Museum night in Chemnitz and the cultural region hosted its anniversary edition on 4 May

On Saturday, 4 May 2024, 37 museums, collections and institutions in Chemnitz and the cultural region as well as twelve galleries invited guests to the anniversary edition of Chemnitz Museum Night. Guests could once again look forward to a varied programme of more than 350 events in Chemnitz and the cultural region, exciting encounters and numerous anniversaries.

For a quarter of a century, the Museum Night has been surprising visitors with a varied programme of events and has long been an integral part of our city's cultural life. Under the motto "From sunset to moonset", the German SPIELEmuseum, the Ebersdorf School Museum, the Industrial Museum, the Chemnitz Art Collections, the Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Saxon Vehicles Chemnitz and the Chemnitz Museum of Art all invited visitors for the first time in 2000.r sächsische Fahrzeuge Chemnitz in Wasserschloß Klaffenbach, the Neue Sächsische Galerie, the Sächsische Eisenbahnmuseum Chemnitz-Hilbersdorf and the Schloßbergmuseum invited visitors on a night-time discovery tour. Since then, the event format has continued to develop. Over 100 museums, galleries, institutions and other venues have taken part in the Museum Night over the past 25 years. More than 205,000 guests have visited the event format to date. With around 50 venues, this year's edition was the most extensive and, in conjunction with the cultural region, the most visited Museum Night ever.

The programme of the 23rd Chemnitz Museum Night was opened in front of the Tietz by Mayor Dagmar Ruscheinsky, Professor Reinhard Erfurth and Dr Thorid Zierold, Deputy Head of the City of Chemnitz Cultural Department. The opening event was artistically framed by the Chemnitz band "Foreghost" as well as the young dancers of the "Room - Hip Hop Spot" and break dancers of the "Soul Expression" team. Various ensembles from the Chemnitz Municipal Music School then opened the international and local music programme on the forecourt and ground floor of Tietz with a concert in the atrium. The finale of the evening was a performance by the internationally renowned artist Gudrun Gut.

The local museum landscape presents itself year after year with a varied and always surprising programme. This year, programmes for people with sensory impairments and multilingual offerings were expanded. For example, a tactile tour of the newly opened Hartmann Factory was organised. In perfect museum night weather, guests took the opportunity to explore the future visitor and information centre of Kulturhauptstadt Chemnitz 2025 gGmbH in amazement and to find out about the projects planned for the Capital of Culture year in the hall. The guided tours, also in sign language, were very well attended. Volunteers were also deployed to support the event for the first time.

For the first time since its opening as a museum facility in October 2023, the Kaßberg Prison Learning and Memorial Site strengthened the main programme for the Museum Night. Numerous contemporary witnesses were present in person to talk to the guests and report on their imprisonment fates. Contemporary witness Michael Schlosser showed a replica of an aeroplane that he had developed for his planned escape from the GDR.

There was even more to celebrate on 4 May. True to the motto "Let's celebrate!", other anniversaries were celebrated in the participating institutions, such as 10 years of smac - State Museum of Archaeology Chemnitz, 20 years of DAStietz cultural department stores', 35 years of the "Peaceful Revolution", 50 years of the "Fritz Heckert" residential area, 111 years of Tietz and 700 years of the village of Ebersdorf. Church and village views from private collections were shown to the public for the first time in the Ebersdorf school museum to mark the town's anniversary. The young guests were also able to draw their own picture of the town hall in Ebersdorf.

For the first time, the museum night was held in the "Fritz Heckert" residential area. To this end, a thematic arc was spanned beyond the boundaries of the residential area and, in cooperation with the Saxon State Archives - Chemnitz State Archives, the most important aspects of urban and industrial development from the second half of the 20th century to the present day were highlighted. As early as 4 p.m. for the ceremonial start of the special programme in the Vita-Center Chemnitz, around 70 interested people were present to find out about the history of the residential area, search for "their block" on the aerial photographs or take a tour of their own living room in the 1980s. GDR vehicle history is also on display in the exhibition, which will be on show until the festival weekend on 17 and 18 August 2024.

The Deutsches SPIELEmuseum set a new visitor record with 1,531 guests. "In keeping with the motto "Let's celebrate!", guests were able to play games that will be celebrating anniversaries in 2024 - 10, 20, 25, 30, 50 and 110 years. We also presented rarities, such as the first edition of "Mensch ärgere Dich nicht" from 1914 in an elegant gold edition with wooden figures and gold-coloured dice," says board member Dr Eberhard Neumann. The Chemnitz Art Collections, the Chemnitz Industrial Museum, the Chemnitz State Archives, the Red Tower, the Tietz and the Klaffenbach moated castle recorded an increase in visitors compared to the previous year.

