Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany

The Deutsches Museum or the German Museum is located in Munich, Germany. It is considered the world’s largest museum of technology and science, with approximately 1.5 million visits (both local and international tourists) per year and about 28,000 exhibit objects from 50 fields of science and technology. The Deutsches Museum was established on June 28, 1903, at a meeting of the Association of German Engineers (or VDI) as an initiative of Oskar von Miller. The full name of the Deutsches Museum in English is German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology  and in German is Deutsches Museum von Meisterwerken der Naturwissenschaft und Technik. It is also the largest museum in Munich, Germany.

History of the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany

Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany

The meeting of the Society of German Engineers was held a few months prior to the summer of 1903. Oskar von Miller was the one who gathered a small group who supported his desire to found a science and technology museum in Munich, Germany. In a showing of support, the Society of German Engineers spontaneously donated 260,000 marks to the cause and elected a Provisional Committee to get the project rolling.

In June of 1903, Prince Ludwig agreed to act as patron of the Deutsches Museum and the city of Munich, Germany donated Coal Island as a site for the project. Moreover, exhibits for the museum began to arrive from Munich, Germany and from different countries, including the collections from the Bavarian Academy. As no dedicated museum building museum building existed the exhibits were displayed in the National Museum.

Deutsches Museum at night

On November 12, 1906, the temporary exhibits at the National Museum are ceremonially opened to the viewing public and on November 13 the foundation stone was introduced for the permanent museum.

The first name given to the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany is the ”German Museum for Masterpieces of Natural Science and Technology.” The name of the museum was not meant to limit the museum to German advances in science and technology, but to express the great importance of science and technology to Germany and its people.

Deutsches Museum Bonn

Oskar von Miller opened the new Deutsches Museum on his seventieth birthday on May 2, 1925, after a delay of almost ten year. From the beginning, the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany displays are backed up by documents available in a public library and archives which are open seven days a week to ensure access to the working public.

Deutsches Museum astronomical clock

During the World War II, the Deutsches Museum was put on a shoestring budget by the Nazi party and some of the exhibits were not allowed to get out of date with a few exceptions such as the new automobile room dedicated to May 7 of 1937. By the end of 1944, the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany was badly damaged by air bombings with 80% of the buildings and 20% of the museum’s exhibits were damaged or destroyed. As there were Allied troops who marched into Munich, Germany in April 1945. The museum director that time was Karl Bassler, he barely managed to keep the last standing bridge to Museum Island from blown up by retreating German troops.

Clean white lines of the Deutsches Museum’s winding staircase

Following the war, the Deutsches Museum had to be closed for restoration and a number of temporary tenants, such as the College of Technology and the Post Office of Munich, Germany which used museum space as their own buildings were being reconstructed. The Deutsches Museum was also home to the Central Committee of the Liberated Jews, representing Jewish displaced people in Germany after the World War II.

Deutsches Museum’s boat exhibit

The Deutsches Museum’s library reopened on in November of 1945, followed by the congress hall in January of 1946. In October of 1947, the museum held a special exhibit on fifty years of the Diesel engine, while the regular exhibits began reopening in May of 1948. Not until 1965, more than twenty years after the end of war in Germany, did the exhibit  area match and then exceed the pre-war size.

During the 1950s, the Deutsches Museum focused on natural sciences rather than technology and many of the traditional large exhibits, such as civil engineering, were reduced in size to accommodate more modern technological advances.

Deutsches Museums’ famous modern train set with Europe’s rail makes

The Apollo 8 space capsule was shown in a special exhibit entitled “Man and Space” in Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany in August 1969. In the year 1970 the first full-time director named Theo Stillger was appointed to manage the special exhibit. In the 1970s, the mission statement of the Deutsches Museum was modified to encourage the explanation of the cultural significance of science and technology in exhibits.

Deutsches Museum’s automotive collection

During the early 1980s, the administration of the Deutsches Museum saw sever damage to several exhibits due to arson resulting in the smallest exhibit space of 34,140 square meters. This was followed by an extensive reconstruction effort and additional building bringing the total exhibit space to 55,000 square meters by 1193. In the 1980s and 1990s the Deutsches Museum Bonn and the Flugwerft Schleißheim airfield exhibit was born due to the agreements between the Science Center in Bonn and the government of Germany.

In 1996, the Bavarian Governement gave buildings at the historic Theresienhohe site in Munich to the Deutsches Museum that led to the construction of the new transportation museum. It was called the Deutsches Museum Verkehrszentrum which opened in 2003 and now features the road vehicle and train exhibits that were removed from the original Deutsches Museum site. The Theresienhohe quarter is considered as a new area on the edge of the inner city of Munich in Germany and the Museum of Transport is a part of the quarter’s design of mixed use.

Deutsches Museum’s airplane exhibit

As of today, the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany features a collection of airplanes including German planes from the years 1950 through 1960, as well as Russian and Vietnamese fighter planes. The museum also offer a workshop which is dedicated to the airplanes. They also have a number of exhibits belonging to different fields which are listed below:

• Aerospace
• Agriculture
• Amateur Radio
• Astronautics
• Astronomy
• Bridge Building
• Ceramics
• Chemistry
• Chronometry
• Computers
• Electrical Power
• Energy Technology
• Environment
• Glass
• History of the Deutsches Museum
• Hydraulic engineering
• Machine Components
• Machine Tools
• Marine Navigation
• Masterpieces
• Mathematical Gallery
• Mining (Historical and Modern)
• Metallurgy
• Microelectronics
• Mineral Oil and Natural Gas
• Music
• Paper
• Pharmacy
• Physics
• Power Machinery
• Printing
• Scientific Instruments
• Telecommunications
• Textile Technology
• Tunnel Construction
• Weights and Measures

Visiting Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany

Locals and tourists around the world can visit the Deutsches Museum in Munich Germany that is open from nine in the morning and closes at five in the afternoon. However, there are some departments in the museum that stays open until eight in the evening. The admission fee is for 8.50 Euros for adults and three Euros for children, kids under six years old are free of charge. Tourists can also avail family tickets for 17 Euros.