The Nuit des Musées 2026 is a chance for the museums and the monuments to shine a light on their collections and present their riches from a fresh angle. And for visitors, it’s a chance to have fun and explore these magical venues without spending a penny! A real deal worth enjoying this year on Saturday, May 23, 2026.
For this new edition, we're off to visit the Musée Guimet. It houses one of the world's richest collections of Asian art. Magnificently renovated, the museum takes visitors on an initiatory journey to Asia, to discover its thousand-year-old collections from India to Japan, via China and South-East Asia, not forgetting the textile and photographic collections, as well as contemporary art.
The Musée des arts asiatiques - Guimet, an exotic spot in Paris
We take you on a (re)discovery of the Musée Guimet, dedicated to Asian arts. On the program: an exotic tour of historical treasures in splendid surroundings. [Read more]
Among the capital's little secrets, the Musée d'Ennery is sure to delight lovers of Asian art. Nestled just off the world's most beautiful avenue, this museum, hidden away in a private mansion, takes us on a veritable journey back in time! [Read more]
Founded by Émile Guimet in 1889, the Musée National des Arts Asiatiques Guimet presents 5,000 years of Asian art history in 5,500 m² of permanent galleries. The museum is housed in three sites: the main building on Place Iéna, the Hôtel d'Heidelbach and the Musée d'Ennery.
For this Night of Museums, the Guimet Museum shifts into Korean time, inviting you to explore the exhibition Silla: Gold and Sacred Royal Treasures of Korea (57 BCE–935).
From the mythical origins of Silla, told by medieval Korean chronicles, to the kingdom’s fall, the show unfolds in five thematic sections that trace the history, artistic expressions, and memory of a state that was both powerful and deeply rooted in spiritual traditions.
It offers a refreshed view of this civilization, revealing how political, religious, and aesthetic currents intertwined to shape a heritage that still speaks to us today.
For this Night of Museums, the Guimet Museum shifts into Korean time and invites you to discover the exhibition K-Beauty. Beauté coréenne, histoire d’un phénomène.
A major cultural powerhouse, Korea now shapes trends and inspires a global generation. At the crest of this wave, K-Beauty champions a holistic approach to beauty and forges a genuine aesthetic standard.
Between historic masterpieces and contemporary imagery, the exhibition revisits the aesthetic codes that have spanned centuries to become a global benchmark, blending tradition and modernity.
For this Night of Museums, the Guimet Museum goes Korean, offering an evening that delves into Korean rites and beliefs.
For the occasion, we also invite you to rediscover the Guimet House (the Hôtel d'Heidelbach), its outstanding ensembles of Chinese ceremonial furniture, and its collections on tea culture in Asia.
The entire museum (permanent collections, the K-Beauty. Korean Beauty exhibition, the history of a phenomenon, and Silla: Gold and Sacred, the rooftop) and Maison Guimet will be free to explore until midnight (last entry at 11:30 p.m.).
With the Baru Company
Khmer Courtyard
Duration: three 20-minute performances
The Korean ensemble Baru invites audiences to a sensitive immersion into the founding beliefs of the country, blending shamanism and Buddhism to celebrate the eternal Birth and Enlightenment of the Buddha.
Performed inside the museum’s Khmer Courtyard, the works fuse memory, spirituality, and humanity, aiming to embrace the world’s suffering through art and to soothe it with a warm, collective energy. Monk Subeom will recite the associated sutras, giving life to the famous monk-dance. He will be joined by two dancers-singers rooted in the shamanic tradition, Pak Kee-ryang and Hong Hyo-jin, as well as by musician Jeong Yeon-rak. Yeon-rak is also the designer of exquisite traditional Korean paper lamps that will envelop the performance in a poetic, mysterious atmosphere.
The Baru Company
The Monk: Monk Subeom (Kwon Li-hwan), leader of Baru, holder of Yeongsanjae, Korea’s Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The shamans: Pak Kee-ryang, a dancer at the National Gugak Center in Jindo and holder of a PhD in Cultural Content from Korea University; Hong Hyo-jin, custodian of the Byeolsin ritual from the east coast, Korea’s Intangible Cultural Heritage, doctoral candidate in Korean Music at Dongguk University.
Cut-paper artworks: Jeong Yeon-rak, bearer of the Byeolsin ritual transmission from the eastern coast (Donghaean Byeolsingut), Korea’s Intangible Cultural Heritage, PhD in Cultural Content from Korea University.
In partnership with the K-vox Association and the Korean Cultural Center in Paris.
Interview with Hervé Péjaudier
Auditorium Jean-François Jarrige
Reservation recommended at guimet.fr
Drawing on the life story of Kim Keum-hwa, Sharing Happiness, Untying Resentment, Hervé Péjaudier highlights the vitality of contemporary Korean shamanism. He traces the extraordinary path of this pivotal figure (1931-2019), who rose from a fortune-teller to a renowned mudang known for her spectacular rituals. Named a Living National Treasure in 1984, Kim Keum-hwa played a crucial role in preserving and transmitting Korean shamanic traditions. She brought them to Western audiences while remaining deeply rooted in her local practice and community.
During the event, the exceptional documentary by anthropologist Alexandre Guillemoz will be screened, depicting a private ritual of the shaman Puchae in Seoul in the 1980s.
Author of a thesis on KIM Keum-hwa, Hervé Péjaudier is co-translator with Han Yumi, a professor at Shinhan University, of the life story of the famous “Shaman of the Ten Thousand Spirits.”
A book signing session will follow the event for the works Sharing Happiness, Untying Resentment, the Life of Manshin, the Shaman of the Ten Thousand Spirits by KIM Keum-hwa (translated by Han Yumi and Hervé Péjaudier, Imago Editions, 2015) and The Shaman with the Fan, the Life Story of a Korean Mudang by Alexandre Guillemoz (Imago Editions, 2010).
Le programme est mis à jour en fonction des annonces officielles.
Dates and Opening Time
On May 23, 2026
Location
Musée National des Arts Asiatiques Guimet
6, place d´ Iéna - 19, avenue d´ Iéna
75116 Paris 16
Access
Metro line 9 "Iéna" station
Prices
Free
Recommended age
For all
Official website
www.guimet.fr
More information
Free, no reservation required, subject to availability
The Musée des arts asiatiques - Guimet, an exotic spot in Paris
The Musée d'Ennery, an incredible secret location a stone's throw from the Arc de Triomphe in Paris
