International Museum Day

History

Each year, all museums in the world are invited to participate in IMD to promote the role of museums around in the world, creating unique, enjoyable and free activities around a theme discussed within the ICOM community for this special day. Since its creation in 1977, International Museum Day has gained increasing attention. In 2009, International Museum Day attracted the participation of 20,000 museums hosting events in more than 90 countries. In 2010, 98 countries participated in the celebration, with 100 in 2011, and 30,000 museums in 129 countries in 2012. In 2011, the official IMD poster was translated into 37 languages. Since 2012, this number jumped by one to 38.

Themes

About ICOM

The International Council of Museum (ICOM) is the main organisation of museums and museum professionals with a global scope, committed to the promotion and protection of natural and cultural heritage, present and future, tangible and intangible. ICOM’s commitment to culture and knowledge promotion is reinforced by its 31 International Committees dedicated to a wide range of museum specialities, who conduct advanced research in their respective fields for the benefit of the museum community. The organisation is also involved in fighting illicit trafficking, assisting museums in emergency situations, and more. ICOM created International Museum Day in 1977. The organisation chooses the theme and coordinates the event every year.

The theme

The theme of International Museum Day 2017 will be Museums and contested histories: Saying the unspeakable in museums

This theme focuses on the role of museums that, by working to benefit society, become hubs for promoting peaceful relationships between people. It also highlights how the acceptance of a contested history is the first step in envisioning a shared future under the banner of reconciliation.

By choosing to say the unspeakable in museums, the theme of IMD 2017 looks at how to understand the incomprehensible aspects of the contested histories inherent to the human race. It also encourages museums to play an active role in peacefully addressing traumatic histories through mediation and multiple points of view. We invite cultural institutions of every nature around the world to join in this celebration, which will focus on the link allowing for a vision of the future above and beyond taboo subjects and towards a better understanding of one another.

Partners of IMD 2017

International Museum Day 2016

About 35,000 museums in 145 countries on all continents participated in IMD 2016.

The theme

The theme of the 2016 event is Museums and Cultural Landscapes. A combination of both nature and history, a cultural landscape is a changing and constantly evolving territory, the product of a specific geological identity and transformations made by time and people. Both individuals and communities are responsible for protecting and enhancing these landscapes. These tasks also fall under the duty of museums, which hold objects and items that serve as both material and intangible legacies of territories both large and small. The theme Museums and Cultural Landscapes makes museums responsible for their landscapes, asking them to contribute knowledge and expertise and take an active role in their management and upkeep.

Special activities during IMD 2016

The National Gallery of Victoria in Australia organised a conference to discuss how public and private institutions gather their collections and how such collecting can create or preserve a cultural landscape.

The Chimczuk Museum in the City of Windsor, Canada used International Museum Day as an opportunity to open the "Fighting in Flanders" exhibition in the presence of the Belgian ambassador to Canada.

Partners of IMD 2016

The theme

In 2015, the event will celebrate the theme: Museums for a sustainable society. One of the most important contemporary challenges shared by people all over the world is to adapt new ways of living and developing within the limits of nature. This transition towards a sustainable society requires inventing new methods of thinking and acting. Museums play a key role in this transition, promoting sustainable development and serving as real laboratories for best practices. Modern museums must take a strong position in this context and make their voices heard.

The theme Museums for a sustainable society recognises the role of museums in raising public awareness about the need for a society that is less wasteful, more cooperative and uses resources in a way that respects living systems. Bringing museums to the forefront of this model of a sustainable society, the International Museum Day theme aims to foster awareness among the whole society about the current consequences of human action in our planet and the absolute necessity of changing its economic and social model.

Special activities during IMD 2015

The Uganda Museum in Kampala, in Uganda, encouraged visitors to take a plant home or plant a tree at the museum to do their part in creating a sustainable environment. The National Forestry Authority donated trees to the cause.

The "Sc'Arti in Mostra" exhibition organised and promoted by the province of Avellino, in Italy, was the product of an art contest inspired by the themes of reusing and recycling waste through art. The exhibition, open to the public, supported a culture of recycling.

Partners of IMD 2015

This event encourages excellence in European museums and is an opportunity for networking and debating contemporary museum issues.

The theme

The suggested theme for 2014 is Museum collections make connections This theme reminds us that museums are living institutions that help create bonds between visitors, generations and cultures around the world. The museum is an institution that preserves and communicates the past, yet it is grounded in the present. It is a link between the generations, as it allows present and future generations to better comprehend their origins and history.

