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Museen der Stadt Dresden
About the customer
The Museums of the City of Dresden are a municipal network comprising a total of ten museums and exhibition venues. The collections and regularly changing exhibitions bring to life the rich and varied history of this Saxon city on the Elbe — from the city’s history and the visual arts to the history of industry and technology, as well as famous figures such as Carl Maria von Weber and Friedrich Schiller.
About the project
In 2023, we had the opportunity to carry out a significant project for the museums of the City of Dresden. Sandstorm was responsible for the technical implementation of the relaunch using Neos CMS. The goal was to unite the ten museums of the network in a consistent, modern online presence.
A central hub page brings together information and current events from all ten museums, allowing visitors to navigate directly to each museum's individual website. From there, users can easily switch back and forth between the different museums, with exhibitions and events consistently presented in the same user-friendly format. Subtle animations, implemented with Motion One, add visual polish throughout the site.
Accessibility played a major role in both concept and execution: additional accessible features were integrated, such as a one-click contrast boost and sign language videos introducing each museum. A standout feature is the filter function, which lets visitors sort exhibitions and events by target audience, date, topic, venue, and category. Event bookings and the purchase of exhibition materials, such as catalogs, are handled through the integrated Pretix online shop.
In addition the project won a Neos Award 2025 in the category Dedication & Contribution.
How Neos made the difference
One multi-site instead of ten separate solutions: Previously, the ten museums each had their own websites with inconsistent designs and no visible connection to one another. With Neos, a user-friendly multi-site was implemented where each museum keeps its own domain, but all share a consistent base layout, the same functionality, and unified navigation.
Granular permission management in the backend: Neos enables a well-thought-out permissions system, so editors from each individual museum can access and edit only their own content — despite sharing the same technical foundation.
Flexibility for individual requirements within a shared structure: The particular challenge was accommodating the differing requirements of the ten museums while still bringing them together. Neos solved this by creating a unified system that still leaves room for museum-specific customization.
„Thanks to our collaboration with Sandstorm, we now have a modern, user-friendly website that brings together our ten museums under a consistent and appealing design. The technical implementation using Neos CMS enables us to cater for the individual requirements of the museums whilst ensuring consistent navigation and design. We particularly appreciate the accessibility features and the ability to manage events efficiently and process bookings via Pretix.“Dr. Gisbert Porstmann,
Director of Museen der Stadt Dresden
About the agency
Sandstorm is a software agency based in Dresden with a team of 35, specialising in bespoke software, apps and websites. For us, sustainability means resource-conscious, durable and repairable software without customer lock-in thanks to open source, developed with accessibility, user autonomy and security in mind. One of our particular strengths lies in the open-source CMS Neos, to which several Sandstormies contribute (Neos Community Award 2026). We were awarded the Saxon Digital Prize 2022 and were finalists for the German Sustainability Prize 2025. Our clients include 1&1, WeTell, Solarwatt and TU Dortmund.
