Carinthia’s museum night draws more visitors than last year

The 26th ORF Long Night of Museums in Carinthia attracted slightly more visitors than last year, ORF’s Carinthia news service reported. The most popular venues were the kärnten.museum, Stadthaus Klagenfurt and wissens.wert.welt.

Seventy-eight museums and cultural institutions opened their doors, 12 more than in 2025. Ten took part for the first time. The kärnten.museum recorded the highest attendance, with 2,585 visitors, followed by Stadthaus Klagenfurt with 1,351 and wissens.wert.welt with 1,322.

The programme included museums, galleries, artists’ studios and Klagenfurt’s observatory. Organiser Jürgen Gachowetz said 51 venues were in Klagenfurt, seven in Villach and 20 in other parts of Carinthia.

Admission was free for children aged 12 and under. In Klagenfurt and Villach, visitors could also use special bus routes with a Long Night ticket.

The kärnten.museum presented its Egyptian collection on this scale for the first time. Director Wolfgang Muchitsch said it was the second-largest collection of ancient Egyptian finds in Austria, after the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. The objects arrived at the museum as gifts in the mid-19th century.

Special tours were also offered at museums and galleries in Klagenfurt, where visitors could speak with exhibiting artists. Organisers said the event ran smoothly without incident. Mild temperatures until about 11 p.m. may have helped; rain had fallen by that time the previous year.