Croatian Night of Museums Kicks Off

The 10th annual "Night of Museums" in Croatia started on Friday evening in over 200 museums and cultural institutions in 100 towns and cities.

Opening the doors for free to visitors between 6pm and 1am on Saturday has become a popular event on the last Friday in January each year.

By offering free entrance to all visitors, often half-deserted museums become overcrowded with visitors of all ages.

The event was first organised in 2005, with only six museums in Zagreb taking part, attracting 10,000 visitors. Each year, the number of visitors has grown, and last year, 210 museums and cultural institutions took part, attracting 360,000 visitors.

One of the most interesting museums to visit will the Croatian History Museum in Zagreb, with its exhibition "Pictures of the Great War", dedicated to WW1, and including filmed testimonies

The exhibition "Guercino: Lights of Baroque" in Zagreb will hopefully draw many admirers of the Italian baroque painter to the Museum of Arts and Crafts.

This year's theme is "Nikola Tesla - the Universal Mind", dedicated to the famous Croatian-born scientist.

In the Technical Museum, replicas of his known and less known inventions will be on display with scientists carrying out experiments for visitors to see. Other institutions will display Tesla's portraits as well as documents on Tesla that have never been displayed before.