Fez — “La Nuit des Musées et des Espaces Culturels” will return on June 23 for its fifth edition, opening museums, galleries, and cultural venues across Morocco free of charge from 5 p.m. to midnight.
This year’s edition is dedicated to photography, in a symbolic nod to the bicentenary of the invention of the medium. It will also coincide with the inauguration of the Casablanca Museum of Photography and Visual Arts, which is set to open the same day in the city’s old medina.
A national night for culture
The event has become one of Morocco’s most accessible cultural gatherings, designed to bring the public closer to museums and heritage spaces outside ordinary visiting hours.
The format is simple: doors open late, entry is free, and visitors can move through exhibitions, collections, galleries, and cultural programs in a more relaxed nighttime setting.
Previous editions have included museums and spaces across several Moroccan cities, with programming built around exhibitions, guided visits, workshops, performances, screenings, and other cultural activities.
Photography at the center
The choice of photography as this year’s theme gives the edition a stronger curatorial focus. Photography sits between documentation and art, memory and invention, making it a natural bridge between Morocco’s heritage collections and contemporary visual creation.
The timing is also significant for Casablanca. The new photography and visual arts museum is located near La Sqala, inside the old medina, in a building designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando. The space was developed on the site of the former Foundouk Lebbadi, a 19th-century caravanserai linked to the city’s commercial past.
Its opening adds weight to this year’s “Night of Museums,” turning the national event into a launch moment for one of Casablanca’s most anticipated cultural spaces.
Access beyond museum walls
The event is organized by the National Museums Foundation, in partnership with the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication and the Majorelle Garden Foundation.
Beyond the program itself, the night carries a larger message about access. By removing ticket barriers for several hours, the initiative invites families, students, young people, and casual visitors to enter spaces they may not usually visit.
The fifth edition places that invitation inside a wider conversation about image, memory, and public culture. For one night, Morocco’s museums will not only preserve heritage; they will ask more people to walk in, look closely, and see themselves as part of it.
