Open Monument Day 2025

On Sunday, 14 September at 10 a.m., numerous events will begin at various monuments for this year's Open Monument Day in Chemnitz, organised by the respective monument owners, associations, architects and employees of the City of Chemnitz's monument protection authority.

This year, the 32nd nationwide Open Monument Day is being organised under the title "Valuable: priceless or irreplaceable?". Cultural monuments are given protected status because they speak a special architectural language, have historical significance or are of particular public interest. On this day, the value of the monument is presented and made visible to the public.

In Saxony, the official opening of the Open Monument Day will take place this year in Chemnitz with a festive event organised by the Saxon State Ministry for Infrastructure and Regional Development in the former Chemnitz tulle factory for invited guests.

Kick-off event in Chemnitz

The Chemnitz Viaduct Festival will take place at the railway viaduct, Annaberger Straße/Beckerstraße, on Saturday 13 September from 3 to 9 pm. In addition to an exhibition by the Viadukt e. V. association, a music programme and offers from initiatives and associations, participation opportunities are planned for all age groups. Catering will be offered.

Programme, 14 September

Former tulle factory Chemnitz, Zwickauer Straße 145

The cultural monument at Zwickauer Straße 145 is the former textile factory of the "Sächsische Tüllfabrik Aktiengesellschaft", which was founded in 1899. The aim was to demonstrate the efficiency of the first German tulle machine constructed by the "Maschinenfabrik Kappel" in 1886. This was achieved in the purpose-built facility. The British monopoly on tulle was thus broken. The architect of the factory building was Paul Fiedler.

As the Saxony-wide opening of the Open Monument Day, the festive event for invited guests will take place here.

Organiser: Saxon State Ministry for Infrastructure and Regional Development (SMIL)

Railway viaduct, Annaberger Straße/Beckerstraße

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. there will be an exhibition at the viaduct on the civic commitment of Viadukt e. V. to the Chemnitz viaduct and the railway arch, hourly guided tours (and as required) at the viaduct and music by the Chemnitz brass band.

Organiser: Viadukt e. V.

Agricola Grammar School, Park of the Victims of Fascism

The school with its front garden, enclosing walls and outbuildings was built in the style of Hamburg modernist architecture with a strict, architecturally and urbanistically valuable clinker brick façade by architect Robert Emil Ebert. A wide staircase leads between flagpoles to the richly decorated entrance in the centre. The wooden box windows from the time of construction, the original interior fittings and the roof structure with its crowning dome are still preserved.

Organiser: Agricolagymnasium

Garage campus, Zwickauer Straße 164

The tram depot in the Kappel district of Chemnitz was the first tram depot built around 1880 for the first horse-drawn tram lines in the city centre. After electrification and the increase in the number of carriages from 1893, the depot and carriage depot were extended in stages.

Organiser: CVAG

City Hall, Theaterstraße 3

The Stadthalle is an individual monument of the Stadthalle ensemble, which includes the Stadthalle with its furnishings such as the Jehmlich organ and works of fine art, the former Interhotel and the Stadthallenpark. This forms a striking, uniform ensemble of buildings in the modernist style with green open spaces that significantly characterises the cityscape in the centre of Chemnitz and is one of the most important cultural monuments of GDR architecture.

Organiser: C3

Registration under: Link to event, the event is subject to a charge

Ehregott Hermann Dost's house, Dresdner Straße 133

The house of master stonemason Ehregott Hermann Dost was built in various stages between 1867 and 1889. From 1875, the house was remodelled and extended in the neo-Gothic style. After a long period of vacancy, the building has been back in the hands of master stonemasons since the end of 2017 and is being restored to its original state.

Organiser: Till Apfel

Registration at: info(at)ostobjekt.de, sturdy shoes recommended

Otto Uhle/VEB Polar glove factory, Neukirchner Straße 9

In 1909, the trained knitter Otto Uhle had a residential building with a workshop built for himself and his family, in which ten employees and the same number of home workers initially produced gloves. In 1920, a two-storey, seven-axle factory extension was added to the workshop and a second building was added in 1933. The ensemble also includes a shed with a flat and a two-family house in the Bauhaus style at Neukirchner Straße 13 with a surrounding garden.

Organiser: Förderverein Handschuhfabrik Otto Uhle VEB Polar Strickkunst Chemnitz e.V.

Registration under: post@handschuhfabrik.de

Wirkbau, Annaberger Straße 73

Today's "Wirkbau" industrial estate was originally the premises of the "Schubert & Salzer" engineering works. Today, the listed complex of the Wirkbau site includes numerous different individual monuments, some of which were designed by important architectural firms from Chemnitz such as "Zapp & Basarke" (forge and clock tower from around 1927) and "Kornfeld und Benirschke" (reform style building on Annaberger Straße as the former glove and hosiery factory of the Max Bergmann family).

Organiser: MIB Wirkbau Chemnitz GmbH & Co KG

Pre-booking at: syr(at)mib.de

Residential building in a former semi-open development with ancillary facilities, Hauboldstraße 26

Built around the middle of the 19th century, this simple residential building in a semi-open development is one of Chemnitz's rare examples of a low 19th century suburban residential development. The outbuildings with an open shed, workshop and courtyard paving are also protected. The historical advertising on the façade still provides information about the commercial use of the building in the past and is a rarity in Chemnitz.

Organiser: Eileen and Dirk Fellendorf

Pre-booking at: architektur(at)fellendorf.gmbh

Küchwald open-air theatre, Küchwaldring 34

The open-air theatre in Küchwald was built between 1956 and 1963 on the ruins of the war-damaged "Küchwaldschänke" as part of the National Reconstruction Work (NAW) according to plans drawn up in 1954 by Chemnitz architect Roland Hühnerfürst. With its ensemble of buildings, striking tower and large flight of steps, it occupies a prominent position on the large festival meadow. The building ensemble is part of the traditional post-war architecture characterised by neoclassicism.

