On 18 May 2026, museums around the world come together to celebrate International Museum Day under the theme “Museums Uniting a Divided World”.
This year’s theme highlights the powerful role museums play as bridges across cultural, social, and geopolitical divides, fostering dialogue, understanding, inclusion, and peace within and between communities worldwide. As trusted public spaces and places of learning, museums contribute to peaceful coexistence and mutual respect. In times marked by social fragmentation, polarisation, and unequal access to knowledge and culture, museums help rebuild connections across generations, communities, and borders. They create environments where stories, objects, and people come together, offering opportunities for reflection, exchange, and shared understanding.
The theme “Museums Uniting a Divided World” underscores the potential of museums to nurture respectful dialogue without erasing differences. By safeguarding heritage and memory, providing spaces for learning and reflection, and amplifying diverse voices, museums help societies engage with complexity constructively. Open and accessible to all, museums foster diversity, sustainability, and social cohesion.
For 2026, the theme will also guide the celebrations of the 80th ICOM Anniversary throughout the year, reaffirming the organisation’s longstanding commitment to strengthening the global museum community and advancing its social role.
Since 2020, International Museum Day has aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), promoting a set of goals every year. IMD 2026 supports the following:
- SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities – Reducing inequality within and among countries
- SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions – Promoting just, peaceful and inclusive societies
- SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals – Revitalising global partnerships for sustainable development
ICOM invites members of the international museum community to participate in International Museum Day 2026 by translating the theme into meaningful local action. Museums are encouraged to develop participatory programming, build new partnerships, and create accessible experiences that strengthen belonging and trust within their communities.
Together, on 18 May 2026, museums worldwide will demonstrate their collective commitment to unity, dialogue, and peace.
The IMD Visual Communication materials will be released this March through newsletters, social media, and here at icom.museum.
About International Museum Day
Each year since 1977, ICOM has organised International Museum Day, which represents a unique moment for the international museum community.
The objective of International Museum Day (IMD) is to raise awareness about the fact that “Museums are an important means of cultural exchange, enrichment of cultures and development of mutual understanding, cooperation and peace among peoples.”
Organised on 18 May each year or around this date, the events and activities planned to celebrate International Museum Day can last a day, a weekend, or an entire week. All around the world, more and more museums participate in International Museum Day.