14 May

14 May 1997, Berlin: a dozen of museums decided for the first time to remain open all night and provide free access to everyone. Since then, little by little, the initiative spread throughout all Europe, and today more than 120 cities in all Europe participate to this cultural initiative. 14 May is today the European ‘Museums Night’.

14 May 2011, Rome: we took advantage of the event and decided to visit the World Press Photo Contest exhibition, temporarily displayed at the Trastevere Museum. The Contest brings together pictures from all parts of the globe, providing an overview of how press photographers tackle their work worldwide and reflecting recent trends and developments in photo-journalism. Even if you are not familiar with the World Press Photo Contest, I am sure you have seen somewhere the World Press Photo of the Year: the portrait of Bibi Aisha, the young Afghan woman to whom Talibans cut her nose off.

We enjoyed the exhibition, and recommend it - have a look at whether it will pass by your city in the next months*.

We have selected our favourite pictures. But before disclosing them, we invite you to have a look at these sites** and to tell us which are the pictures that you liked more…

(*) Have a look at where the exhibition will be displayed in the next months here.

(**) http://www.worldpressphoto.org/index.php?option=com_photogallery&task=blogsection&id=21&Itemid=292&bandwidth=high; and http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/02/world-press-photo-contest-2011/100008/