Reykjavík’s Menningarnótt is coming: this year the appointment is for the 20th of August. The first edition of this one-day festival dates back to 1996. This is the 16th year that Iceland’s capital is celebrating its Culture Night and the agenda is as usual very rich, counting over 100 different events for just a single day! Admission to most events is free.
The Culture Night is held every year around Reykjavík downtown area. The whole center of Iceland’s capital turns into a festive carnival, with concerts, exhibitions, workshops and other public happenings taking place from morning till after midnight. The climax is reached with the fireworks display at the harbor at 23:00. Icelanders love the Menningarnótt and in fact public attendance is always very high. For this reason, be sure to take a look at the program, because most venues will be properly packed. If you don’t mind crowds, it’s also nice to just wander around downtown and stop here and there without previous planning. In cases like this, I personally rarely look at the program (too many things make me dizzy and I cannot choose) and I prefer to go where my legs take me to do some random exploration.
The brochure in English for Culture Night 2011 is available here. If you want to know more about Culture Night, please visit the official site. For the tech-savvies out there, Android and iPhone versions of the program are also available through the happening.is app.