Crowds wait in lines stretching over 200 meters to participate in Night of Museums

On the night of May 18-19, Krakow held its Night of the Museums festivities for the fourth year running. The event was a tremendous success, with over 30 museums participating, and long lines of anxious visitors. 

People stood in long lines for hours-on-end to see the exhibitions. The rest of Poland opened their museums to the public for the event the following night on May 19-20. Entrance to the museums was a symbolic 1 zloty.

?Krakow was the first city in Poland to launch the museum night festivities in 2004. We gave a good signal to other cities in Poland,? says Marcin Helbin, a publicist for Krakow?s mayor. ?It was a joint idea of local city hall represetatives and Zofia Gołubiew, chief of the National Museum in Krakow.?

This year, Wawel Castle and Barbican were opened to visitors for the first time. As a result, they attracted many visitors.

The castle, which served as a home to many Polish kings, welcomed school groups, families and tourists, who stood in a 200-meter-long line before the entrance at daybreak.

Accordring to Anna Surma from the Historical Museum of Krakow, 7,170 people visited the Barbican on the Night of the Museums.

The Old Synagogue saw a total of 1,696 visitors.
For latecomers on Saturday evening, Stary Theater left open an exhibition entitled, ?Factory,? to exemplify Andy?s Warhol famous studio in New York, NY.
The exhibition served as a preface to a play inspired by the life of Andy Warhol and directed by Krystian Lupa, which will open on May 27.