Social:Heritage Open Days

Heritage Open Days (also known as HODs) is an annual celebration of England's architecture and culture that allows visitors free access to historical landmarks that are either not usually open to the public, would normally charge an entrance fee, or that are always free to visitors and always open to the public. It also includes tours, events and activities related to architecture and culture.

Heritage Open Days is England's largest festival of history and culture, bringing together over 2,500 organisations, 5,000 events and 40,000 volunteers. Heritage Open Days 2018 ran from 6-9 and 13-16 September.

Heritage Open Days were established in 1994 as England's contribution to European Heritage Days, in which 49 countries now participate.

Organised by volunteers (often property owners or managers), Heritage Open Days is one of England's biggest voluntary cultural events, attracting some 800,000 people every year. Until April 2009 the Civic Trust gave central co-ordination and a national voice to the event.

London stages a separate event, Open House London, which usually takes place the following weekend, the third weekend of September.

Heritage Open Days in 2018

The 2018 festival took place across two weekends in September 2018 for the first time.

In 2018, Heritage Open Days celebrated ‘Extraordinary Women’, in order to profile underrepresented women, through non zero one's put her forward initiative. The project is funded by People's Postcode Lottery.

See also

• European Heritage Days
• Heritage Week in Ireland
• Visit My Mosque

External links

• Heritage Open Days website
• London Open House website