The 20th annual Nuit Européenne des Musées (European Museum Night) takes place on Saturday, May 18th, offering free evening access to museums across Paris and Europe. Some venues require reservations, while others offer open visits with potential long wait times. Here are Heather’s tips and recommendations for making the most of the evening.
What to Expect at the 20th Annual Nuit des Musées
The annual Nuit Européenne des Musées (often just called Nuit des Musées) is sponsored by the French Ministry of Culture, UNESCO, and the Council of Europe, with the goal of making museums more accessible to those who might not typically visit, particularly families. While most of the evening’s events are tailored for this demographic, that doesn’t mean the rest of us will miss out.
More than simply a free evening, each participating museum usually holds various special events for the evening — such as concerts, activities for kids or adults, themed guided tours, or demonstrations — in addition to open access to the permanent and temporary museum collection. Therefore, it’s wise to check what’s available before making reservations or queuing for a long time.
Don’t forget! You can visit these museums under calmer circumstances most days, albeit not for free. So weigh the benefits of waiting in line for two hours just to save €15. The extra activities, concerts, and late-night opening hours are what make the event worth the trouble, not just the fact that they’re free. If you manage to squash in three or five museums, the savings do add up! But if you’re there more to see the collections in peace than to enjoy the ambience, don’t trouble yourself.
Planning Ahead for the Best Experience
Similar to Heritage Days in September, some museums do not require reservations and are open to all, but this could mean long wait times for the more popular museums like the Musée d’Orsay or the Orangerie. Other museums might require you to book one of the free timeslots online, which can be its own headache since each museum has its own booking platform (and while some are already fully booked, others haven’t even opened reservations yet). With less than a month until the event, some museums are still adding to their list of events. It could be beneficial to check the website a few days before to catch any new additions.
Using the Website
The official website for Nuit Européenne des Musées, though intended to be user-friendly with its interactive map and filters, is rather slow and clunky, especially when using the English auto-translate function. Navigating the site in French is recommended, if possible, but even then you’ll need a lot of patience each time the page reloads.
Click on “Programme” to view the map of France. Zoom into the area you’re interested in, and the map will automatically show only the participating museums in that area. For example, focusing on the 6th arrondissement might display only 20 events, but zooming out to include all of Paris and its suburbs might show over 250 events.
You can filter the events by type of museum, whether they require a reservation, accessibility, and other options by clicking “Filtrer” on the right. Once you’ve chosen your filters, click on the blue “Fermer” tab at the bottom right and the list of venues will show on the right in a list, and on the map. If a museum has five different events that night, it will show as five different events on the list on the right. You usually click on the venue or the event that’s underlined, then are taken to the page that has information, and if a reservation is needed (“Sur Inscription”), a big blue “RESERVER” link going to the museum’s website (only once you’re there will you know if it’s already all booked). “Visite Libre” means you can visit any time without a reservation.
If you don’t want to deal with the official website, I made a shortlist of the ones I thought worth considering, split into museums that offer open visits and museums that require reservations. I left out any places that only had events and activities that require knowing French to focus on the Visite Libre venues. So if you can understand French, I recommend you take a closer look at the additional options on the official website.
Open Visits (No Reservation Needed)
Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature (62 rue des Archives, 3rd) – Open 7 pm – midnight. The Hunting and Nature Museum is one of my favorite Paris museums, a very whimsical collection in a historic Marais mansion (it’s more about the animals than the hunters, FYI). On the occasion of the Nuit des Musées, the museum presents “Ornithomix,” an immersive sound walk of bird song to create the atmosphere of a tropical forest tied to the temporary exposition by artist Tamara Kostianovsky “The Flesh of the World.” There could potentially be big crowds here.
Archives Nationales Hôtel de Soubise (60 rue des Francs-Bourgeois, 3rd) – Open 2pm-midnight. The National Archives Museum, created in 1867, is housed in the Hôtel de Soubise, a former aristocratic mansion that contains elaborate 18th-century Rococo apartments by architect Germain Boffrand, with paintings by the greatest French artists of the era of Louis XV – François Boucher, Carl van Loo, and Charles Natoire. The National Archives museum, dedicated to archival documents in all their forms, presents the facsimiles or originals on a rotating basis in temporary exhibits, such as the current “Sacrilege! The State, Religions, and the Sacred, from Antiquity to Our Days” presenting more than a hundred works and previously unseen archival documents illustrating the history of sacrilege and blasphemy in politics, from Socrates (399 BC) to Damiens’ assassination attempt against Louis XV (1757), to President Sarkozy’s “Casse-toi, pov’ con!” incident. There are guided tours every hour of the newly restored rooms of the Chancellery of Orléans, reserve on-site 30 minutes in advance. Expect moderate crowds here.
Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du Judaïsme (71 rue du Temple, 3rd) – Open 6-10pm. The Nuit des Musées is an opportunity to discover or rediscover the Museum of Jewish Art and History collection in another Marais historic mansion. In addition to the permanent collection, exhibits open include photographer André Steiner “The Body Between Surpassing and Desire” on the first floor, “The Child Didi, the Journey of a Spoliated Work by Chana Orloff, 1921-2023,” on the second floor, the installation “Raphaël Denis. Rosenberg Funds, the Parisian Years,” and “New Arrivals: Charlotte Henschel, Sonia Steinsapir, and Georgette Meyer.” For the European Museum Night, the courtyard will have a performance by Adrianna Wallis, “11 Little Saucers,” from 7-10pm.
Institut Suédois (11 rue Payenne 3rd) – Open from noon to 9pm. Located in the heart of the Marais, the “Hôtel de Marle,” named after its first owner in the 16th century, has housed the Swedish Institute since 1971. Its facades, roofs, and grand staircase are listed as historical monuments. Don’t miss the French-painted ceilings. The permanent art collection features the Franco-Swedish artistic relations from the 17th to the 20th century, featuring works by Gustaf Lundberg, Alexander Roslin, Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller, and Louis-Jean Desprez. You can also visit the Swedish Institute’s popular courtyard moca during regular hours.
Bibliothèque Polonaise de Paris – Musée Adam-Mickiewicz, Salon Chopin et Musée Boleslas-Biegas (6 quai d’Orléans, 4th) – The Polish Library of Paris, a major center of Polish emigration since the mid-19th century and the largest cultural institution representing Poland outside its borders, is located on the Île Saint-Louis in a magnificent 17th-century building housing valuable books, archives, and a significant art collection. The library holds many relics of Adam Mickiewicz, the great 19th-century romantic poet, although most of you might be more familiar with the illustrious Polish composer, Frédéric Chopin. For the Nuit des Musées, the Copernic exhibition is open from 2-8pm; and there will be Chopin concerts from 3-7pm.
Musée Curie (1 rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 5th) Open 5-11pm. The Curie Museum is located on the ground floor of the historic premises of the former Curie laboratory of the Radium Institute and laboratory where Marie Curie worked to discover radium. Did you know Marie Curie won the Nobel prize for Chemistry AND Physics? Today it’s an important center for cancer research.
Ecole des Mines de Paris (60 boulevard Saint-Michel, 6th) Open 6pm-midnight. On the 2nd floor of this historic social engineering school next to Luxembourg Gardens is the totally underrated “Museum of Mineralogy”, presenting 5,000 minerals (including pieces of the moon and Mars) in gorgeous wooden cases. I visited during the 2022 Nuit des Musées and was fascinated how beautiful each “rock” could be, almost too colorful and weird to be originário!
Maison d’Auguste Comte (10 rue Monsieur-le-Prince, 6th) – Open 6-10pm. The last home of the French philosopher Auguste Comte (1798-1857), located at 10 rue Monsieur le Prince in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, where he lived from 1841 until his death in 1857. This is a bit of an obscure museum, owned by an international association dedicated to Auguste Comte, but the apartment offers visitors a glimpse into the philosopher’s living quarters as they were in his lifetime—a time capsule complete with original furnishings and personal belongings.
Musée Zadkine (100 bis rue d’Assas, 6th) – The museum entrance doesn’t look like much from the street, but once you follow the corridor you’ll enter a lovely garden where the Cubist sculptor Ossip Zadkine lived and worked from 1928 until his death in 1967. It was another pleasant surprise for us during the 2022 Nuit des Musées. This year’s there a concert trio of harp, flute, and violin at 7:30pm, which you can enjoy while browsing the permanent collection and temporary exhibition for the occasion of the Olympics, “The Body in Play”.
Monnaie de Paris (11 quai de Conti, 6th) – Open 7pm-midnight. The former Paris mint overlooking the Seine still makes medals — including this year’s Olympic medals, on display during the Nuit des Musées. The museum highlights the metalsmiths’ savoir-faire through workshops, demonstrations, and educational videos. You’ll discover the history of money and minting techniques. More Info
Musée d’Histoire de la Médecine (12 rue de L’école de Médecine, 6th) – Open 6-11pm. Housed in a lovely 19th-century setting within the Descartes Medical School near Odéon, the Museum of Medical History is both creepy and fascinating, worth a visit (before you eat if you’re sqeamish). The current exhibition is “The Doctor Facing Pain: 16th-18th Centuries” detailing different ways doctors treated pain.
