Luxembourg Museum Days Register Record 22k Visits

The 27th edition of Luxembourg Museum Days took place on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 May 2024, with 37 museums across the Grand Duchy opening their doors to the public as part of this festive event.

As reported by the main organiser, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) Luxembourg, this edition registered a record 22,271 visits (all participating museums combined) - an increase of 28.4% compared to last year (17,342 visits).

In addition to guided tours of their permanent and temporary exhibitions, the participating museums developed their own special programmes for this event. Some of the Luxembourg City highlights cited by ICOM included: Bob Kil's Field Trip performance at Mudam Luxembourg, within Nina Beier's installation; a performance of Le Monde des Gourmets at the Lëtzebuerg City Museum; a "Science Slam" on global warming and perovskite solar cells organised by the National Museum of Natural History (naturmusée) in collaboration with the University of Luxembourg. Other museums in the capital organised various theatre performances, workshops and installations.

In Diekirch, various military vehicles were on display in front of the National Museum of Military History (MNHM) as visitors enjoyed food (burgers, fries) prepared by the field kitchen. At the Musée d'Histoire[s] Diekirch (local history museum), the public had the opportunity to discover Korean culture by tasting Korean specialties and trying on traditional costumes, in collaboration with the Maison de la Culture Coréenne. Calligraphy and broken pottery repair workshops were also on the agenda. Diekirch also hosted a children's rally (Quest for the Golden Shell), as well as a concert (8 Strings Duo) at the Vieille Eglise Saint Laurent, featuring Korean haegeum player Soojeong Ko and Munich-born guitarist Georg Unterholzner.

Speaking to Chronicle.lu, Carine Welter, Director of the Musée d'Histoire[s] Diekirch, said: "The Luxembourg Museum Days are always a great event where culture is used as an enabler to bring a multitude of people together; a wonderful fact that we strongly experienced during the whole weekend."

Other local museum activities in the north included the revival of old folk songs (Rural Museum Binsfeld), tours in historic military vehicles (General Patton Memorial Museum, Ettelbruck) and beer brewing and other demonstrations (National Museum of the Art of Brewing, Wiltz). In the south, activities included a conference at the National Museum of Resistance and Human Rights (Esch-sur-Alzette) and a hiking tour of the mine at the National Mining Museum (Rumelange). Visitors to the Tudor Museum in Rosport also had the opportunity to take part in interactive workshops as part of this year's Maker Faire.

The 28th edition of Luxembourg Museum Days has been confirmed for May 2025.

Korean food outside the Musée d'Histoire[s] Diekirch (Credit: Jazmin Campbell / Chronicle.lu)