Night of Museums returns on January 26, 2018.
The Croatian Museum Society, in cooperation with numerous Croatian museums and other heritage institutions, organizes the ‘Night of Museums’ on the 26th of January 2018, for the thirteenth time. By its positive practice and achievements, the Night of Museums 2018 was conceived as a dynamic event, under the theme of the Olympic Games: Museums and Sport.
The emphasis of this event is the analytical overview of the existing and the creation of new museum collections focused on sport, encouraging local initiatives to preserve and benchmark sport in all its forms to create a climate of sensitivity to sport as a cultural value and its presence in the diverse forms of social and individual creativity. This initiative hopes to actively involve visitors in museum activities to create a new museum audience.
Sport, according to generally accepted definitions, is a collective term of physical activity dominated by the competitive spirit; fostering bodily traits and capabilities, checking and improving games, fighting and competing. Sport is a popular and widespread social phenomenon and an integral part of the culture of contemporary society.
Today, we see sport as part of the tradition and culture of modern society, through its numerous forms of childhood games, popular forms of competition, and recreational activities to amateur and professional sports of various branches, sports associations, individuals, fans, and competitions. Sport is also seen, however, through science, art, and policy. A wide range of sports themes the museums provide, irrespective of their type, create unlimited possibilities for developing and contemplating sports in the context of contemporary museum practice; integrating the act into everyday life by developing and affirming the identity of an individual, group or community, through a multidisciplinary and multimedia approach.
In Croatia, though the history and development of sport have been systematically collected since the 20th century, and is now partly exhibited at the Croatian Sports Museum in Zagreb, sports heritage is not adequately represented and presented in Croatian museums. Therefore, choosing sport as the theme for this year’s Night of Museums aims to further stimulate the debate on the issues of sports collections in museums throughout Croatia.
The inspiration for this year’s theme was also influenced by the European Handball Championship, which will be held in Croatia through the 28th, and the XXIII. Winter Olympics which will be held in South Korea’s Pyeongchang from February 9 to 25, 2018.
In Split this year, visitors to the Night of Museums will be able to visit the Archaeological Museum, the Ethnographic Museum, the Emanuel Vidović Gallery, the Meštrović Gallery, the Croatian Maritime Museum, the Southeast Tower of Diocletian’s Palace, the Split City Museum, the Museum of Croatian Archaeological Monuments, and the Natural History Museum and Zoo.
Additionally, for the first time, fans of Hajduk Split will have an opportunity to visit Poljud for free to enjoy a variety of programs from film screenings to music, many exhibitions, and the club’s famous trophy salon. The program will take place from 20:00 at Hajduk’s Cinema Hall. Hajduk is also the only football club in Croatia that has been included in the 2018 Night of Museums program.
To see the programs of each museum for January 26, 2018, you can check the official website here.
Source: Noć Muzeja
