The night of Museums 2023 - Noć muzeja 2023

3,726,228..... now... what are these numbers?
Unfortunately, this is not the amount of my lotto winnings, but it is certainly a much more important number. 3,726,228 is the number of people who from 2005 to 2023 (not counting this year because the event has yet to take place) visited the event called Noć muzeja (The Night of Museums) which takes place every year at the end of January throughout Croatia.

The number of visitors strikes me for one specific reason. This number almost matches the number of inhabitants of Croatia according to the last population census held in 2021.
For the record Croatian citizens are 3,871,833.

Well, I think that what the numbers show is that in 18 years of the The Night of Museums almost every resident of this country has visited a museum, art gallery, library, archive, educational institution at least once.
It makes me happy to think that even though it's the end of January, it's cold and dark, people decide to get out of their warm homes, leave their comfortable armchairs and visit places that express culture.

The event is called The Night of Museums because it takes place in the evening, it starts around 6 pm and lasts until midnight. It usually takes place the last Friday in January and it is free. Mostly museums participate, but also libraries, schools, and art galleries.
Every year the event has a theme and this year the theme is Museums are Important.

For me, The Night of Museums is above all a gift, but also a reminder that museums are important, important because thanks to them I realize that culture is alive and present and that sometimes it takes very little effort to experience it. Sometimes all you need is the will to get up from the comfortable armchair of a warm and cozy home and experience your own city. And the rest, culture, is within rich and free of charge, such as the Archaeological Museum with the Pula Amphitheatre, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Historical and Maritime Museum, etc., etc. I usually stay in my hometown, Pula, and follow this event here, but as I already wrote, the event takes place all over the country and just by clicking on the Museum Nights website you can see where to go and decide to visit other cities with other museums and events.

Here in Pula, you can find all museums within walking distance in the city centre. Pula is a small town where everything is nearby, but it is also full of beautiful and fascinating things. In the past years, I visited its museums, saw exhibitions, listened to concerts, learned through the works of elementary school students, visited art galleries, drank warm mulled wine, walked around my city at night and met friends and acquaintances who enjoyed that night as much as I did. How wonderful! The Night of Museums is an event that really makes me happy.

I will go again this year. The theme of The Night of Museums is important! - Museums are Important! With this topic, the Croatian Museum Association focuses on the role of museums in today's society. This topic, which ICOM (International Council of Museums) already presented at the International Day of Museums in May last year under the title "The Power of Museums", aims to emphasize and remind the role, but also the duty, that museums have towards society and the responsibility of museum institutions towards all cultural, natural and economic processes that take place in society itself. But also the responsibility towards the preservation of tangible and intangible heritage for the future and the responsibility towards the building of the individual and the community.

You can find more details about which museums will participate, where they are located, and what you can see on the evening of January 27, 2023, on the website of the Night of Museums event - https://noc-muzeja.hr/

The Night of Museums can be a good reason to come to Croatia and discover its history and culture through its museums and events and see that Pula and Istria are not only beautiful in summer. Indeed, autumn and winter can be the best time to discover this region and its culture, gastronomy and history.

...and if you arrive before 6:00 p.m. or decide to stay over the weekend in Pula, I will be glad to help you, as a licensed tour guide, to discover Pula which in itself is already an open-air museum. If you are interested, feel free to contact me by eMail or by phone, viber and whatsapp