The Night of the Cultural Institutes, one of the most popular cultural events in Bucharest, reached its 6th edition on 22 June 2012. Since 2007 we have been celebrating at the end of June the cultural institutes in Bucharest that decide to leave their doors wide open and invite the culture-loving audience to a sleepless night, full of carefully planned events and surprises. Starting with 2009, the Night of the Cultural Institutes is organised under the aegis of EUNIC.

This year we invited you to participate in a day of movement and sport, our inspiration stemming from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The event kicked off with a workshop about what it means being a sports journalist and the surprises continued all day long with a boardgames olympics, a cultural triathlon at our library, @British, a cricket game, a demonstrative table tennis game, an Olympic games competition on the Xbox, Street Dance demonstrations offered by Escape Crew and many more.

			11.00-21.00		Promotion @British (@British library) A sound mind in a healthy body: we offered one week of free access at one of the WorldClass clubs in Bucharest to the ones that purchased a library subscription during the event. If they liked it, they could continue to be a member, because they also received 25-40% off the individual subscriptions at the WorldClass centres.
			11.00-12.30		Passionate about sports journalism? (The City - Cardiff room) Razvan Spiridon talked about the peculiarities of sports journalism and about the relationship between sport stars and journalists.
			16.00-22.00		Boardgames Olympics (@British library) We tested your attention to details, your knowledge and your strategic abilities in the four rounds of the competition - the winners were rewarded with themed prizes.
			16.00-20.00		First aid presentation (British Council courtyard) You could find out more about giving first aid.
			18.00-21.00		Are you fit to be an athlete? (British Council courtyard) The specialists from WorldClass told you what sport is the best fit for you and what the life regime and the fitness condition of top athletes is.
			19.00-22.00		Cricket (British Council courtyard) Presentation of the game, of the special equipment and demo lessons.
			19.00-20.00		Table tennis in wheelchairs with members of the fondation Motivation Romania (British Council courtyard) The demonstrative match was offered by members of the Motivation Romania foundation, that assist children and adults with disabillities in Romania. You had the opportunity to meet one of the paralympic champions in this sport.
			21.00-23.00		@British Triathlon (@British library) Instead of swimming, cycling and running, we challenged you to three very competitive original and cultural tasks.
			21.00-24.00		Olympic Games on the Xbox 360 console (Campus - Manchester room) A captivating competition, that wheted your appetite for the Summer Olympics in London!
			21.00 - 22.00		I run, therefore I exist! (Campus building - Newcastle room) Ro Club Maraton talked about the benefits of sports and of running in particular. If you are thinking about joining a marathon in the future, don't miss out on the next meeting with Ro Club Maraton!
			21.15-22.15		Street Dance (British Council courtyard) Street Dance demonstration offered by Escape Crew.
			21.30-22.30		Demonstraive debate match (The city - Glasgow room) A competition of ideas organized by our partners, ARDOR Muntenia, held by champions of international debate contests. The theme of the debate: sports, of course!
			21.30-22.30		Ready, set, GO! (Campus - Winchester room) A game of the mind can be as challenging as an olympic competition, therefore we invited you to find out more about the game GO. Right now, Romanian players are among the best in Europe!
			22.00-01.00		Film screenings (The City - Belfast and Cardiff rooms and @British library) Film screenings about sports and London, from the British Council collection, produced between 1940 and 1950. THE GREAT GAME - directed by Reg Groves, 1945, 29 min. CRICKET - directed by Grahame Tharp, 1950, 18 min. GOING FOR GREEN – Britain’s 2012 Dream, 48 min. GAME CHANGER: Britain Prepares, 10 min. TORCH RELAY, 3 min. & GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH, 2 min. SAINT PAUL’S CATHEDRAL - directed by James E. Rogers, 1942, 15 min. LONDON RIVER - directed by Andrew Buchanan, 1940, 11 min. WESTMINSTER’S ABBEY - directed by Horace Shepherd, 1945, 20 min. GARDENS OF ENGLAND - directed by Michael Hankinson, 1941, 10 min. PICCADILLY ROUNDABOUT - directed by Richard Massingham, 1943, 11 min. THE GREEN GIRDLE - directed by Ralph Keene, 1941, 10 min.

Find out the complete schedule of all the cultural centres on the ICR website!

In order for it to be easier to move between the centres where the event is held, culture enthusiasts were able to move around with a special RATB line.  

This year, the Night of the Cultural Centres was organised in 14 centres and cultural institutes which are members of EUNIC: British Council, Czech Centre, Balassi Institute – The Hungarian Cultural Centre, Wallonie-Bruxelles Delegation, The Austrian Cultural Forum, Camões Institute/The Embassy of Portugal, Cervantes Institute, The Romanian Cultural Institute, Goethe Institute, French Institute, "Vito Grasso" Italian Institute, Polish Institute, The Ucranian cultural and Information Centre and "Yunus Emre" Turkish Cultural Centre.