applied Arts, jazz concert in the Hungarian National Gallery, etc.
You will have a chance to get into the most prestigious Hungarian museums and art galleries at a tiny fraction of the real costs by buying a dirt cheap museum multipass (arm band), which is valid for entering at the participating institutions, such as
- the Museum of Fine Arts,
- the Museum of Applied Arts,
- the House of Terror Museum,
- the Hungarian National Museum,
- the Budapest History Museum,
- the Hungarian National Gallery,
- the Hungarian Natural History Museum,
- the Museum of Ethnography,
- the cool – and currently in the Budapest hidden gem category – Hospital in the Rock Museum under the Castle Hill,
- the Postal Museum or
- the Museum of Transport in the City Park.
Night of Museum Tickets
Laser Beams on the Buda Castle – Redteam Photography
Armbands are approx. HUF 1,500 for adults and HUF 600 for under 18 (free for kids under 6). The one night multipass includes the entrance fees, and normally the public transport costs for crawling between the museums.
More details about the Budapest Nights of the Museums on the official website.
See some photos of the Night of the Museums festival in Budapest, or the video of the video installation here
The list of the participating museums is very long, very versatile.
The Budapest History Museum and the Hungarian National Gallery are both in the Buda Castle and open their gates with special programmes on the Night of the Museums.
Buda Castle Night of the Museums – Redteam Photography
Plus, as it is a summer event with nice weather, even the courtyards of the Royal Palace are included in the festivities on the Night of the Museums, which are beautifully lit. Obviously, this is one of the most popular choices for many tourists visiting Budapest.
Concerts, shows, talks and games are very much part of the event. It is a great feeling to be amongst nice and quirky things to listen to music, or to see a performance. We only wish it would be a weekly event rather than an annual festival.
And another photo of the Night of the Museums of a jazz concert in the Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest on the Night of the Museums Festival, in the Buda Castle building (Redteam Photography)
