According to an initial projection, a total of 37 museums, institutions and galleries counted 23,750 guests of all ages at the Chemnitz Museum Night on 9 May. A total of 5,532 tickets, including family tickets for up to six people, were sold. This means that each visitor visited an average of three to four institutions on this year's Museum Night.
Under the title "Tacheles!" - in keeping with the Year of Jewish Culture in Saxony - more than 270 different programme items invited visitors to discover the museum landscape in Chemnitz and the ZeitWerkStadt adventure museum in Frankenberg. The doors opened there at 10 a.m. and a varied special programme was offered on the main theme.
While there was the shark nursery and the insectarium to discover in the Museum of Natural History, visitors to the city library were able to take a look into its treasure trove, the cellar magazine. In the Stasi Records Archive, all tours and the film screening were fully booked, while music students performed hourly candlelight concerts in the Industrial Museum. The behind-the-scenes look at the restoration workshop in the art collections on Theaterplatz and the guided tours of the former Benedictine monastery in the Schloßbergmuseum were also very popular. In the German Games Museum, visitors played and tinkered enthusiastically. At the Chemnitz-Hilbersdorf railway museum, guests were able to take a ride on the "Alma" rail bus across the site.
A new addition to the programme was the Documentation Centre on the NSU complex, where many visitors gathered information on the topic and paused to commemorate the victims of right-wing and racist violence. In addition to the special exhibition "Threads" about Jewish families in Chemnitz, the smac - Staatliches Museum für Archäologie Chemnitz (Chemnitz State Museum of Archaeology) also offered in-depth insights into the specialised knowledge of its employees and their playlists.
Once again, the offer of easy access to all facilities by public transport was well received. Five express shuttle tours met at fixed times at the central departure point on Brückenstraße, making it easy to change buses. The Museum Night ticket was also valid as a ticket for all public transport in the VMS network area.
Behind the scenes, more than 1,000 dedicated people ensured that visitors were surprised, informed and entertained well into the night.
The next Museum Night will take place on 22 May 2027.
Museum Night 2026 in Chemnitz and Frankenberg was supported by Sparkasse Chemnitz, eins energie in sachsen GmbH & Co KG, LICHTBLICKE - Gesellschaft für visuelle Werbung, CVAG, VMS and Städtische Theatern Chemnitz.