17th Chemnitz Museum Night:

Around 8,000 visitors enjoyed the 17th Chemnitz Museum Night at 31 locations in almost summer-like temperatures. The three most popular locations this year were the TIETZ, the smac - State Museum of Archaeology and the Chemnitz Industrial Museum. On average, visitors visited three facilities. 3400 children and young people, almost half of the visitors, explored the museums, galleries and facilities accompanied by their families or friends.

5256 visitors streamed through the doors of the TIETZ. For the first time, the cultural institution, which was founded in 2015, presented a cross-house programme that attracted more than 1700 more visitors than in the previous year. "With spectacular performances, the Windriders XXL from the HELMNOT Theatre set the Petrified Forest ablaze in red and gold. During the dance shows, the audience filled the stands with a view of the Petrified Forest right up to the third floor," enthuses project manager Gabriele Martin about the elegant movements of the dancers at the TIETZ.

The little animals from the Insectarium at the Museum für Naturkunde Chemnitz were in the spotlight, posing for many selfies that evening. There were even exclusive insights into the shark exhibition that the museum is currently preparing and will present from 11 June 2016. In the museum education department, children made lots of colourful flower hair clips and sand pictures. The amphibian of the year, the fire salamander, was the favourite souvenir from the Museum of Natural History, brightly painted.

Every seat in the Neue Sächsische Galerie was taken for the performance of "Macki Messer und andere Moritaten". With a quick guide to drawing portraits, visitors could try their hand at drawing in the "Courasche" exhibition. Vis-à-vis, dozens of hand-drawn portraits were created, which went home with visitors to the museum night. The gallery counted more than 2500 visitors at the end of the evening.

Families won lots of prizes at the cultural lottery organised by the contact point for cultural education at KulturRAUM, enabling them to continue exploring Chemnitz's cultural landscape after the Museum Night. The magnet of the International Stefan Heym Society was the exhibition on Stefan Heym's time in the US Army.

Even the cellar of the TIETZ was more popular than ever before. The City Library's magazine whisper attracted a full tour of the library's underground treasure trove every hour on the hour.

3007 visitors gathered their first impressions of the special exhibition "MONEY. The Exhibition", which will open on 27 May 2016. Short lectures and hands-on activities in the former Schocken department stores' centred on prehistoric and archaeological techniques.

Technician Jörg Franz from Dresden answered the call of the Chemnitz Museum Night. He was one of 2816 visitors to the Industrial Museum who marvelled at the steam engine in full action. "The new permanent exhibition is well organised and brings Saxon mechanical engineering up to the present day to life," is how he describes his impression of the museum.

In the city archives, more than 500 visitors got a taste of music and browsed through old sheet music and composers' estates.

More than 500 visitors were drawn from the centre to the outskirts of the city. The first live shave in the Klaffenbach moated castle to excerpts from the opera "The Barber of Seville" was a crowd-puller with around 50 spectators.

On the other side of the city, in the historic classroom of the Ebersdorf School Museum, Dr Sascha Gruner also whisked more than 500 visitors away to "Wonderland Physics". For the first time this year, the engine house express took visitors between signal boxes 3 and 2 to the Eisanbahnmuseum in an authentic setting. Together, the Hilbersdorf sites of the Saxon Railway Museum and the Museum of Technology with the ropeway attracted more than 1600 visitors.

The recently opened special exhibition "Saxony and Bohemia as reflected in art around 1500" attracted 1050 visitors to the Schloßbergmuseum. The story carver turned out to be entertaining not only for the younger audience, but also captivated adults with his anecdotes.

Following the success of the joint guided tours for deaf and hearing people last year, two guided tours took place this year in the city archives and the tram museum.

Katrin Voigt, head of the city's cultural management department, sincerely thanked all the participating institutions, association members, volunteers and employees: "8,000 people in one evening in Chemnitz's museums and galleries is a result we can be proud of. I saw many families and youth groups in the museums. I'm delighted when the Museum Night invites people to meet up with family or friends to go on a discovery tour together in Chemnitz."