Special activities during IMD 2014

Sharjah Museums in the United Arab Emirates carried out an Instagram project called #heartifact, inviting the public to photograph objects that are meaningful to them and post them along with a short description. The museum then created a collage of the images and shared it with the public on International Museum Day.

In Itu, Brazil, the Museu da Energia organised an event called Arte no Beco (Art in the Alleyway), bringing the museum to the street to raise awareness on the significance of museums and heritage preservation.

Partners of IMD 2014

European Night of Museums: Since 2011, ICOM patronized the European Night of Museums, an event which echoes IMD in the spirit of an all day and all-night weekend dedicated to museums.

The theme

The museum community decided to celebrate IMD 2013 around the theme: Museums (Memory + Creativity) = Social Change The richness of our historical heritage, preserved and displayed by museums, together with the inventiveness and vitality that have characterised the museum sector’s action in recent years, are where the strength of museum institutions lies today. Reconciling their traditional mission of conservation with the creativity necessary for their revival and the development of their audiences – this is the evolution that museums are trying to undertake, with the strong belief that their presence and actions can transform society constructively. This truly optimistic theme in the form of an equation dynamically gathers several concepts that are essential to defining what a museum is today, highlighting the universal nature of those institutions and their positive influence on society. It summarises the complexity of museum tasks and recalls that they are meant to contribute to community development and gathering together.

Special activities during IMD 2013

In Peru, the Pachacamac Site Museum scheduled an outdoor interactive project called Paint and Identify in the Pintado Temple to remember the paintings that once decorated this monument.

In Pakistan, the Museum of Natural History in Islamabad organised a Nature Poster Drawing Competition on the theme of Water and biodiversity, in which students from different schools participated by portraying the beauty of nature.

The National Museum of History of Moldovain Chişinău, Moldova organised a workshop for the public on experimental archaeology, paper folding techniques, history and the art of writing.

Partners of IMD 2013

The theme

The International Museum Day 2012 was celebrated around the theme Museum in a changing world. New challenges, new inspirations. Regarding the changes facing the world, moving faster than ever before, it was important that museums explore these topics by organising various activities and events. New technologies, new ideas, an unstable climate and social media are now fields in which museums and people are acting.

35th anniversary of the International Museum Day

To celebrate the 35th anniversary of the International Museum Day, ICOM sponsored a photo contest entitled Me in my museum. The participants had to take photos of themselves, alone or with their friends, in or outside their favourite museums with the official logo created for the event. The winners of the “Me in my museum” contest were Yonit and Efrat, from Israel, whose picture was taken in front of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.

Special activities during IMD 2012

In many countries, International Museum Day is the occasion to celebrate museums and their activities. For instance, each year, the month of May is Museums Month in Guatemala, organised with the Ministry of Culture of Guatemala. This year, the theme was New challenges and new inspirations.

In Brazil, the week of 14–20 May is the opportunity to organise museum activities over several days, and the 18th is celebrated as a national holiday. For the 10th edition of National Museums week, activities such as exhibitions, conferences, guided tours and workshop were organised in Brazilian cities. Museums as well as heritage institutions provided dance performances, music, theatre, poetry contests and more.

In Peru and Bolivia, International Museum Day is followed by the Long Night of Museums. Visitors have both day and night to visit museums and the event is celebrated in both countries every year.

In Lithuania, the year 2012 was declared as the Year of Museums, in honour of the bicentenary opening of the first public museums in the country.

The Museu do Falso (Viseu, Portugal) opened on 18 May 2012, for International Museum Day. Visitors were able to discover the unique Museum of History, made from contributions by contemporary artists, working under the premise of Simulacrum: What if a given event occurred differently from how it did?. This aimed to serve as a hub for cultural actors and citizens.

In Côte d’Ivoire, IMD 2012 was celebrated in the structure of the Palais Royal of Abenguru. Local institutions and ICOM Côte d’Ivoire organised various events including discussions, game contests for students and guided tours. About 1,500 people joined in the celebrations with important political and cultural actors from the country.

Hans-Martin Hinz, President of ICOM, launched the event from Bahrain, with the visit to the National Museum’s exhibition Tylos: Journey Beyond Life that recounted burial rites and customs in the ancient history of Bahrain. He then experienced the mobile museum Enkiru, an extension of the exhibition specifically geared for children aged 7 to 11. Finally, he participated in a workshop devoted to emerging museum professionals organised by the National Committee of Bahrain, in partnership with ICOM Arab. Meanwhile, the ICOM President personally thanked Chinese and Argentine museums by sending them a video, broadcast during the launch ceremonies for International Museum Day in China and Argentina.

