Long Night of Museums

Introduction:

Have you ever seen the movie Night at the Museum? The main character is a security guard at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan and has to take care of the museum exhibits when they come alive at night. I worked at this museum and, although the exhibits don't start walking around at night, it still feels magical to be there once all of the visitors have left. It's like the dinosaurs, the big blue whale and the planetarium are all there just for me. When I learned about the Long Night of Museums event in Berlin, I couldn't wait to experience that late-night magic at museums in my new city.

What tradition did I learn about?:

Long Night of Museums is a yearly event that started in 1997 in Berlin. During the event's first year, 18 museums had 6,000 after-hours visitors, and it has become more popular every year. This year, 80 museums around the city opened their doors between 6pm and 2am.    
At the end of the summer, I went to Long Night of Museums with a friend. She is an art gallery curator and art history enthusiast, and I'm a scientist and long-time museum lover, so between the two of us get excited about any kind of exhibit. We started off the night with one of my museum picks, the Science Center Spectrum. It’s kind of like the New York Hall of Science in Queens.

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