With the Chemnitz School Planetarium, the Chemnitz Municipal Theatres and the WELTECHO, selected institutions from previous editions were represented. Just like 25 years ago, many people interested in astronomy waited patiently for the shows at the school planetarium and were enthusiastically taken on a journey into space with Captain Schnuppe, for example. The various stages and individual areas could be viewed in the Spinnbau of the municipal theatres. The guided tours were fully booked, in which short scenes from current plays were presented late into the night. Other exciting surprises awaited the guests: the magazines could be visited, the costume design department, even the actors' dressing rooms were open for exclusive visits.

Anticipation for the Capital of Culture year 2025 was not only sparked in the Hartmannfabrik: In the midst of historic and iconic vintage cars, motorbikes, mopeds, racing bikes and bicycles, the Museum of Saxon Vehicles Chemnitz, together with the Saxon Mozart Society e. V., invited visitors to "Tango Amoratado" with bandoneonist Jürgen Karthe and pianist Fabian Klentzke.

For the third time, the integration of the cultural region into the Museum Night offered a wonderful opportunity to experience Chemnitz and the surrounding area as a cultural heavyweight and to be surprised by the beauty and diversity of Central Saxony. For the first time, the Museum Night in the cultural region began during the day. At the Esche Museum in Limbach-Oberfrohna and the Textile and Racing Museum in Hohenstein-Ernstthal, guests were able to learn more about the industrial history of Central Saxony, which is characterised by the textile industry and automobile production. Bernd Riedel explained the production of textiles such as stockings and underwear to visitors to the Esche Museum using the circular knitting machines. Along the C15 city railway line, the partner municipalities of Niederwiesa with Braunsdorf, Frankenberg and Hainichen invited visitors on a tour of discovery, combining industry and cultural history, landscapes, sport, art and creative ideas in an exciting way. Almost 1,600 guests travelled through the Chemnitz region, many of them from outside the city. The stream of visitors to the five museums never stopped.

The youngest guests were once again able to embark on an exciting journey through time and discovery through the cosmos of Central Saxony's museum treasures with various hands-on activities. A children's game exchange, painting and craft activities, discovery tours and family tours invited visitors to explore and get creative - and made the Museum Night a special experience for the whole family.

The museums could be explored well into the night and the evening ended with dancing not only in front of the Tietz, but also at the Museum of Saxon Vehicles and, for the night owls, at WELTECHO.

A digital Museum Night ticket was offered for the first time together with partner Städtische Theater Chemnitz gGmbH. Almost 1,000 tickets were sold online. In addition, around 3,500 people used the Museum Night event app to find out about the programme and 150 visitors were able to book some of the Museum Night 2024 programme offers in advance. The response to the new features was overwhelming. It was also clear to see that many young families put together their tour at short notice via the app, sometimes even before the official start of the Museum Night.

Looking forward to the Capital of Culture year 2025 in Chemnitz and the region, Dr Zierold sums up: "25 years of Museum Night in Chemnitz - and there is always something special! Numerous guests took advantage of this year's ticket renewal and travelled to the cultural region from 9 a.m. on the VMS network. Back in Chemnitz, they took the Museum Night shuttle to visit further highlights of the extensive programme. For us, this year's Museum Night was a dress rehearsal for next year! We have uncovered further development potential that needs to be considered in 2025. By taking part in the survey, you can help us to make Chemnitz Museum Night even more attractive." Participants have until 31 May to help us develop the Museum Night format in a contemporary and attractive way. Interested parties can take part in the survey at www.mitdenken.sachsen.de/1038800.

Impressed by the overwhelming response, we would like to thank all those involved who made the anniversary edition of Chemnitz Museum Night possible in the first place with their great, often voluntary commitment, and of course the numerous guests who embarked on a journey through the city and region, according to the project manager of the Museum Night, Ms Anna Schinzel from Kulturbetrieb. Special thanks go to the sponsors of the Museum Night: Sparkasse Chemnitz, eins energie in sachsen and LICHTBLICKE - Gesellschaft für visuelle Werbung. Chemnitzer Verkehrs-AG, Verkehrsverbund Mittelsachsen, Städtische Theater Chemnitz gGmbH and Kulturhauptstadt Europas Chemnitz 2025 gGmbH supported the event as partners.

The next Museum Night will take place in the Capital of Culture year on 10 May 2025.