Museum Night in Riga
One Saturday every May, almost every museum in the country throws its doors open for free until midnight.
Quick Answer
Muzeju nakts (Museum Night) is a single Saturday evening in May when museums across Latvia open free of charge until midnight. The 2026 edition falls on 23 May — the 22nd year it has run — with close to 250 participating venues nationwide under the theme “The Adventures of an Object”.
What It Is
Museum Night is a nationwide event, not a Riga-only one, but Riga has the densest concentration of participating venues by a wide margin. Museums, galleries, memorial houses and a number of buildings that are not usually open to the public at all stay open into the night, drop admission charges, and lay on programming built for the evening rather than the standard daytime visit — performances, workshops, guided routes, live music in courtyards.
The 2026 Edition
The 2026 Museum Night falls on Saturday 23 May, the 22nd time the event has run in Latvia. Close to 250 venues across the country are taking part.
Each year carries a theme, and 2026’s is “The Adventures of an Object” — programming built around the stories behind individual objects in the collections rather than the collections as a whole.
How to Actually Do It
The mistake is trying to cover too much. Venues get genuinely busy, queues form at the popular ones, and moving between sites eats the evening. Pick three or four in walking distance of each other, start early rather than at nine, and treat anything beyond that as a bonus. Riga’s centre is compact and flat enough that a cluster around Old Town and the Art Nouveau district is easy to do on foot.
Planning Around It
May is arguably the best month to be in Riga anyway — warm enough for proper sightseeing, long daylight, and still ahead of peak-season pricing, as covered in our month-by-month guide. Because Museum Night runs late, stay central: see our where to stay guide. For the rest of the year’s programme, our events calendar has the full picture, and Baltā Nakts in September is the closest equivalent for contemporary art.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is Museum Night in Riga 2026?
Museum Night 2026 falls on Saturday 23 May. It is held annually on a Saturday evening in May, with venues staying open free of charge until midnight.
Is Museum Night free in Riga?
Yes — free admission is the entire point of the event. Participating museums and galleries drop their entry charges for the evening. Some individual workshops or performances within the programme may still require booking.
How many museums take part in Museum Night?
Close to 250 venues across Latvia take part, with the densest concentration in Riga. The list includes major museums, smaller memorial houses, galleries, and buildings not usually open to the public.
What is the theme of Museum Night 2026?
The 2026 theme is “The Adventures of an Object”, with programming built around the stories behind individual items in museum collections rather than the collections as a whole.
Planning a May trip?
Last updated: August 2026. The date and participating-venue list are confirmed annually by the organisers — check the official Muzeju nakts programme before planning a route.