Free admission to Hamburg's museums. One website for every new edition.
On Reformation Day, numerous Hamburg museums and exhibition venues open with free admission. The website bundles all participating venues, programmes and information for the free museum day.
Since 2023, we have been supporting the platform technically. It runs within the same TYPO3 installation as the Long Night of Museums – with a shared technical foundation, but independent content and its own design.
Two events, one shared core.
seeforfree and the Long Night of Museums have similar technical requirements. Both platforms manage participating venues, events, opening hours and other information within structured data records.
Both websites run in a shared TYPO3 installation. This bundles the maintenance of the technical foundation: security updates and version changes are carried out together. Further developments to shared components can benefit both websites.
Content, editorial access and design remain organised separately. We first check changes in a test environment before they are published.
Preparing the next edition.
Preparation for the next free museum day begins in late summer. We prepare the existing website for the new year so that the participating venues can update their content.
Close the previous year
The previous edition is archived and the structure for the new year is prepared.
Prepare the editorial team
We set up access for the participating venues or adjust existing access. The museums maintain their information via the intended input forms.
Update the design
The new key visual is prepared for the website and integrated for different screen sizes.
Check and publish content
The content for the new edition is first prepared in a protected state. After approval, we publish the new state.
Prepare for higher traffic
For the day of the event, we temporarily move the platform to a more powerful server environment. This provides additional capacity for the expected traffic peaks.
Search, find, plan a tour.
Each museum maintains its own information.
The participating venues edit their information themselves. The input forms specify which information is required and in what form it is stored.
Notes and mandatory fields support the editorial team, among other things, in maintaining image descriptions. Content review and approval remain with Museumsdienst Hamburg.
This allows the venues to update their information directly in the system. Museumsdienst does not have to transfer this information additionally from tables or e-mails to the website.
Make access easier, document the state.
Information in Easy Language and German Sign Language can be reached directly via the header. Adjusting the font size and operation via keyboard are also among the functions of the website.
The technical implementation was checked for barriers. The documented state and known limitations are described in the publicly accessible accessibility statement.
The framework in figures.
How we help with comparable projects.
Merge several websites sensibly?
If websites have similar technical requirements, not every platform has to be built completely separately. We check which components can be operated together and where a clear separation remains necessary.
