Summer in Germany lasts only for three months. However, it is still bright outside at 9 p.m. during this period, which keeps the Germans busy being ready to enjoy it. Most of the states in Germany open their museums at night as a special event, which has been attracting a lot of visitors. Of course, this event has a synergetic influence on preparing for various artistic events.

One night in former East Germany is full of excitement!

It was just a week ago when “Open night museum: Museumsnacht” began in Halle/Leipzig and Mainz attracting a lot of visitors. The content of the program was simple. Museums are open until dawn, and visitors take advantage of their free time given at summer night. A museum is usually where people spend their leisure time during the day. But they wonder how it looks like and what goes on there at night. It stimulated the visitors’ curiosity and led the event into a great success.

It was the day when the daytime was particularly long. People gathered from the street. They were waiting for a shuttle bus which would take them to Halle and Leipzig. They were in groups of families or friends on the bus sharing information about Museumsnacht. Since more than 70 museums are open from 5:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m., they should determine their route in advance. The admission was free to students who are under 16 years old, and only 8 Euro for adults, which covered visiting all the museums and watching all kinds of performances. Some visitors gave me advice, “You should be physically strong in order to enjoy all the programs.”

A journey to a museum – appreciate the history and culture of the city

Leipzig Museum was running a program exhibiting what students did after school at night in 18C. After excavating an old record regarding students’ life in that area at that time, the museum reproduced their vivid life into an exhibition, which drew visitors’ interest. Meanwhile, Bach Museum offered a lecture on great influence of the world-famous musician, Bach on the history of music and his life, and then a program which had participants create their own shirts while listening to Bach’s music. The program was for children who had already prepared their own t-shirts. While painting their t-shirts by themselves, they had an opportunity to think about the harmony of three elements: music, light, and color.

Mainz hosted an exhibition under the title, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream of Colors’. Abstract, experimental, and expressionistic paintings from four artists were exhibited, which was successful. The exhibition hall was full of visitors including students who were majoring in painting and small children who wished to express their own ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. Besides, a program which showed a history of the local beers was very popular. This event took place at Mainz Museum, which exhibited items from brewers to reveal that Mainz was a city of beer which had about 40 brewers between 19C and early 20C.

An arts program changed the trend of the citizens’ leisure activity

Although it takes place only once a year, Museumsnacht is an important event to the visitors. Different from the Koreans, the Germans go home right after work and spend their leisure time for themselves or their family. It was a new experience for them to utilize their night time for participating in cultural events. That was why this event received a positive response from the citizens although their idea was simple, shifting the opening hours from day time to night time. One of the most important facts was that most of the programs which were arranged by these two cities were basically for the locals. The local residents could easily understand and enjoy the program, watch a fusion of various arts, and experience unfamiliar time zone for museum tour. These three elements had a synergetic effect. A lot of visitors enjoyed their long summer night before the dawn while exploring arts, lifestyle, food, and all other concepts related to culture.

Written by Seong Gyeong-sook (Correspondent in Germany)