Stuttgart has a vibrating culture and art scene. One night per year you get the chance to explore more than 80 museums, galleries, cultural institutions and a variety of other exciting and unusual exhibition sites all over the city of Stuttgart: at Long Night of Museums (Lange Nacht der Museen) on March 17! In this post I point out my personal favoirte locations that you can enjoy even without speaking German.

Long Night of Museums: highlight locations

• Most of you know Neues Schloss at Schlossplatz from the outside already. Unfortunately the building is usually closed to the public. However, at Long Night of Museums you get the chance to step inside the castle! Explore the pompous rooms, listen to the sound of a harp, meet court ladies and get a glimpse of the office of the prime minister of Baden-Württemberg.
• The next highlight awaits you just outside of Neues Schloss: the Rolling Museum. Several beautiful oldtimer cars can be marveled at – and you can even hop in and enjoy a short drive through the city center! However, expect a loooong line.
• The Marktplatz in front of the city hall has a “dark” secret: A bunker lies underneath it. After the war, this bunker was even used as  a hotel! Can you imagine sleeping underneath the earth, without natural light and windows? The bunker is usually closed to the public so don’t miss the opportunity to visit this strange place at Long Night of Museums!
• Did you know that Stuttgart has a harbor? It is an industrial harbor and usually not the place people visit or hang out. But that changes during Long Night of Museums! Artists will present their work, a lightshow will light up the harbor and you can even enjoy a moonlight cruise.

  

• Fly into space at Planetarium Stuttgart! The new 360-degree-projection will take you into galaxies far, far away – accompanied by beautiful music. Definitely a very special treat.
• How about visiting an UNESCO World Heritage Site during Long Night of Museums?! Weissenhofsiedlung was planned and constructed as a architectonic exhibition in 1927 and the two Le Corbusier houses became a World Heritage Site in 2016. Find out more about this destination in my former post Why Weissenhofmuseum in Stuttgart is a very special museum.
• One of my favorite places for subculture are the Wagenhallen in the north of Stuttgart. More than 100 artists are working here – some for a short period of time or a project, others for years. At Long Night of Museums the artists have prepared an art parcours where visitors will encounter the one or other surprise..
• Many small galleries are participating in Long Night of Museums and this night is a great chance to explore some of them! Bloody Colors Gallery, Atelier 89 and Galerie Thomas Fuchs are just three examples.

Long Night of Museums: events for kids

• Most kids are fascinated by knights and court ladies. Landesmuseum Württemberg will bring back medieval times, mixed with some magical elements. The young visitors can for example create their own dragon.
• Your kids can get even more creative at Jugendkunstschule. Stamps, colours and paper will await them.
• Animals – dead or alive – are always a highlight for kids. Museum Schloss Rosenstein organizes a cockroach tournament and those not too faint at heart can watch a taxidermist create a bear.

Long Night of Museums: good to know

• Make sure you decide which destinations you want to visit ahead and check how you get there. I recommend selecting only four to five locations, otherwise you’ll be stressed out by the end of the night.
• Tickets are available for € 19,-. For children between age 6 and age 14 tickets are € 4,-.

• Tickets are available in advance at many of the participating museums and galleries, at the Tourist Information Stuttgart (i-Punkt) and all ticket booths in Stuttgart and the entire region. but you can always buy your ticket on the 17th at one of the participating venues. More about where you get ticket here.
• Tickets do not only include the entry to all the participating venues but are also valid as a travel ticket for the entire shuttle transport with buses and (subway) trains that connect the participating establishments on the event evening and are functioning as a VVS integral ticket for the entire VVS network. On March 17th from 12.00 a.m. onwards, the holder is entitled to use all VVS operated public transport (2nd class) until closing hour, within the entire VVS network.
• Find more information about the event and all the participating venues on www.lange-nacht.de