In 2016, it was lastingly proven that Lower Bavaria can also be an attractive place for a state exhibition. More than 230,000 visitors came to Aldersbach (Passau district) at the time, which of course was also due to the enticing exhibition theme “Beer in Bavaria”. Since yesterday, Monday, it has been official: ten years after the success in Aldersbach, there will be another state exhibition in Lower Bavaria. “This is how Bavaria sounds” is the working title of the state exhibition that the House of Bavarian History and the city of Freyung will present from May to November 2026. Richard Loibl, Director of the House of Bavarian History, and Olaf Heinrich, Mayor of the City of Freyung, signed the contract on Monday under the watchful eye of Markus Blume, Minister of Art and Science.
One does not offend the district town of Freyung, located in the Bavarian Forest, when one claims that it did not necessarily radiate the splendor of a cultural metropolis in the past. But that’s no longer the case, on the contrary: the city has more ambitions than ever before, it’s spruced up and so full of life that even bakeries, butchers and even several inns can still thrive here. As far as cultural life is concerned, the “Folk Music Academy in Bavaria” located in the heart of the city should be mentioned, which attracts musicians, singers and dancers in droves all year round.
So it fitted perfectly into the picture that the signing of the contract in the House of Bavarian History in Regensburg was accompanied by music. Roland Pongratz, musical director of the music academy in Freyung, brought along a trio that he quickly put together, including the music cabaret artists “Tom & Basti”. This musical prelude gave the audience a foretaste of the thematic range of the first state exhibition on the subject of music. The spectrum ranges from Orlando di Lasso to Carmina Burana, parade march, Schützenlisl and pop singer Roy Black to the modern brass band LaBrassBanda.
The exhibition will take place in the Pröbstl house in the middle of the city, which is currently being renovated. After the state exhibition, a so-called Science Center is to move in, which will be dedicated to the topics of sound, sound, music and hearing.
Art Minister Markus Blume said that you were entering new territory: never before had a Bavarian state exhibition been dedicated to music. Finally, with a cultural-historical exhibition, one can prove that Bavarian music is much more than the usual clichés. It goes from yodeling and traditional brass band music to world-class orchestras, world stars of the international classical music scene and successful pop and rock bands and last but not least to the strong tradition of amateur music.
Richard Loibl, the director of the House of Bavarian History (left) and Olaf Heinrich, the mayor of the city of Freyung, sign the cooperation agreement for the Bavarian State Exhibition 2026 in the presence of the Minister of Art and Science, Markus Blume (centre). Musically accompanied by a uniquely assembled trio , to which the music cabaret artists and folk singers “Tom & Basti” belong.
(Photo: altrofoto.de/HdBG)
As Richard Loibl noted, the exhibition has significance far beyond Freyung. The concept not only targets the usual day trippers, but also has plenty of reasons and offers to spend a few days in the region: “Our visitors have plenty to choose from if they combine their stay in Freyung with trips to want to garnish the Bavarian Forest. The Bavarian Forest National Park will also be integrated with offers in the range of topics of the state exhibition.” As Minister Blume suggested, a road show should be carried out from Freyung throughout the country.
On Monday, however, it also became clear that the institution of the state exhibition had to be reconsidered more than ever. It is becoming more and more important to make attractive additional offers. How such a project can fail if the course is set wrong can be observed in Austria, the motherland of the national exhibitions. With the exception of the last oasis of Salzburg, there are no longer any state exhibitions there, and the great tradition fell victim to serious mistakes in terms of content and politics.
In Bavaria, too, historical exhibitions are not legitimized by natural law, the change in the zeitgeist and leisure behavior must be incorporated into the planning. It was all the more gratifying for Loibl that he was recently appointed to the working group for history museums, in which museums from all over the German-speaking world are struggling to come up with concepts for the future. “It’s always about the question, what are people interested in? It’s different today than it was 20 years ago,” says Loibl. So far, the House of Bavarian History has succeeded in staging Bavarian history in an attractive and popular way. “More than ever, this is the key to success.” The popularity of the audience in 2022 certainly confirms this. 70,000 visitors were counted at the Franconian exhibition in Ansbach, and by the end of the year a good 200,000 people will have visited the Bavarian Museum in Regensburg. Figures that not many museums can manage.
In 2023, this success is to be continued in cooperation with the National Museum in Prague with a Bavarian-Czech state exhibition on the Baroque. In 2024, Freising will focus on the early Middle Ages and the times of Saint Corbinian and Duke Tassilo. And in 2025 the focus in Regensburg will be on the Bavarian King Ludwig I, who is original in every respect. 200 years after the beginning of his reign, the aim is to show how he nurtured his country, which had been ailing after the Napoleonic era, with art and culture.