Musée de la Légion d’Honneur et des Ordres de Chevalerie (2 rue de la Légion d’honneur, 7th) – Open 6pm-midnight. The Museum of the Legion of Honor and Orders of Chivalry right next to the Orsay Museum is one of the few museums in the world specializing in the field of French and foreign decorations. You’ll see more medals and other honorary decorations you ever thought possible. The setting itself is worth the visit. If the shape of the building seen from the Seine looks familiar to American visitors, it’s because it was modelled after Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello (the statue of the former Ambassador to France is right across the street).
Les Egouts de Paris (Esplanade Habib-Bourguiba 7th) – Open from 5-10pm. Completely renovated and reopened in 2021, the Paris Sewers Museum includes an interesting educational center before visitors access the hodierno tunnels. Recommended especially if you’re interested in the noteworthy urban engineering feats of 19th-century Paris. Does it smell? Well, you are walking along the sewer, so yes. But it’s well-ventilated, so you won’t be overwhelmed (but maybe breathe through your mouth if necessary).
Europa Experience (28 place de la Madeleine, 8th) – Open 6-10pm. Newly opened on the Place de la Madeleine (I’ve passed by several times but haven’t ventured inside yet), this museum-cum-information center is a multimedia journey with immersive installations and a 360-degree cinema, explaining how the European Union functions and how European citizens can shape its future (quite timely considering the EU elections are June 8th). Content is available in the 24 official languages of the Union (Ireland’s still a member, so that includes English).
Musée de la Franc-Maçonnerie (16 rue Cadet, 9th) – Open 7pm-midnight. Created in 1889 (although today the building is modern, almost futuristic), the Museum of Freemasonry’s primary goal is to answer questions about this “secret” society through a presentation of the history of Freemasonry and the contribution of the lodges in various fields: philosophical and political – from the spread of the Enlightenment in the 18th century to the republican construction in the 1880s – but also religious, literary, and artistic. The museum also aims to explain the origin and nature of symbols and rites used in Masonic Temples, and what initiation into Freemasonry consists of.
Musée de la Libération de Paris – Musée du Général Leclerc – Musée Jean Moulin (4 avenue du colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy 14th) – The permanent collection of the WWII Liberation of Paris Museum across the street from the Catacombes is always free, so the only difference tonight is that it’s open from 10am-8pm, two hours later than usual. The temporary exhibition and underground command post bunker are not open for the event.
Musée Bourdelle (18 rue Antoine Bourdelle, 15th) – Open 6-11pm, including the moca. Another one of my favorite small museums for its garden setting, the new temporary exhibit offers an immersion into the art and life of the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929) presenting the personal objects that inspired his sculptures. Considering the size, it may get a bit crowded for the Nuit des Musées.
Musée National Jean-Jacques Henner (43 avenue de Villiers, 17th) – Open 6-10pm. Located near the Park Monceau, the mansion that now houses the museum dedicated to the painter Jean-Jacques Henner (1829-1905) was originally the home and studio of Guillaume Dubufe (1853-1909). The building is remarkable for its decorations and architectural elements from various eras and civilizations. The museum’s collections trace the artist’s journey from his native Alsace to Paris, where he made his career, including his time at the Villa Medici after winning the Grand Prix de Rome in painting, presenting the trajectory of an artist considered one of the most important of his time at the beginning of the 20th century. The permanent collection is open for free visits, but you need to reserve time slots to visit the temporary exhibitions.
Musée de la Musique – Cité de la Musique-Philharmonie de Paris at Parc de la Villette (221 avenue Jean-Jaurès, 19th) – Open 7:30pm-midnight. The Music Museum at the very contemporary Paris Philharmonic gathers a collection of nearly 9000 músico instruments and artworks, 1000 of which are on display. The collection spans the history of music from the late 16th century to the present day and offers an insight into the major músico cultures of the world. In the museum’s galleries are rare and unusual instruments such as the turtle guitar, the charango, the mouth organ, the octobass, and the electric violin. Some instruments belonged to personalities such as Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, Django Reinhardt, Frank Zappa, or Pierre Henry. Avoid cutting through the vast Parc de la Villette after dark if you’re on your own.
