Midsummer Night – or as the Hungarians call it “Saint Ivan’s Day” – is the day when the sun follows the highest course, when the nights are the shortest and the days the longest. Many folk customs are connected to this day like lighting a fire and jumping over it, but in the last few years this day is most well known for an all-night festival, the Night of Museums.
The Night of Museums first took place in Berlin and since it was well received, other cities and countries have taken the idea, including Hungary and the city of Debrecen.
The Night of Museums is a cultural event where a group of museums and cultural institutions in an area cooperate to remain open late into the night to introduce themselves to the public. Visitors are given a common entrance pass – cheaper on this day than usual – which grants them access to all exhibits to all museums.
In Debrecen, MODEM Centre for Modern and Contemporary Art, the Museum of the Reformed College, the Ferenc Medgyessy Memorial Museum, and this year for the first time the University of Debrecen have joined the festival that is held this year on June 16th.
Programmes of the event include not only a cheaper access to museums and lighting spectacular bonfires, but all sorts of other programmes related to art, culture, fun and fire, like presentations by special guests, street art performances, folk dance shows, concerts, and playgrounds for children.
Tickets for adults cost only 1000 HUF on this day, for children under 14 only 500 HUF, for children under 2 it is free of charge.
More information about the programmes can be found at http://www.muzej.hu/index.php?lang=en.
