Draft:List of museums in Bavaria

This is a list of museums in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany.

There are about 1,300 museums in the state of Bavaria, including museums of art and cultural history, castles and palaces, archaeological and natural history collections, museums of technological and industrial history, and farm and open-air museums. While many important collections are kept by the 100 state museums, 1,200 museums in Bavaria are in non-state sponsorship (e.g. municipalities and boroughs, private sponsors, foundations). Total museum attendance was 18.5 million visitors in 2019.

The directory of museums in Bavaria is maintained by the Bavarian State Office for non-state Museums (German: Landesstelle für die nichtstaatlichen Museen in Bayern), between 1991 and 2017 in the form of the handbook Museums in Bavaria with a total of 6 revised editions. The printed handbook was replaced by a digital service in 2023.

History
The history of Bavarian museums dates back to cabinets of curiosities and treasuries. The art holdings of the House of Wittelsbach thus formed the first and essential foundation of later museums. As early as the mid-16th century, Duke Albrecht V (r. 1550-1579) collected paintings aswell as Greek and Roman sculptures. He built the Antiquarium in the Munich Residence specifically for his collection of antique sculptures. The electors Maximilian I (r. 1594-1651) and Max II. Emanuel (r. 1679-1726) expanded the art collections considerably.

In the Age of Enlightenment at the end of the 18th century, there was a demand to open up art collections to the general public in the spirit of "popular education". Still, museums were not founded by the state until the time of art-loving King Ludwig I (r. 1825-1848). In Munich, he built Glyptothek (opened 1830), Alte Pinakothek (opened 1836), and Neue Pinakothek (opened 1853). Other important newly founded museums were Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg (1852) and Bavarian National Museum (1867) in Munich.

With the end of the monarchy in 1918, many castles and formerly Wittelsbach property passed to the young Free State. In particular, the castles of king Ludwig II (r. 1864-1886) Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee, quickly became magnets for the public.

Number of museums in Bavaria
The earliest Bavarian museum statistics were collected in 1907 and published in 1910 in the journal of the Royal Bavarian Statistical Office (German: Zeitschrift des Königlich Bayerischen Statistischen Landesamts). The statistics listed a total of 133 museums in Bavaria, 125 of which are located in the present territory of Bavaria. Since then, the number of Bavarian museums has grown considerably, from 125 in 1907 to about 1,300 today.

Augsburg

 * Augsburg Puppet Theater museum
 * Augsburg Railway Park
 * Fuggerei museum
 * German Ice Hockey Hall of Fame

Bayreuth

 * Kunstmuseum Bayreuth

Eichstätt

 * Jura Museum

Feucht

 * Hermann Oberth Space Travel Museum

Kempten

 * Alpin-Museum, largest museum in Europe of the history of the Alpes

Art museums

 * Alte Pinakothek
 * Bavarian National Museum
 * Bavarian State Archaeological Collection
 * Bavarian State Painting Collections
 * Glyptothek
 * Goetz Collection
 * Haus der Kunst
 * Lenbachhaus
 * Munich Residenz
 * Munich Stadtmuseum
 * Museum Brandhorst
 * Neue Pinakothek
 * Pinakothek der Moderne
 * Schackgalerie
 * Staatliche Antikensammlungen
 * Staatliche Sammlung für Ägyptische Kunst
 * Museum Five Continents

Cultural history museums

 * Marstallmuseum
 * Deutsches Brauereimuseum
 * Deutsches Jagd- und Fischereimuseum
 * Jewish Museum Munich
 * Valentin-Museum in the Isartor

Natural history museums

 * Museum of Man and Nature
 * Paläontologisches Museum München
 * Zoologische Staatssammlung München
 * Museum Witt

Technology museums

 * BMW Museum
 * Deutsches Museum

Neuenmarkt

 * German Steam Locomotive Museum

Art museums

 * Albrecht-Dürer-Haus (Albrecht Dürer's House)
 * Kunsthalle Nürnberg (Gallery of Contemporary Art)
 * Kunsthaus im KunstKulturQuartier (Art house at the art and culture area)
 * Kunstvilla im KunstKulturQuartier (Art villa at the art and culture area)
 * Neues Museum Nürnberg (Museum for Contemporary Art)

History and culture museums

 * Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelände (Nazi Party Rally Grounds Documentation Center)
 * Germanisches Nationalmuseum (German National Museum)
 * Historischer Kunstbunker (World War II Art Bunker)
 * Mittelalterliche Lochgefägnisse (Medieval Dungeons Nuremberg)
 * Memorium Nürnberger Prozesse (Memorium Nuremberg Trials)
 * Museum Tuscherschloss und Hirsvogelsaal (Museum Tucher Mansion and Hirsvogel Hall)
 * Spielzeugmuseum Nürnberg (Nuremberg Toy Museum)
 * Stadtmuseum Fembohaus (City Museum at Fembo House)

Science and nature museums

 * DB-Museum (DB Railway Museum)
 * Deutsches Museum Nürnberg (Future Museum)
 * Museum Industriekultur (Museum of Industrial Culture)
 * Museum für Kommunikation (Museum of Communications)
 * Naturhistorisches Museum Nürnberg (Natural History Museum Nuremberg)
 * Turm der Sinne (Tower of the Senses)

Regensburg

 * Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte: Museum

Solnhofen

 * Bürgermeister-Müller-Museum

Würzburg

 * Museum im Kulturspeicher Würzburg
 * Würzburg Residence