To celebrate the event, Julien Anfruns, Director General of ICOM, delivered the keynote address on the 17 May at the conference "Science Museums and New Technologies” organized by the ICOM International Committee for Education and Cultural Action (CECA) in Rome, Italy. He was also a panellist and keynote speaker at the International Bar Association’s conference about new legal challenges in the arts which took place at the MAXXI – National Museum of the 21st Century Arts, Rome).

Partners of IMD 2012

International Museum Day 2011

About 30 000 museums in 110 countries participated in the celebration of International Museum Day 2011.

The theme

The theme for 2011 was “Museum and memory. Objects tell our story”. Museums have numerous objects in their collections that are basic to the memory of communities. These objects are the expression of natural and cultural heritage. Many of them are fragile, some endangered and they require special care and conservation. Five topics were developed during International Museum Day 2011:

Special activities during IMD 2011

In Australia, the National Sports Museum in Melbourne organised a programme called Remembering the Moments that Made Us where visitors of the museum had the opportunity to meet and talk with sporting legends (Memory Makers) who contributed to great sporting moments and memories.

In Malaysia, seminar with international speakers, exhibitions, sport carnivals, workshops and educational programmes were organised in various museum around the country.

In Sudan, the Natural History Museum in Khartoum created an educational programme for families and school children who were able to participate in a photography competition on the theme “Documenting Our Natural History”.

In Argentina, the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Ridavia in Caba suggested a programme entitled Musecuentos especially established for this occasion. Storytellers shared stories that were highlighted by the museum’s objects.

In Belgium, the Musée Royal de Mariemont offered guided tours on the theme Objects’ CV.

Partners of the IMD 2011

The conservation and transmission of collective memory is a preoccupation for other heritage players, beyond the museum community. For this reason, for the first time ever, the International Council of Museums initiated institutional partnerships with other organisations that feel concerned by these questions and share ICOM’s preoccupation for the preservation of memory:

International Museum Day 2010

In 2010, museums from 96 countries participated in the event, organised around the theme Museums for social harmony.

Special activities during IMD 2010

In Mongolia, the theatre museum invited kindergarten children to attend a play in the museum.

The Samarkand State Museum of Cultural History in Uzbekistan organised an impressive performance with the award-winning children’s dance ensemble Jonona. It was followed by a musical slide show displaying the Samarkand region’s historical heritage.

In Sri Lanka, the Department of National Museums provided an educational programme with mobile exhibitions for students in the northern region of the country as a means to encourage peace and social harmony among the ethnic groups who are living in the north and the south of the country.

The Calouste Gulbenkian Museum (Museu Calouste Gulbenkian) in Portugal arranged a special reception for visitors in a bid to highlight its initiative of creating a club for 23 local teenagers with anti-social behaviour.

International Museum Day 2009

In 2009, ICOM partnered WFFM (the World Federation of Friends of Museums) in order to promote the event.

International Museum Day 2008

20 000 museums in 90 countries participated in IMD in 2008. As the theme was Museums as agents of social change and development, the first virtual museum event took place on Second Life, with the contribution of the Tech Museum of Innovation (San Francisco, USA).

International Museum Day 2007

Museums in approximately 70 countries participated in the event. For this edition, the message that was conveyed was We are all responsible for universal heritage.

Special activities during IMD 2007

In Angola, a debate on The Contribution of the National Museum of Anthropology on Asserting Cultural Identity was organised. In Algeria, two days were devoted to the theme of heritage and museology in Algeria, the objective being to submit a project to set up a centre for training museum professionals. The Colombo National Museum in Sri Lanka organised visits and workshops for certain schools aimed at teaching pupils to identify with their heritage. At the Acadian Museum of the University of Moncton (Canada), a conference was held to discuss the issues involved in preserving Acadian oral heritage in a museum as a centre of conservation and dissemination. In Israel, the Historic Museum of Bethlehem partially opened on the occasion of IMD. In Botswana, the site museum of Tsodilo celebrated the event by organising performances of plays, music and traditional dances. In Peru, the inhabitants of Lima were invited to the Fifth Feria of “Museums within your reach” with the participation of 30 museums from Europe and Central Asia.