On May 18, millions of people around the world will have free access to museums or participate in special activities, celebrating International Museum Day (IMD). Organized by the International Council of Museums (ICOM), this year's event coincides with the entity's 80th anniversary and adopts the motto 'Museums uniting a divided world' — a call for unity in times of geopolitical, cultural, and social polarization.
The history of IMD dates back to the post-World War II period. In 1946, ICOM was founded under the auspices of UNESCO with the aim of protecting heritage and fostering international cooperation. In 1951, the Crusade for Museums centered the debate on 'Museums and Education,' laying the groundwork for conceiving them as institutions accessible to the public. The formal proposal for an international day was approved at the ICOM General Assembly in Moscow in 1977, setting May 18 as the symbolic date. The first edition took place in 1978, and since then, the event has grown to bring together more than 40,000 institutions in over 150 countries.
From the mouseion of Alexandria to the cabinets of curiosities of the Renaissance, the museum has evolved from an elitist and encyclopedic space to a place of transformation. The great turning point came with the Enlightenment and the French Revolution: in 1793, the Louvre opened its doors as a national museum, symbolizing the transition from royal heritage to that of the people. In the 19th and 20th centuries, museums consolidated as solemn 'temples' of knowledge, with permanent collections and a predominantly conservative and educational function. In recent decades, however, the museum has profoundly transformed, becoming a dynamic, inclusive, and participatory space, with an emphasis on immersive experience, digitalization, sustainability, and especially inclusion, diversity, and decolonization.
Researcher María Victoria Guzmán, in her essay 'Decolonizing the museum: a necessary utopia,' argues that museums are not neutral. Although they present themselves as temples of objective knowledge, they reproduce coloniality — the structural persistence of colonialism that shapes ways of thinking, classifying, and valuing. Decolonizing them requires, according to Guzmán, moving from a single and universal truth, usually of European origin, to a plurality of truths and knowledges; transforming the museum into a space of experimentation, play, and constant questioning; and sharing power and authority with communities, replacing hierarchical relationships with models of reciprocity, care, and trust. For the author, decolonizing is a necessary utopia: unattainable in its entirety, but essential as a horizon that drives continuous transformations.
In Paraguay, the annual initiative 'Los museos se muestran,' organized by Noche de los Museos, is one of the local responses to IMD. This year, it will bring together nearly 40 institutions at the Cultural Center of the Port of Asunción, under the concept of the port 'as a meeting point.' The idea is not only to display pieces but to generate conversations and reflections on the role of the museum. The global motto 'Museums uniting a divided world' resonates deeply in a present where some of these institutions are destroyed by military attacks and many others see their heritage threatened.