Night of Museums
Museums by night,
On June 19th the country will stir up once again, and just like in previous years, hundreds of thousands will set out into the night to visit a museum; possibly one, or maybe several different ones. As the saying now goes: “on this extraordinary night, museums reveal their depths”.
The objective of the series of events titled Night of Museums is to bring out history, ethnic arts and fine arts from behind their glass displays every year. The objects of the past should become experiences of the present, call out to us, talk to us, and remind us of previous times and people: this is how memory and preservation of value will have a true meaning. The popularity of the programme is surprising; only a Night of Banks would perhaps attract this many participants by unexpectedly revealing their hidden treasures.
We could say that museums are actually some kind of banks, if banks’ reputation wasn’t so tarnished nowadays. It is the mission of museums to safe keep value and be the engine of the exchange of values – acting as treasuries in the most noble sense of the word, and presenting these treasures to all those who would like to live the experience of being the heirs of an invaluable wealth; priceless intellectual wealth which cannot be fragmented, but can be shared. Shared, but not expropriated. A treasure that cannot be expropriated, and is unlimited. A treasure that belongs to all, who would like to share it.
Ferenc Juhász interprets the ontological message of collections in his book, The love of museums as follows: “Museums are not crypts of time. They are not books of dead of history. They are not sarcophagi of the passing time. Museums are meanings of life just like nature, societies and man. Museums preserve our existence just like myths, arches and epics. They not only preserve the fossils of nature, bones which have turned into stone, feathers, scales, leaves, pollen and skulls, not only the messages set in stone of yesteryear, but also humanity’s former self: dreams, beliefs, desires, bliss, sins, selfishness, follies, disgraces, loves and deaths”.
The objective of Hungary’s new government is to preserve the values of the Hungarian museum system, to develop them even further and connect them to living culture, and to set up a new financing system and a new legislative context to achieve these goals. We will launch development programmes; we are ahead of major building renovations the unparalleled digitisation of intellectual, both in terms of quality and quantity. With the participation of museum experts, we will review and boost the current tendering system for public collections. We intend to grant greater institutional autonomy to the profession, while striving to establish a continuously strengthening organic partnership between the Ministry, institutions and visitors.
One of the key messages of the series of events of the Night of Museums series is to “open up”. Doing so in the symbolic sense of the open sky, open boundaries, open minds and open souls.
Géza Szőcs
Secretary of State for Culture
On June 19th the country will stir up once again, and just like in previous years, hundreds of thousands will set out into the night to visit a museum; possibly one, or maybe several different ones. As the saying now goes: “on this extraordinary night, museums reveal their depths”.
The objective of the series of events titled Night of Museums is to bring out history, ethnic arts and fine arts from behind their glass displays every year. The objects of the past should become experiences of the present, call out to us, talk to us, and remind us of previous times and people: this is how memory and preservation of value will have a true meaning. The popularity of the programme is surprising; only a Night of Banks would perhaps attract this many participants by unexpectedly revealing their hidden treasures.
We could say that museums are actually some kind of banks, if banks’ reputation wasn’t so tarnished nowadays. It is the mission of museums to safe keep value and be the engine of the exchange of values – acting as treasuries in the most noble sense of the word, and presenting these treasures to all those who would like to live the experience of being the heirs of an invaluable wealth; priceless intellectual wealth which cannot be fragmented, but can be shared. Shared, but not expropriated. A treasure that cannot be expropriated, and is unlimited. A treasure that belongs to all, who would like to share it.
Ferenc Juhász interprets the ontological message of collections in his book, The love of museums as follows: “Museums are not crypts of time. They are not books of dead of history. They are not sarcophagi of the passing time. Museums are meanings of life just like nature, societies and man. Museums preserve our existence just like myths, arches and epics. They not only preserve the fossils of nature, bones which have turned into stone, feathers, scales, leaves, pollen and skulls, not only the messages set in stone of yesteryear, but also humanity’s former self: dreams, beliefs, desires, bliss, sins, selfishness, follies, disgraces, loves and deaths”.
The objective of Hungary’s new government is to preserve the values of the Hungarian museum system, to develop them even further and connect them to living culture, and to set up a new financing system and a new legislative context to achieve these goals. We will launch development programmes; we are ahead of major building renovations the unparalleled digitisation of intellectual, both in terms of quality and quantity. With the participation of museum experts, we will review and boost the current tendering system for public collections. We intend to grant greater institutional autonomy to the profession, while striving to establish a continuously strengthening organic partnership between the Ministry, institutions and visitors.
One of the key messages of the series of events of the Night of Museums series is to “open up”. Doing so in the symbolic sense of the open sky, open boundaries, open minds and open souls.
Géza Szőcs
Secretary of State for Culture
