State museums celebrate Museum Night and International Museum Day with the motto: 'Museums for a sustainable society'

The first of these events was held in 1977, with the aim of raising public awareness about the role of museums in the development of society and the social role they play as guardians of the collective memory.

The State Museums run by the Directorate-General of Fine Arts, Cultural Heritage and Archives and Libraries are celebrating the Night and Day through a wide-ranging programme of activities that invite people to rediscover their collections. Free entry, extended opening hours, night-time opening, concerts, workshops, conferences, guided visits, theatrical dramatisations, competitions... all activities aimed at enabling people to take part in these celebrations.

On 16 May 2015, European Museum Night will be celebrated for the 11th time. This festive event that was first held in 2005 is an initiative sponsored by the Council of Europe and developed in parallel with the actions celebrating International Museum Day, which will be held on 18 May.

As in previous years, about 3,400 museums throughout Europe unite around this very special night, opening their doors at night and allowing free visits at extended hours. Museums all over Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Portugal, Austria, Poland, etc. will help illuminate the darkness on the night of 16 May. An extensive offer of cultural and leisure activities will be available because, alongside the late opening of these museums, a number of other activities will also take place in order to bring the museums closer to as many people of all ages as possible through their collections. These activities will include workshops, guided visits, concerts, theatre and micro-theatre, story-telling, audio-visual productions... all of them sharing the same festive spirit.

State Museums

• National Archaeological Museum - Madrid. Calle Serrano, 13
• National Altamira Museum and Research Centre - Santillana del Mar (Cantabria)
• National Museum of Anthropology - Madrid. Calle Alfonso XII, 68
• Cerralbo Museum - Madrid. Calle Ventura Rodríguez, 17
• National Museum of Decorative Arts - Madrid. Calle Montalbán, 12
• Sorolla Museum - Madrid. Paseo General Martínez Campos, 37
• National Museum of Sculpture - Valladolid. Calle Cadenas de San Gregorio, 1
• González Martí National Museum of Ceramics and Decorative Arts Valencia. Calle Poeta Querol, 2
• Museum of the Americas - Madrid. Avenida Reyes Católicos, 6
• National Museum of Underwater Archaeology. ARQUA - Cartagena (Murcia). Paseo del Muelle Alfonso XII, 22
• National Museum of Roman Art - Mérida (Badajoz). Calle José Ramón Mélida,
• Fashion Museum. Centre for Research on Ethnological Heritage - Madrid. Avenida Juan de Herrera, 2
• Casa de Cervantes Museum - Valladolid. Calle Rastro, s/n
• National Museum of Romanticism - Madrid. Calle San Mateo, 13
• Sephardic Museum - Toledo. Calle Samuel Leví, s/n
• El Greco Museum - Toledo. Paseo del Tránsito s/n

Other museums managed under the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport

• El Prado National Museum
• Reina Sofía National Museum and Art Centre
• National Theatre Museum
• Lázaro Galdiano Museum
• San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts Museum