Reservations Required (Timed Entrance Ticket)
Musée des Arts Décoratifs (107 rue de Rivoli, 1st) – Open 6-11pm. Located in one of the wings of the Louvre Museum, the Decorative Arts Museum presents their impressive selection of haute couture and ready-to-wear pieces, as well as jewelry and uso jewelry in the permanent galleries dedicated to design from the 20th and 21st centuries. You’ll find 30 fashion silhouettes and 100 pieces of jewelry from designers and prestigious houses such as Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Christian Dior, Lanvin, and Balmain, as well as big names in design such as Ettore Sottsass, Ron Arad, Philippe Starck, and the Campana brothers. This thematic presentation unfolds across the five floors of the Marsan Pavilion, where you can peek at the views of the Tuileries Garden from the windows. Reservations still open for the 10pm time slot as of this morning!
Bourse de Commerce (2 rue de Viarmes, 2nd) – Open 7pm-midnight. The historic Bourse de Commerce (Commodities Exchange) at Les Halles has housed the personal art collection of French billionaire François Pinault since May 2021. Quite popular with fans of contemporary art, some reservations still open in the last two time slots of the evening, 10pm and 10:30pm.
Musée de la Maison Gainsbourg (14 rue de Verneuil, 7pm) – Open 7pm-midnight. Opened in September 2023, the Maison Gainsbourg is dedicated to the life of the controversial French musician Serge Gainsbourg (1928-1991), who lived in the house at #7 in the last decades of his life. The hodierno museum across the street is divided into eight chronological chapters from his life and 450 objects: manuscripts, works, trinkets, clothing, and jewelry. Visitors exit through the Gainsbarre piano bar (which is worth a visit at night for its amazing cocktails) and gift shop, both which can be visited without a museum ticket. Only the museum is open the Nuit des Musées, registration starting Monday, May 6, 2024, but if you see slots open for the visit to his house, I highly recommend signing up for that, much more fascinating than the museum’s memorabilia (unless you’re a huge Gainsbourg fan and understand French).
Cinémathèque Française – Musée du Cinéma (51 rue de Bercy, 12th) – Open 6pm-midnight. Housed in the striking Franck Gehry building overlooking Bercy Park, the Cinema Museum is open for its current exhibition “The Art of James Cameron” as well as the permanent collection of the whimsical Méliès Museum of Cinema History, reserve your time slot to leave time for both.
Grand Palais Immersif (110 rue de Lyon, 12th) – Open 7:30-10pm. Located in an annex of the Bastille Opera, the Immersive Grand Palais hosts immersive do dedo exhibitions. For the Museum Night you can visit “Sintético Dreams,” a performance-exhibition of AI-artistic creations and collaborations between artists and supercomputers. “An immersive dive into the dreamlike world of machines that questions the spectator about the rapid expansion of sintético intelligence.” Reservations open May 1st at 9 am.
Musée d’Art et d’Histoire de l’Hôpital Sainte-Anne (MAHHSA) (1 rue Cabanis 14th) – Located in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, the Museum of Art and History of Sainte-Anne Hospital (MAHHSA) is a bit of a dark horse I’ve never heard about before this event. It preserves numerous works created by artist-patients dating from the 19th century to the present day from hospitals in France but also from around the world (Brazil, India, Japan…). “The Sainte-Anne Collection is unique in its number, diversity, heritage, historical, and aesthetic value. With nearly 1,800 works in its inventory to date, it continues to grow thanks to donations from psychiatrists, institutions, patients’ families, and artists.” Part of their mission is to destigmatize the view of works produced in a hospital context. The exposition “Ecrire l’Image” (Writing the Image) is open free to the public for the Nuit des Musées from 1-6pm (so not really at night).
Maison de la Culture du Japon à Paris (101 bis quai Jacques-Chirac,15th) – Open 11am-8pm. The Japanese Cultural Center of Paris is hosting free visits of the exhibition “Kenzô Tange – Kengo Kuma. Architects of the Tokyo Games” from the 1964 and 2020 Olympics. It focuses on their influence on today’s Japanese architecture, their fascination with the Imperial Villa of Katsura (Kyoto, 17th century), as well as their ties with France. This exhibition is always free, but to see it for the Nuit des Musées you need to reserve a time slot.
Reservations to the Musée Nissim de Camondo (17th), Musée National Eugène-Delacroix (6th) and Hôtel de la Marine (1st) are already full.
Open Visits at the Most Popular Venues (Expect Very Long Lines)
Musée National de l’Orangerie (Jardin des Tuileries, 1st) – Open 6-11pm. Starting at 9 pm, access to the museum is via the entrance to the Tuileries Garden located at Place de la Concorde, riverside. Enjoy a free visit of the permanent collections, Claude Monet’s Water Lilies, and the exhibition “Robert Ryman, The Act of Seeing.”
