Ministry of Culture celebrates International Museum Day and the Night of Museums 2026 with activities for all ages

The 16 state museums of the Ministry of Culture are joining in the commemoration of International Museum Day, celebrated every year on 18 May, and the 22nd European Night of Museums, on 23 May, with a wide-ranging programme of activities.

Under the theme 'Museums Uniting a Divided World', this year's International Museum Day reinforces the role of museums as spaces that foster respect and coexistence among individuals and communities. Museums are safe places where people come together with shared stories, collections, and experiences.

The celebration includes special opening hours, talks, and numerous activities centred around the state museums. In addition, this year's edition will feature free admission days, extended hours with special evening openings, guided tours, and access to rarely visited spaces.

Several museums have organised special tours led by experts and professionals from the institutions themselves. The National Museum of Decorative Arts is offering the 'Inside Out Marathon: The Museum's Collection with its Professionals'.

It will also be possible to access spaces usually closed to the public, such as the storage facilities of the National Museum of Roman Art and the Museum of the Americas, where most of their collections are kept, as only about 10% of their holdings are on permanent display. For its part, the National Archaeological Museum will allow visitors to explore its photographic archives.

Educational and family activities

Families and children are a key focus of the state museums' programming, with various workshop-visits, self-guided tours, creative workshops, dramatised activities, and competitions.

The National Archaeological Museum will be offering an activity centred on hospitality tesserae, used on the Iberian Peninsula more than 2,500 years ago to seal pacts of friendship, as well as the drawing competition 'Pieces that Connect the World'. The Museum of the Americas invites visitors to discover the popular festivals of the American continent with the workshop-visit 'De fiesta por América' (Celebrating in America), while the National Sculpture Museum is organising the theatre workshop 'Tender puentes' (Building Bridges), aimed at young people aged 14 and up.

Live arts: music, theatre and dance

The programme includes a variety of live arts events, with live music, theatre, recitals and dance. Among the activities is the period dance workshop 'The Viral Bridgerton Dance: Fiction and Reality' at the Museum of Romanticism. Music will also be featured in recitals at the González Martí National Museum of Ceramics and Decorative Arts, offered in collaboration with the Professional Conservatory of Music of Valencia. The programme is completed with various stage performances and dramatised tours, such as 'Captain Coral's Lost Treasure' at the National Museum of Underwater Archaeology. ARQVA.

Talks, round tables and citizen participation

Another key aspect of the celebration is its programme of talks and round tables, which will address historical, social, and citizen participation issues. Highlights include 'From the Drachma to the Euro. Spain and Europe through coins', organised by the National Archaeological Museum; a reflection on the role of museums in social transformation with the event 'Between culture and peace: museums in the divides', presented by the González Martí National Museum of Ceramics and Decorative Arts in Valencia;' and 'The museum we create', presented by the National Museum of Anthropology, an initiative that, in anticipation of its imminent renovation, invites citizen participation to rethink museum spaces, guided by its cultural mediators.

The El Greco Museum is also offering the collective activity 'View and Plan of the World', which enables people to visualise the diverse origins of the museum's visitors and El Greco's life journey from Crete to Toledo, as well as the various places around the world where the painter's legacy lives on today.

European Night of Museums

The State Museums will be celebrating the European Night of Museums with special openings on 16 or 23 May. many offering special evening activities.

During these extended hours, the programme features performances, music, and workshops. This is the case at the National Sculpture Museum, which will be hosting swing mini-concerts. Music will also be featured at the Sephardic Museum, which will be presenting a concert by Ethnos Atramos. The National Museum of Anthropology will explore the ethnic roots of musical tradition with El Naán Trío and their show 'Versos del páramo negro'.

The National Museum and Research Centre of Altamira will be offering an exceptional opening of the Neocave, which can be explored with its original lighting, allowing visitors to experience the magic, enchantment, and identity of its paintings. The National Archaeological Museum will also be offering night-time illuminations for its exhibitions, in addition to hosting a concert by Astrid Jones & The Blue Flaps.

Other proposals include the shadow puppet show 'The Trojan Horse' for families at the National Museum of Roman Art; the escape room 'Under the Same Sea', organised by the National Museum of Underwater Archaeology (ARQVA); the scavenger hunt 'All Our Secrets' at the National Museum of Decorative Arts; and the educational game 'Death Between Seams' at the Costume Museum, inspired by Agatha Christie.

Non official translation