The Ministry of Culture Announces the “Long Night of Museums” Annual Event Featuring a Special Christmas Program

Santo Domingo, December 10, 2018 – Santo Domingo’s Colonial Zone will once again open its doors to one of the city’s most popular events: “The Long Night of Museums, a Christmas Version.” This year, event organizers will present a special concert in honor of the Merengue, the country’s national dance, titled “The Merengue, Cultural Patrimony of the Americas.”

The event is a gift to all Dominicans, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, and is scheduled to take place on Saturday, December 15, 2018.

The cultural program will open at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, December 15. Guided tours of the Colonial Zone’s museums and cultural centers will begin at this hour, as well as many other cultural events including film showings and art exhibits. The program will conclude at midnight, with a special Merengue concert featuring the popular Dioni Fernández Merengue Band, as well as singers Ileana Reynoso and Eddy Manuel. The event will close with one of the country’s most popular merengue bands, both at home and abroad: the Conjunto Quisqueya.

This innovative and very popular event is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture through the General Directorate of Museums, headed by architect Ana María Conde.

The Ministry announced that all entrances to local museums will be free on Saturday.

The official opening of the event is scheduled for 6:00 p.m., in the Colonial Zone’s Santo Domingo Fortress. Minister of Culture Eduardo Selman, the Vice Minister of Cultural Patrimony, Federico Henríquez Gratereaux, and the head of the Museum Office, Ana María Conde, among other authorities and invited guests are scheduled to attend the opening ceremony.

The Merengue, Cultural Patrimony of the Americas

The Ministry will close the event by celebrating the decision made this year by the Organization of American States (OAS) to declare the Dominican national dance, the merengue, as a cultural patrimony of the Americas.

To celebrate, the Ministry is sponsoring the closing Merengue concert. In 2016 the Dominican national dance was also declared as an Immaterial Cultural Patrimony by UNESCO.
The music of some of the country’s top merengue exponents will be featured.

Singers Eddy Manuel and Ileana Reynoso, accompanied by the orchestra of Dioni Fernández, will also bring their music to the concert.

The popular merengue band El Conjunto Quisqueya, which began in Puerto Rico in the 1970s, will celebrate its 45th anniversary during the event.

Other scheduled events: presentation of the Ministry’s Choir and the National Folkloric Ballet.

The goal of Minister Eduardo Selman is to honor all those who have popularized the Merengue both at home and abroad.

The concert will take place in the Zone’s Spanish Plaza, considered the very heart of the Colonial City.