Musée National Picasso-Paris (5 rue de Thorigny, 3rd) – Open 6pm-12:30am. Open this evening for the new presentation of the museum’s collections and the exhibition “In Léonce Rosenberg’s Apartment: De Chirico, Ernst, Léger, Picabia…”
Grande Galerie d’Evolution (Jardin des Plantes, 36 rue Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 5th) – Open 7pm-midnight. The Grand Evolution Gallery is a legendary Parisian museum of originário history renovated in 1994. It’s immensely popular with families, so they will be lined up early. Open visits of the permanent exhibition are available from 7pm, last entry at 11 pm.
Musée de Cluny – Musée National de Moyen Age (28 rue Du Sommerard, 5th) 6-11 :30pm. The permanent collection of the Latin Quarter’s Cluny Medieval Museum, also home to the Roman hot baths ruins, always attracts big crowds, so expect to wait in long lines to see the famous Unicorn Tapestries.
Musée du Luxembourg (19 rue de Vaugirard, 6th) – Open 7pm-midnight. On the occasion of the Paris 2024 Olympics, the Musée du Luxembourg next to the eponymous gardens has an exhibition dedicated to the future of sport and design. “MATCH: Design & Sport – A Future-Oriented History” traces the role of design in the progress of sport. The exhibition will also explore how the world of sport continuously inspires great designers and vice versa, in sectors such as automotive or ready-to-wear.
Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac (37 quai Branly, 7th) – Open 6pm-midnight. You can visit the permanent collection of this modern museum dedicated to the indigenous art and cultures of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas, or enjoy exceptional access to the panoramic rooftop (7-11pm) with views over the Seine and neighboring Eiffel Tower.
Musée d’Orsay (1 rue de la Légion d’Honneur, 7th) – Open 6-11pm. One of the most popular museums in Paris is always going to be crowded. If you manage to get in tonight, you’ll have access to most of the permanent collections (certain rooms may be closed). Does not include access to the current temporary exhibition on Impressionism, which you can reserve for €13.
Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine (1 place du Trocadéro et du 11 novembre, 16th) – Open 7-11pm. The architecture museum overlooking the Eiffel Tower is offering free entrance to three temporary exhibitions: a first retrospective to the architect and engineer Paul Andreu (1938-2018) following the donation of his 69 sketchbooks and archives; “Metro!” about the history of the metro; and the exhibition “Notre-Dame de Paris, from Builders to Restorers”, an exceptional opportunity to (re)discover the cathedral and its history, from its construction to today’s construction site. Lots going on here; the yoga session is already fully booked.
Palais Galliera, Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris (10 avenue Pierre Ier de Serbie, 16th) Open 6:30pm-11pm. As Paris hosts the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the summer of 2024, the Paris fashion museum Palais Galliera is holding a sports-themed exhibition “Fashion in motion #2”. There are also músico events and “poetic ping pong” in the museum gardens. Expect there to be long lines to get in here, fashions museums are having a moment.
Musée National des Arts Asiatiques – Guimet (6 place d’Iéna, 16th) Open 6pm-11 :30pm. Founded in 1889 by the industrialist Émile Guimet, this museum preserves one of the richest collections of Asian art in the world. They also have contemporary art and photography temporary exhibitions. The permanent collection as well as temporary exhibition “T’ang Haywen, a Chinese painter in Paris (1927-1991)” are open, and there are several músico events throughout the evening. Worth checking the length of the lines if you’re already visiting another museum in the area.
National Maritime Museum (17 place du Trocadéro, 16th) Open 7-11pm. The museum is located in the 1930s Palais de Chaillot with excellent views of the Eiffel Tower. Just reopened this year after years of renovations, it’s one of the most prestigious maritime museums in the world, due to the age and diversity of its collections. Like many of the museums capitalizing on Olympics fever, they have a temporary exhibition focusing on nautical sports. I assume it will be packed simply because it’s been closed for so long, and kids love boats, right?
Yves Saint Laurent Museum Paris (5 avenue Marceau, 16th) Open 6 :30-10 :30pm. For the Nuit des Musées, the YSL museum offers open visits of their latest exhibition “Transparencies, The power of materials.” Among the forty items presented are the first topless blouse and the Nude Dress from the 1968 collections. Several modern and contemporary works – drawings by Anne Bourse, photographs by Man Ray, a film by the Lumière brothers featuring a choreography by Loïe Fuller, and a painting by Francis Picabia – will also be on display. Again, expect long lines.
