All event highlights for the culture summer in Nuremberg:

Music Festivals in Nuremberg

The kickoff of Nuremberg’s culture and festival summer is the Bardentreffen, the largest music festival in Germany, which takes place from July 21 to 23, 2023. This free-of-charge open air event turns the Nuremberg Old Town into a tuneful sound experience. International, national and regional bands from different genres will mix themselves musically into the current debate about cultural appropriation and musical appreciation. Ninety concerts and a program with discussions and talks with the artists around the theme “Stolen Tones” will take place on eight stages throughout the city. Through purchase of a program book or an instrument pin, festival visitors can help guarantee that the Bardentreffen remains free-of-charge in the future.

Classic Open Air completes the festival summer in the great outdoors. On two summer evenings, the park in Nuremberg’s Luitpoldhain is transformed into what must be the greenest concert hall in Europe. Here, Nuremberg’s two largest orchestras celebrate a free-of-charge festival of classical music. The Nuremberg State Philharmonic will kick off the event on July 30, 2023, at 8 pm. Conductor Joana Mallwitz will set the tone for a concert with the motto “Let’s Celebrate”, which is sure to delight a large crowd of listeners. “Our new darling!” is the theme on August 5, 2023, also at 8 pm, when the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra and its new conductor Jonathan Darlington invite listeners to a wonderful festival of sound. The concerts are especially pleasing while enjoying a picnic in the park.

Cultural Highlights in Nuremberg

In addition to many music festivals, Nuremberg offers other cultural highlights in summer 2023: Between the opera house and theater building of the Nuremberg State Theater a free-of-charge open air program is taking place. Local artists and members of the theater ensemble invite guests to relax on sun loungers, listen to music and performances and take part in events.

A new cultural venue has just been formed at the historical site of the former Nazi Party Rally Grounds in Nuremberg: Part of the structure of the Congress Hall is to be improved in the future to create more than 7,000 square meters of production and presentation space for artists. The kick-off for this cultural use is the opening of “Segment #1” in the arcade level. From now on cultural events will take place here.

Another cultural highlight can amaze you in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nuremberg: The oldest remaining depiction of the world as a globe. The Behaim globe was created between 1492 and 1494 and was recently, on May 18, 2023, taken up in the international UNESCO “Memory of the World” register. It therefore is officially recognized as part of the documentary heritage of humanity. The world-famous “Earth apple” can be seen whenever the Germanisches Nationalmuseum is open and special tours offer insight into the history of the globe.

At the end of the summer, a new cultural festival Mauerblümchen (Wallflower) (September 8 to 17, 2023) and the popular Stadt(ver)führungen (September 15 to 17, 2023) will take place. The Wallflower festival is all about participation and spanning genres from theater to literature to dance and installations. Locations along the Nuremberg city wall between the main train station and Sterntor will be used for performances and a focus on culture. During the Stadt(ver)führungen – 1 weekend – 1000 tours – 1 motto! – visitors can get to know Nuremberg and its neighbor Fürth from a variety of perspectives. With the motto “Key Experiences”, well-known personalities, artists and institutions will offer a glimpse of unknown or normally inaccessible sites.

City Tours in Nuremberg

Nuremberg can be explored this summer through a variety of city tours. Since May 20, 2023, the CTZ offers tours through Nuremberg’s neighborhoods with the title: “Nuremberg’s Neighborhoods – Love at First Step”. Two different routes are available: North and south. Featured are well-known highlights, such as the Imperial Castle or St. Lawrence’s Church, but also unfamiliar places, such as small owner-operated shops, green spaces or unique cafés. The tours take place every third Saturday in the month and last an hour. Groups are limited to 20 people.

Links to more information

Events in Nuremberg: https://tourismus.nuernberg.de/en/experience/events/

City Tour “Nuremberg’s Neighborhoods – Love at First Step”: https://tourismus.nuernberg.de/stadtfuehrung/themenfuehrungen/

Cultural Area Congress Hall: https://www.nuernberg.de/internet/kongresshalle/