Organiser: Küchwaldbühne e. V.

Learning and memorial site Kaßberg prison, Kaßbergstraße 16c

The political history of the former Kaßberg Prison ranges from its origins as a general penal institution to a prison for mainly political prisoners during the Nazi era to a detention centre for the occupying power and later the Ministry of State Security of the GDR. Construction work on the building complex for the new Royal Saxon Prison Chemnitz-Kaßberg began in 1875 under the direction of master builder Nauck. The building complex was in use from 1878.

Organiser: Lern- und Gedenkort Kaßberg-Gefängnis e. V.

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Mill, Limbacher Straße 382

This is a residential and mill building built by Chemnitz-Rottluff between 1893 and 1894 with historical mill technology. The location of the Rottluff upper mill has been documented since 1548. In addition to its value in terms of local and technical history, the building is also significant as the childhood home of one of the leading artists of German Expressionism. Karl Schmidt-Rottluff spent his childhood and youth in the mill building.

Organiser: Förderverein Karl Schmidt-Rottluff e. V.

Küchwaldklinikum Chemnitz, Bürgerstraße 2

The Küchwald Clinical Centre is a medical facility with a group of regularly arranged, interrelated wards and ward blocks as well as irregularly arranged service buildings in front of them. These are plaster buildings in the style of the reform architecture of the early 20th century, surrounded by park-like green areas with old trees.

Organiser: Klinikum Chemnitz gGmbH

Chemnitz Industrial Museum, Zwickauer Straße 119

The Chemnitz Industrial Museum is an extensive, industrial-historical and architecturally valuable factory complex that represents one of the most important industrial facilities in Chemnitz. It consists of the former Hermann Escher AG tool factory with foundry hall, fettling shop, workshop buildings and the machine house, built between 1897 and 1907, and the neighbouring foundry of Schubert & Salzer AG, built in 1910. The sophisticated façade architecture is extremely effective in the cityscape.

Organiser: Chemnitz Industrial Museum

Meeting point is the Stadtbad Chemnitz, Mühlenstraße 27. The participation fee is 7 euros.

Registration under: 0371 3676 410 or muspaed(at)saechsisches-industriemuseum.de

Guided tour of the residential and retail development in the Straße der Nationen

Organiser: Tour guide Grit Linke

Schloßberg Museum, Schloßberg 12

The property was originally a former Benedictine monastery, which was converted into a Saxon official castle in the 16th century. The monastery building now houses the Schloßberg Museum. The cloister building and remains of the cloister have been preserved from its origins. The monastery, which later became the castle church of St Mary, has also been preserved.

Organiser: Schloßbergmuseum

Registration under: 0371 488 4501

Wittgensdorf Church (Chemnitz), Kirchweg 11

Originally built as a simple medieval hall church, the village church of Wittgensdorf was renovated between 1657 and 1660. As early as 1728, the church was extended, a pulpit altar was added and the 37 metre high east tower with Welscher dome was erected. A further extension was added in 1843. The church was given new stained glass windows in 1903. During the extensive renovation of the church interior around 1921, the galleries above and behind the pulpit and the second gallery above the organ were removed.

Evangelical Methodist Church of Peace Chemnitz, Kaßbergstraße 30

The Evangelical Methodist Church of Peace was built between 1893 and 1894 in neo-Gothic style as a brick building according to plans by the architect Carl Bieber. The church has been almost completely preserved in its original design and is a key feature of the Wilhelminian-style residential area of "Kaßberg".

St Jakobi City Church, Jakobikirchplatz 1

The Stadt- und Marktkirche St. Jakobi is located on one of the oldest church sites in Chemnitz and was the spiritual and social centre of the city for centuries. Situated in the immediate vicinity of the two town halls from the Middle Ages and early 20th century and using a shared tower as a bell tower, the sacred building is still part of an important urban ensemble today.

Ebersdorf Collegiate Church, Lichtenauer Straße 56

The collegiate church of Ebersdorf forms a late Gothic ensemble with St Mary's Chapel, the two defence towers and the remains of the fortified churchyard. The church gained widespread importance as a pilgrimage church to the Virgin Mary from the middle of the 15th century. The collegiate church is of urban planning significance in its central position in the village of Ebersdorf. In the Baroque period, a stately rectory building was added to the east side of the ensemble.

St Jodokus Church Glösa, Kirchberg 2

The church on the "Eierberg" in Glösa, first documented in 1269, was later joined by a rectory with rectory and a church school. A defence wall with two towers served to fortify and defend the ensemble on the hilltop.

After the church was partially destroyed by bombing on 5 March 1945, it was rebuilt according to plans by architects Gerlach and Dr Laudeley. The rebuilt choir tower church was re-consecrated in 1954. The rectory, which was also the retirement home of Abbot Heinrich von Schleinitz of the Chemnitz Benedictine monastery from 1522, still contains a number of architecturally significant spolia.

Nikolai Cemetery, Michaelstraße 15

The Nikolai cemetery was consecrated in 1815. The regular, rectangular-shaped cemetery is characterised by its park-like tree planting and the numerous, attractively designed graves.

St Nicholas' Church, Michaelstraße 15

The building was originally erected between 1891 and 1892 as a cemetery chapel in neo-Gothic style according to plans by Christian Schramm. Since the church of the St Nicholas parish had to be demolished after 1945, the chapel has served as a place of worship ever since.

The complete programme is available at www.chemnitz.de/denkmaltag