At today's City Council meeting, Mayor Dagmar Ruscheinsky proposed suspending the additional closing day for the Chemnitz Art Collections, which was decided by the City Council in March 2025, from June to December 2026. This is intended to build on the success of the European Capital of Culture year Chemnitz 2025, which resulted in record visitor numbers for several museums. The city council had already decided in November 2025 to suspend the additional closing day, initially for January 2026.
Based on this initiative by city councillors, the proposal to suspend the additional closing day from June to December 2026 was jointly developed and agreed by the Mayor of Culture, the Chemnitz Art Collections and the Mayor of Finance. A corresponding draft resolution for the City Council is being prepared for the beginning of 2026.
Subject to the resolution being passed, there will then be no additional closing day in the six houses of the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz from June 2026 to at least December 2026. The City of Chemnitz expects the planned exhibitions and the associated educational programmes to attract a large number of visitors. At the same time, the City of Chemnitz is providing the funding.
In the coming year, special exhibitions and events will be organised in the six houses of the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz. For example, the art collections on Theaterplatz will be showing an exhibition on Käthe Kollwitz, which will be on display until 30 August 2026. Due to the high profile of Käthe Kollwitz, the exhibition is expected to be very popular.
Running in parallel until 16 August 2026 is the exhibition "Utopia. Right to Hope" - an exhibition in cooperation with the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg. The exhibition shows media art and is also aimed at a younger audience. Further special exhibitions with an attractive focus are planned towards the end of 2026. The Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz will provide more information on this at its annual press conference in January 2026.
Background
The introduction of an additional closing day from 1 January 2026 in all museums of the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz was decided by the City Council in March 2025 as a budget consolidation measure for 2025/2026 (B-283/2024). Specifically, the closing day was set as Tuesday, with the exception of the Henry van de Velde Museum and the Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Haus, which are always to remain closed on Thursdays.
In November 2025, the city council then decided to abolish this additional closing day, initially for January 2026. With the proposal now submitted by the City of Chemnitz, the art collections could remain open from Tuesday to Sunday from June to December 2026 as before.