Over 700 temples and monasteries all over Austria will be opening their doors for the “Long Night of the Churches”, on Friday, June 10th. This year’s offering ranges from themed evening parties about healthy eating in convent cloisters to moments of endless Eucharistic adoration via presentations of films, concerts, meditative and medieval dances and joint readings of great novels. “The Long Night of the Churches” is a project of all Christian confessions, and it is “an ecumenical bet”, as written on the website www.langenachtderkirchen.at. The event will take place in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Estonia and Latvia, all at the same time. The 3 thousand scheduled events have been organised by several thousands of volunteers in the parishes and by the monks and assistants of the monasteries – some enclosed ones too – that will open their doors. Over 300 thousand visitors are expected to arrive, with 150 thousand in Vienna alone. New this year, the bells of the Benedictine monastery of Altenburg will peal out to call the congregation to a thanksgiving celebration before opening its cellars for a tasting of the famous Altenburger Messwein. The Sisters of Mary of Mount Carmel of Linz will unchain songs and dances from 8.00 pm, with the title “I’m dancing, God, in your arms”. In Salzburg, all the old city bells will ring for ten minutes at 05.50 pm.