Berlin Müzelerinin Uzun Gecesi

Three clay figures from Mexico beneath the celestial sky: Berlin has chosen this image to advertise the climax of its cultural summer, the 27th “Long Night of Museums”. On Saturday (28.8.) more than 100 museums in the German capital will be opening their exhibitions to the public from 6 pm to 2 am. The Aztec clay figures, including the rain god Tlaloc from the Ethnological Museum, provided the inspiration for the theme of the 2010 Long Night of Museums. Why? Because this year Berlin is jointly celebrating 200 years of Latin American independence, the “bicentenario”, together with Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Mexico.

Fotograf büyültme (© Sergej Horovitz)

During the “Long Night” a number of museums will be spotlighting these countries. For example, the spectacular Teotihuacan exhibition from Mexico is showing at the Martin Gropius Building. Other museums, such as the German Historical Museum, the Jewish Museum or the Museum for Blind People, are staging smaller special exhibitions or offering guided tours with special themes and lectures. The focal point of the celebrations is Berlin Town Hall with an exhibition on the museum landscape of the participating countries, flanked by music and additional cultural events.

Fotograf büyültme (© picture-alliance / dpa)

Museum Island is an especially powerful magnet during the “Long Night”. It’s the real showpiece of Berlin’s diverse museum landscape and has been a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Centre since 1999. The Altes Museum, Neues Museum, Alte Nationalgalerie, Bode-Museum and the Pergamon Museum, located between the River and Kupfergraben, form a unique group of five historical buildings with treasures illustrating 6,000 years of cultural heritage. Following the Alte Nationalgalerie (2001) and the Bode-Museum (2006), the Neues Museum was opened in October 2009 following spectacular renovations headed by the British star architect David Chipperfield. The Pergamon Museum and the Altes Museum are currently being restored as part of the Museum Island master plan. In 2014 reconstruction is due to begin on the City Palace with exhibition space for the non-European collections. Eventually it will make Museum Island into the world’s largest universal museum complex for world art and cultures.

© www.magazin-deutschland.de