International
Museum Day
The International Museum Day is a celebration
that is held each year on or about 18
May. Each year, the Advisory Committee
of the International Council of Museums
(ICOM) defines a specific theme for International
Museum Day.
“
The event provides the opportunity for
museum professionals to meet the public
and alert them to the challenges that
museums face if they are to be — as in
the ICOM definition of museums — 'an institution
in the service of society and of its development'
Events
May 18
332
– Constantine the Great announced free
distributions of food to the citizens
in Constantinople.
1152 – Henry II of England marries Eleanor
of Aquitaine.
1268 – The Principality of Antioch, a
crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan
Baibars in the Battle of Antioch.
1302 – Bruges Matins, the nocturnal massacre
of the French garrison in Bruges by members
of the local Flemish militia.
1498 – Vasco da Gama reaches the port
of Calicut, India.
1499 – Alonso de Ojeda sets sail from
Cadiz on his voyage to what is now Venezuela.
1565 – The Siege of Malta begins, in which
Ottoman forces attempt and fail to conquer
Malta.
1593 – Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations
of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for
Christopher Marlowe.
1631 – In Dorchester, Massachusetts, John
Winthrop takes the oath of office and
becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts.
1652 – Rhode Island passes the first law
in English-speaking North America making
slavery illegal.
1756 – The Seven Years' War begins when
Great Britain declares war on France.
1763 – Fire destroys a large part of Montreal,
Quebec.
1783 – First United Empire Loyalists reach
Parrtown (later called Saint John), New
Brunswick, Canada after leaving the United
States.
1803 – Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom
revokes the Treaty of Amiens and declares
war on France.
1804 – Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed
Emperor of the French by the French Senate.
1811 – Battle of Las Piedras: The first
great military triumph of the revolution
of the Río de la Plata in Uruguay led
by Jose Artigas.
1812 – John Bellingham is found guilty
and sentenced to death by hanging for
the assassination of British Prime Minister
Spencer Perceval.
1843 – The Disruption in Edinburgh of
the Free Church of Scotland from the Church
of Scotland.
1848 – Opening of the first German National
Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt,
Germany.
1860 – Abraham Lincoln wins the Republican
Party presidential nomination over William
H. Seward, who later becomes the United
States Secretary of State.
1863 – American Civil War: The Siege of
Vicksburg begins.
1896 – The United States Supreme Court
rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that the "separate
but equal" doctrine is constitutional.
1896 – Khodynka Tragedy: A mass panic
on Khodynka Field in Moscow during the
festivities of the coronation of Russian
Tsar Nicholas II results in the deaths
of 1,389 people.
1900 – The United Kingdom proclaims a
protectorate over Tonga.
1910 – The Earth passes through the tail
of Comet Halley.
1912 – The first Indian film, Shree Pundalik
by Dadasaheb Torne is released in Mumbai.
1917 – World War I: The Selective Service
Act of 1917 is passed, giving the President
of the United States the power of conscription.
1926 – Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson
disappears while visiting a Venice, California
beach.
1927 – The Bath School Disaster: forty-five
people are killed by bombs planted by
a disgruntled school-board member in Michigan.
1927 – After being founded for 20 years,
the Government of the Republic of China
approves Tongji University to be among
the first national universities of the
Republic of China.
1933 – New Deal: President Franklin D.
Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee
Valley Authority.
1944 – World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino
– Conclusion after seven days of the fourth
battle as German paratroopers evacuate
Monte Cassino.
1944 – Deportation of Crimean Tatars by
the Soviet Union government.
1948 – The First Legislative Yuan of the
Republic of China officially convenes
in Nanking.
1953 – Jackie Cochran becomes the first
woman to break the sound barrier.
1955 – Operation Passage to Freedom, the
evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians,
soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of
the French Army from communist North Vietnam
to South Vietnam following the end of
the First Indochina War, ends.
1956 – First ascent of Lhotse 8,516 meters,
by a Swiss team.
1958 – An F-104 Starfighter sets a world
speed record of 1,404.19 mph (2,259.82
km/h).
1959 – Launch of the National Liberation
Committee of Côte d'Ivoire in Conakry,
Guinea.
1965 – Israeli spy Eli Cohen was hanged
in Damascus, Syria.
1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 10 is launched.
1974 – Nuclear test: under project Smiling
Buddha, India successfully detonates its
first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth
nation to do so.
1974 – Completion of the Warsaw radio
mast, the tallest construction ever built
at the time. It collapsed on August 8,
1991.
1980 – 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens:
Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington,
United States, killing 57 people and causing
$3 billion in damage.
1980 – Gwangju Massacre: students in Gwangju,
South Korea begin demonstrations calling
for democratic reforms.
1983 – In Ireland, the government launches
a crackdown, with the leading Dublin pirate
Radio Nova being put off the air.
1990 – In France, a modified TGV train
achieves a new rail world speed record
of 515.3 km/h (320.2 mph).
1991 – Northern Somalia declares independence
from the rest of Somalia as the Republic
of Somaliland but is not recognized by
the international community.
1993 – EU - riots in Nørrebro, Copenhagen
caused by the approval of the four Danish
exceptions in the Maastricht Treaty referendum.
Police opened fire against civilians for
the first time since World War II and
injured 11 demonstrators. In total 113
bullets are fired.
1995 – Shawn Nelson, 35, goes on a tank
rampage in San Diego.
2005 – A second photo from the Hubble
Space Telescope confirms that Pluto has
two additional moons: Nix and Hydra.
2006 – The post Loktantra Andolan government
passes a landmark bill curtailing the
power of the monarchy and making Nepal
a secular country.
2009 – Sri Lankan Civil War: The LTTE
are defeated by the Sri Lankan government,
ending almost 26 years of fighting between
the two sides.
2012 – Facebook, Inc. began selling stock
to the public and trading on the NASDAQ.
Holidays
and observances
Battle
of Las Piedras Day (Uruguay)
Christian Feast Day:
Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
Eric IX of Sweden
Felix of Cantalice
Pope John I
Venantius of Camerino
May 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Flag and Universities Day (Haiti)
Independence Day (Somaliland (unrecognized))
International Museum Day (International)
Revival, Unity, and Poetry of Magtymguly
Day (Turkmenistan)
World AIDS Vaccine Day (International)
International AIDS Candlelight Memorial
For details, contact Datacentre
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