Pierre Karam, news correspondent

On Saturday, Sept. 22, the Harvard Art Museums took part in Smithsonian Magazine’s annual Museum Day. The entry at Smithsonian museums nationwide was entirely free — all visitors had to do was access their tickets through the Smithsonian website.

“I wish there were more consistent opportunities like this one throughout the year,” expressed Susan Janowski, who was still interested in the event although she had already visited the museum multiple times before.

Located on the Harvard campus, the Harvard Museums are well attended on the weekends with a diverse crowd of students, tourists and residents of all ages. Since the entry is already free for all students and Cambridge residents, the event was more of a symbolic community gathering. The museum’s exhibitions included Time is Now: Photography and Social Change in James Baldwin’s America and Animal-Shaped Vessels from the Ancient World: Feasting with Gods, Heroes, and Kings.

Smithsonian Magazine, which has held this event for several years now, has gathered more than 1,500 institutions across the country from all 50 states for Museum Day. The tickets, distributed in pairs, seem to promote the social aspect of museum visiting.

“Free Museum Day is an incredible initiative that increases accessibility to cultural institutions,” said Susan Janowsky, a recent Tufts University graduate. “It most certainly allows more people, for whom admission cost is usually a barrier, to experiment art.”

On Facebook, more than 800 people showed their interest in the event. For some, like Janowsky, it was simply an occasion to revisit the museums. For others, it was an opportunity to discover new works of art — alone or accompanied.

“Since the Harvard Art Museums reopened in November 2014 after a major renovation and expansion project, we have participated in the annual Smithsonian Museum Day Live event each year,” said Jennifer Aubin, a museum spokesperson told The News in an email. “We have seen an uptick with visitors taking part in the event each year. Visitors are increasingly aware of the event and come prepared with a printed ticket or digital ticket on their mobile device.”

Anastasia Kurmanova, who moved from Russia to Boston with her family two years ago, used to visit museums with her family every week back in Moscow. She thought the event was the perfect occasion to discover this museum. The fact that it was free played a key role in the visit since she. “I knew I would spend one hour the most because I was visiting with three little kids”.

The Harvard Art Museums are the Fogg Museum, the Busch-Reisinger Museum and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, which are all accommodated under the same roof after a renovation. Their private collection includes works by masters such as Monet, Van Gogh and Renoir but does not limit itself to a particular time period.