Free entry to Leipzig’s museums from 2024

Because of a drop in attendance, local authorities want to make it even easier to experience the cultural side of the city

Today, local authorities in Leipzig, Germany, announced a plan to make city museums' permanent exhibitions free by 2024. The idea is to promote the cultural institutions as so-called ‘third places’, a term describing a place where people spend time between home (the first place) and work (the second place).

According to a press statement, museum-goers have plummeted during and after the pandemic. This project would try to popularise the locations, by ‘inviting’ citizens back, especially the youth. Local authorities also hope to attract visitors from the rest of Germany and the world.

Deadlines and costs

According to an official statement by the city, the project should be limited to the permanent exhibitions of the City History Museum, Natural History Museum, Museum of Fine Arts and Grassi Museum for Applied Arts. The museums would still curate special events which they will charge for.

At the same time, the initiative is set to cost just around 500,000 euros per year, 427,000 in lost ticketing fees and another 73,000 in management fees. The project was originally planned and proposed in 2019, however, the Covid-pandemic set other processes in motion, postponing it until now.

The free museums are a project modelled after examples set by Essen’s Museum Folkwang or London’s British Museum. Those examples have proven that opening the doors to more people could increase the relevance of the institutions and promote a vibrant museum-going community.

According to the city, however, this change would not be necessarily permanent. The museums are set to be free of charge until 2027, whit the results of the experiment informing future decisions.