Night of the Museums will be held in Tampere on Saturday, May 16

Over 40 exhibitions

If you're up to it, you can explore over 40 exhibitions across the city during Night of the Museums. Art, cultural history, and sports—there’s plenty to choose from! Have you seen the Tampere Art Museum’s “Encore! Classics and Contemporary Art from the Collections” exhibition? Or would you be interested in learning about Kalle Kaihari’s life at the Finnish Labour Museum Werstas? The Sara Hildén Art Museum is opening a new exhibition, “Freshly Painted,” just in time. At the  Museum Centre Vapriikki, you can experience 11 exhibitions, including the new “Football World Cup through the ages” exhibition. Since Night of the Museums isn’t just an ordinary night at the museums, special guided tours are available for many of the exhibitions.  

Museum cafés, pop-up eateries, and museum shops are also open to serve visitors.

Clowns and the Circus  

Children and the young at heart can kick off the evening with a guided tour led by the Hehkumahku clowns at the Tampere Art Museum, where visitors journey from classic seascapes to an imaginary urban setting. At the Moomin Museum, you can also join a children’s tour to meet the residents of Moominvalley, a nd get a cool face painting while you’re at it.

The circus-themed evening can continue at the Sara Hildén Art Museum, where Circo Aereo’s performances transport the audience from one moment to the next: live visual art, acrobatic movement, and sensual music intertwine to create a magical world where the ordinary becomes extraordinary for a moment.  

Craft workshops suitable for children are also available at many museums and at Stable Yards.

Join the art workshops

The peeping figures created together in the Himmelblau printmaking studio´s “Who’s Peeking from the Street?” nonstop drawing workshop will serve as the basis for a street painting created by visual artists Nina Korvenoja and Misa Saraste for this year’s Finlayson Art Area event.  

At the Sara Hildén Art Museum’s nonstop art workshop, participants will create their own artworks using collage techniques under the guidance of visual artist Inka Hannula. At the Museum Milavida, you can take part in a life drawing workshop in the spirit of the “Man -  Lad, Dandy, Gentleman” exhibition.

Music and poetry throughout the evening

The Night of Museums will feature a wide range of musical styles. At the Emil Aaltonen Museum, at 8 p.m., visitors can enjoy music and Raymond Carver’s raw, life-affirming poetry, performed by Auvo Vihro together with Anu and Petri Ahjokoski. At Juice’s Library, the maestro’s music will be performed by Ari “Kankku” Kankaanpää as part of the library’s presentation.

At Vapriikki, soccer anthems and Manserock classics will be playing, and the amazing Tabula Rasa will perform at 9 p.m. At the Moomin Museum, DJ Daddy Pales will spin records in the spirit of Tove & Tootti.

Music will also be on offer at the Nootti Museum of Finnish-Russian Relations, featuring The Mystic Revelation of Teppo Repo; at Stable Yards, where troubadour Henry Johan will entertain; and at the Tampere Art Museum, where musicians from the Tampere Philharmonic will perform 15-minute concerts. To round off the evening at the The Finnish Labour Museum Werstas, DJs Nasty Nikke and RIMPELÄ from the youth media outlet RARE will bring a rave atmosphere to the Steam Engine Museum.

Dancing, Experiences, and Themed Tours

For dance enthusiasts, Night of the Museums offers a samba parade at Vapriikki and swing dance lessons at the Moomin Museum.

There’s also plenty of athletic and masculine programming on the agenda. At Vapriikki, you can play retro games, reminisce about Manserock, and test your knowledge with soccer-themed quizzes, a photo quiz from Vapriikki’s image archive, and an AI image recognition quiz at the Postal Museum. At the Museum Milavida, you can tie ties and watch a men’s fashion show. In the Amuri Museum of Historic Housing, an adult-oriented tour takes you back in time to a whisk shop and hard liquor. At the Art Museum, Albert Edelfelt himself leads dramatic tours.

Part of the international museum tradition

Now in its 17th year, Night of the Museums is part of the popular La Nuit des Musées / Lange Nacht der Museen museum events held throughout Central Europe year-round.  

Admission to Night of the Museums is via an event wristband, which costs €18 (€17 with a Museum Card). Children under 7 get in for free. The event wristband grants access to all Night of Museums venues and accompanying programs, as well as free rides on the Night of Museums buses running between venues from 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM. The event wristband can be purchased at the following locations: Museum Centre Vapriikki, Juice Library (Viola-koti restaurant), Werstas Labor Museum, Himmelblau Printmaking Studio, Museum Milavida, Sara Hildén Art Museum, Nootti Museum of Eastern Relations, Emil Aaltonen Museum, Tampere Art Museum, Amuri Museum Of Historic Housing, and Moomin Museum.

The event’s media partner is the local newspaper Tamperelainen. You can find out more about the Night of the Museums venues and program on the website at https://museoidenyo.tampere.fi/en/