July 2022. As a teacher, Steve has the possibility to do a bigger trip in the school summer break. I don’t, or rarely do. After The Hague in 2020 and Utrecht in 2021, we decided to go to Germany for a now more or less traditional three-day weekend in July. Our eye fell on Stuttgart, in the state of Baden-Württemberg.
Prologue
We travelled by train to Stuttgart. I’m not allowed to drive a regular car due to my handicap and Steve really doesn’t like driving (far). We’ve reviewed travelling with Deutsche Bahn a few times now. It’s okay. Nowadays, with its many delays and staff shortages – something we know all about at NMBS / SNCB – it can be stressful. But we arrived in Stuttgart as expected at 10.39 AM.
After navigating the Stuttgart 21 railway engineering project, we checked in at Le Méridien. It left us time in the afternoon to visit the Mercedes-Benz Museum.
It would be a hot weekend, but decided to walk the hour-long journey to the museum.
Mercedes-Benz Museum
The Mercedes-Benz Museum covers the history of the Mercedes-Benz brand and the brands associated with it. Stuttgart is home to the Mercedes-Benz brand and the international headquarters of the Mercedes-Benz Group.
The current building, which stands directly outside the main gate of the Daimler factory in Stuttgart, was designed by UN Studio. It is based on a unique cloverleaf concept using three overlapping circles with the center removed to form a triangular atrium recalling the shape of a Wankel engine.
The building was completed and opened on 19 May 2006.
The building’s height and double helix interior were designed to maximise space, providing 16,500 square metres (178,000 sq ft) of exhibition space on a footprint of just 4,800 square metres (52,000 sq ft).
The museum contains more than 160 vehicles, some dating back to the very earliest days of the motorcar engine.
The vehicles are maintained by the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center of Fellbach.
Previously, the museum was housed in a dedicated building within the factory complex and visitors had in recent decades been transported from the main gate by a secured shuttle.
A visit
The ingenious architectural concept works.
The tour ends with ‘the future’ and the racing heritage.
The museum is interesting as it puts the Mercedes history in perspective to world events. Sometimes it’s not completely clear where to go next, as you don’t want to miss something.
There are photo opportunity points, showing what the next floor down will exhibit. The cars are also displayed in such manner you you can almost always take a good photo. Even if that means you can’t touch them. You shouldn’t anyway.
Some of the earlier vehicles are replicas, but many are not. They’re in such good condition.
The museum is great. Well worth a visit. We walked through quite quickly, without bothering with an audioguide, but still needed two hours. If you take more time, you can easily spend four hours inside.
Car (related) museums
More Formula 1 and other racing
- Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City, Mexico.
- Zandvoort, the Netherlands.
- Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia (1).
- Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia (2).
- Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
- Monte-Carlo, Monaco.
- Singapore.
- Le Mans, France.
- Norisring, Nuremberg, Germany.
- Vietnam.
Our experiences with Deutsche Bahn
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