International Museum Day May 18, 2026

You walk into a museum, and suddenly time shifts. A fossil hints at life millions of years ago. A gemstone reflects geological change you can"t see. That sense of connection is exactly what International Museum Day, created in 1977 by the International Council of Museums, aims to celebrate.

© Colm Keating/Tandem Stills + Motion

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Today in History

Sunlight turning silver to gold
This museum sets the prairie on fire
May 18, 2024International Museum Day
May 18, 2025International Museum Day

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Nov. 25, 2025Trevi Fountain, Rome, Italy
Apr. 19, 2025Zion National Park, Utah, United States
Dec. 19, 2025Bormio, Lombardy, Italy
A shiver of sharks on the hunt
Jun. 17, 2024Pollinator Week
Dec. 18, 2024English National Ballet performing The Nutcracker
May 4, 2025Star Wars Day
May 8, 2024Marseille welcomes to Olympic torch
Dec. 15, 2023SantaPark, Lapland, Finland
Aug. 28, 2024Paralympic Games begin in Paris
Jul. 24, 2025Happy Cousins Day!
Apr. 1, 2025National Frog Month
Mar. 24, 2025African elephants in Namibia
A scented sea of purple
Oct. 6, 2023Taughannock Falls State Park, New York
Dec. 27, 2025Plate ice along Lake Superior, Grand Marais, Minnesota, United States
A light in the coastal darkness
Oct. 29, 2024Great horned owl
Hovering over harmonious horticulture
Jul. 11, 2024World Population Day
Nov. 15, 2024Yi Peng lantern festival, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Locals know this place simply as ‘the Met’
Jul. 2, 2024Italica, an old Roman city in Santiponce, Andalusia, Spain
May 3, 2024The Sonoran Desert, Arizona, USA
Dec. 3, 2024Amber Fort, Amer, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
When landscape met wilderness
Feb. 11, 2025Yungang Grottoes, Datong, China
Feb. 29, 2024Leap Day
Jan. 22, 2024Walton Lighthouse, Santa Cruz, California, USA
History awaits atop the hill