Estimated 75,000 Attend Museum Night in Estonia
The open museum night on Saturday attracted around 75,000 people around Estonia this year - probably a new record, according to the organizers.
This year, the event was titled "Öös on tähti" (“Stars in the Night”), and the night programs focused on the play on the Estonian word “täht”, which means stars as well as letters of the alphabet, ETV reported on Sunday.
There was a vote on "star exhibits" in several venues, and the program for children was especially rich.
According to coordinators Laura Kipper and Külli Lupkin, the larger share of male, young and Russian-speaking museum enthusiasts stood out this year. The statistics and feedback will pour in throughout the week.
In total, 130 museums participated in the event this year, and also archives, exhibition venues, churches and historical societies. The participating museums and venues were open from 18-23.
Estonia also hosted one of the key events of the European Museum Forum - the gala of the museum awards at the Estonian Art Museum. The European Museum of the Year Award went to Masumiyet Müzesi (Museum of Innocence) in Istanbul. The Maritime Museum in Tallinn was also singled out by the judges.
The Museum of Innocence is named after a novel by Orhan Pamuk, who was also in Tallinn last week. Watch his interview with ERR here.