The Long Night of the Museums in Berlin

Tonight was the 23rd Long Night of the Museums, here in Berlin. I came home in the early hours of the morning with a couple of sixty-million-year-old shark's teeth, bought off a palaeontologist in the Natural History Museum for a euro.

What a great city. Of course, Lange Nacht der Museen has been so successful that cities all over the world now do it. But it started in Berlin.

If you're ever here when it's on, check it out. Well over a hundred museums stay open till 2am, and put on special events (including prehistoric shark's tooth jumble sales). One ticket gets you in to everything, and fleets of buses will take you around any of ten nicely designed routes. It starts with a party, at 6pm in the Lustgarten (er, no, it just means Pleasure Garden...) and ends, as does everything in Berlin, with a bangin' techno party, near the Brandenberg Gate.

Most of Berlin's immense, world class museums of art, culture, history and science take part. But so do the smaller museums, including the Hemp Museum, (Hanfmuseum), the Gay Museum (Schwules Museum) and the Garlic Museum (Knoblauchhaus... no I haven't got the German names mixed up. Knoblauch means garlic in German. Though, yes, the English-speaking world is crying out for a gay nightclub called Knoblauchhaus).

There's a little history here, and this year's program in German here...

And if you can't make it to Berlin, at least check out the great 1996 coding of the Hemp Museum website. Only The Man ever updates code.

Comments

[goughb@eircom.net]

Last week was National Heritage Week in Ireland. As well as that, the Museums and Art galleries in Dublin had one late night opening and admission was free at all venues. Looking forward to seeing the Nat. Hist. Museum in Berllin sometime. Betty G.

[Julian Gough]

Ah, the Berlin Natural History Museum is mighty, you'll love it. It has the biggest dinosaur skeleton on earth. (A Brachiosaurus.) It's so big you'll just laugh when you see it. They did it up last year, took it apart, fixed it up, remounted it, it's looking great. Story here:

http://www.reuters.com/article/gc08/idUSL2668147120070326

Photo here:

http://flickr.com/photos/85517171@N00/809143830/

But you've got to stand under it, and look up (and realise it was once as alive as you are now) for the full effect.

[Betty G.]

Incredible. Thanks Julian for pointing me to the website for the info. and photo. I look forward to seeing it in reality. Betty G.

[maryelle]

I wish they did something like that here. It sounds like great fun.

This was a HUGE mistake though to wander over here right before bed because that photograph is going to give me major nightmares all night.

Re the Garlic Museum: there used to be a museum over here (in CT, the next state over) that was devoted entirely to nuts. The edible kind, not the kind in office. Walnuts, Brazil nuts, pecans, almonds, etc. Not peanuts; those are legumes. Anyhoo, it got a lot of press for being so specific. Unfortunately the woman who ran it died last year so the Nut Museum is no more.

I am sure none of THEIR photographs would give me horrific dreams. Hmmph.