Major projects 2025

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At the annual "Long Night of Museums", the Carinthia Museum also shone brightly on its façade, and the annual program guarantees visitors radiant faces.

(Bild: Uta Rojsek-Wiedergut)

The Carinthia Museum will have new locations this year: the Pilgrim Museum in Globasnitz, the Ingeborg Bachmann House in Klagenfurt as a literary museum and the "Gateway to Democracy" in the Landhaus. The planned exhibitions focus on 80 years since the end of the war and the Koralm Railway.

Varied - socially relevant - cooperative: these are the three adjectives with which the Carinthia Museum wants to identify itself. "One of the tasks of a museum is to be the memory of the country. The Carinthia Museum must be a critical conscience and also a gateway to the future by forming the basis for future issues," says Governor Peter Kaiser, Head of Cultural Affairs. At the presentation of the Carinthia Museum's program for this year, he coined the term satellites for new locations: This year, the Globasnitz Pilgrim Museum is joining the Carinthia Museum as a satellite location. "We would like to redesign the square in front of the museum in Globasnitz, in the municipality that can look back on 3,000 years of history, and dedicate it to Sabine Ladstätter," says Mayor Bernard Sadovnik. The Carinthian archaeologist, who died last year, valued the Hemmaberg as a place of power, according to Sadovnik, who sees the Pilgrim Museum as a place of encounter, as an antithesis to nationalism.

Ingeborg Bachmann: The great writer spent her youth in this house in Henselstraße in Klagenfurt - and this house will be opened as a literary museum on June 27.

(Bild: tinefoto.com | martin steinthaler)

The address in Henselstraße in Klagenfurt will also be a new location for the Carinthia Museum from the summer: Ingeborg Bachmann's childhood home is currently being renovated and will have a ramp, a reinforced ceiling and a refurbished roof... "Here we want to show great history in a small space: On the ground floor there will be an experience-oriented exhibition about Ingeborg Bachmann's biography, on the second floor a poetry and prose room, and on the top floor the focus will be on writing," says curator Katharina Herzmansky. The new museum, which works together with the National Library, will open on June 27 - as part of the Ingeborg Bachmann Competition.

The museum is also getting a new addition with the Gate to Democracy: it is a new entrance to the Hall of Arms, 200 square meters in size, and offers playful access to democracy.

Wolfgang Muchitsch, Direktor der Kärnten Museums

Bild: Christina Natascha Kogler

The third innovation can be seen in the Landhaus in Klagenfurt from March: The "Gateway to Democracy" will be created there in front of the Hall of Arms as an interactive exhibition.

Review of the previous year

In 2024, there were eight exhibitions at the Carinthia Museum, including two major ones such as the anniversary of the Radion and the Heidi Horten Collection.

More than 300 events were organized in addition to the "normal" mediation.

Over 115,000 visitors were welcomed to the main building in Klagenfurt and the other locations, 30,000 of whom were under 19 years old and 20,000 of whom were young people who came with their school class.

19,000 cine films were collected last year to document everyday culture and cultural history.

Muchitsch, Stermitz, Pucker, Kaiser, Steiner, WInkler-Komar, Herzmansky and Sadovnik have big plans for the Carinthia Museum and its "satellites".

(Bild: Christina Natascha Kogler)

In the main building, the special exhibition "Hinschaun! Poglejmo!", which focuses on the end of the Second World War, the liberation from National Socialism 80 years ago, on May 8, 1945. "There are also other exhibition projects and a city theater production," says Wolfgang Muchitsch, Director of the Carinthia Museum. The special exhibition "Talking about it - National Socialism and the Holocaust, memories of contemporary witnesses" opens on January 27.

It's great how the museum is proving itself!

Freut sich Igor Pucker, der Vorsitzende des Kuratoriums des Landesmuseums

Bild: Rojsek-Wiedergut Uta

In March, the special exhibition "Hitler's Executive" is well worth seeing. In May, Josef Winkler's "Ich bei Tag und du bei Nacht in der Konditorei Patisserie Chaim Soutine" premieres at the Kärnten Museum. In August, a special photographic exhibition tells the story of the "Last Righteous Among the Nations". The art of female resistance is the subject of the special exhibition "Partizanke!" in October.

"The second major theme of the year is the Koralm Railway, which tells the story of Carinthia and Styria in a special exhibition in December," says Wolfgang Muchitsch.

The museum opens up to the independent scene
Because culture needs space, says Brigitte Winkler-Komar, head of the state's art and culture department, the Carinthia Museum is opening its doors: last year, 50 external events took place in the museum, including a play by Wolkenflug, music by Trigonale, the Long Night of Choirs by the Sängerbund and much more. "This opening opens up new visitor groups for both sides."

Green museum
Some of the Carinthia Museum's locations already bear the "Green Museum" eco-label, photovoltaics have been installed at the science and collection center in Klagenfurt's Liberogasse, and the last two locations are phasing out gas at the end of the year. "Tourism is also a focus for us: there is a Leader project with Globasnitz and we are working on one with Hermagor, where Ingeborg Bachmann's family has its roots," says Caroline Steiner, Commercial Director of the Carinthia Museum, who is able to implement a project close to her heart this year: Free admission for children and young people from 0 to 18!

World of knowledge gets good space on the ground floor
"A quarter of our visitors are under 19, so there will be changes to the rooms: the reading room will be moved to Liberogasse, where the books are also stored. The Wissenswertwelt can then move into the old reading room from September," reveals museum director Muchitsch, who will also be helping to save money with his staff: Exhibitions will close an hour earlier, the season will be shortened in the external branches, and there will not necessarily be replacements when people retire. Funds for the large program could also be obtained from sponsors and foundations.