The Technoseum (former name State Museum of Technology and Work, German: ''Landesmuseum für Technik und Arbeit'') is a

technology museum A technology museum is a museum devoted to applied science and technological developments. Many museums are both a science museum and a technology museum, and incorporate elements of both museum genres. The goal of technology museums is to educ ...

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, with displays covering the industrialisation of the south-western regions of the country. The museum building was designed by the Berlin architect Ingeborg Kühler. Its planning and construction period lasted from 1982 to 1990.

Permanent exhibitions

Visitors who walk through the building from top to bottom will experience a journey in time from the beginning of the

industrial revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

in the state of Baden-Württemberg to the present day. Stands portraying the technical, social and political changes since the 18th century include those on clocks, paper manufacture and weaving. There are displays of living and working premises as well as machinery from the fields of industry, transport and the office. These displays enable the visitor to gain a graphic understanding of the far-reaching changes in living and working conditions right up to the present. The ''Elementa'' workshop complements the themes and exhibits of technological, economic and social history shown to date. It is not limited to covering basic scientific principles, but also shows the technical inventions which resulted from various scientific experiments. Opel-Sander RAK1

The Technoseum has a replica of the world's first dedicated rocket-plane on display: Fritz von Opel on September 30, 1929 was the pilot of the world's first public manned rocket-powered flight with the Opel RAK.1, designed by Julius Hatry. The Opel-RAK program under the leadership of Fritz von Opel and Max Valier is generally considered the world's first large-scale rocket program with a strong and long-lasting impact on later space pioneers and in particular on

Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( ; ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German–American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and '' Allgemeine SS'', the leading figure in the development of ...

Steam train

Running from end-to-end through the middle of the museum is a dual-gauge

metre gauge Metre-gauge railways ( US: meter-gauge railways) are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. Metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by several European colonial powers including France, Britain and ...

and

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

railway track. On this track a

fireless locomotive A fireless locomotive is a type of locomotive which uses reciprocating engines powered from a reservoir of compressed air or steam, which is filled at intervals from an external source. They offer advantages over conventional steam locomotives of ...

operates steam-haul trips outside of the museum, over a bridge and then back into the museum again.

Feldbahn railway

Since 2006, between May and October each year a ' narrow gauge trains runs in a loop around the Technoseum park grounds. The track gauge is and there are two regular small diesel locomotives. One locomotive was built in 1961 and worked mining peat in

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

; the other one was built in 1964 and matches a locomotive used at the nearby Tonwaren-Industrie Wiesloch brickworks.

Museum ship ''Mannheim''

The

is a side wheel paddle steamer that was converted into a museum ship in 1985. It housed a permanent exhibition an inland navigation and the history of steam ships. Since 2018 it was closed for the public due to a loss of operational license due to poor condition. In 2023 the "Verein Museumsschiff Mannheim e. V." (assosiation museumship mannheim) helped to raise money for the repairs and a restoration of the ship. In June 2024 an open day was held after the repairs.

Special exhibitions

The selection of visiting or temporary exhibitions have included: * Body World ( Körperwelten) (the first to appear in Europe in 1997/98) *

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

: Technology and Fiction (1999/2000) * Mythos Turn of the Century: human beings, nature and machines in photos 1800 – 1900 – 2000 (2000/01) * The Brain and Thinking: the cosmos in the head (2001/02) * All the Time in the World (2002/03) * Dance and the Banana: Trade and cultural objects (2003/04) * E-Guitar: Electric guitars, musicians, history, culture (2004) * Love of Cars (2004/05) * Understanding

Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

(2005/06) * View into the Invisible:

sub-atomic particle In physics, a subatomic particle is a particle smaller than an atom. According to the Standard Model of particle physics, a subatomic particle can be either a composite particle, which is composed of other particles (for example, a baryon, like ...

s, microsystems and

parasites Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The en ...

(2006/07) *

Space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

Adventure:Break out into the

universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of matter and energy, and the structures they form, from s ...

(2006/07) * Mannheim on Wheels. Mobility from 1607 to 2007 (2007/08) * Power music (2008)

References

External links

Homepage of the museum

Space Adventure exhibition

Mannheim on Wheels exhibition

Power Music exhibition

Technoseum - Landesmuseum für Technik und Arbeit in Mannheim at Google Cultural Institute
{{Authority control Technology museums in Germany Buildings and structures in Mannheim Museums in Baden-Württemberg Transport museums in Germany Science museums in Germany Industry museums in Germany Tourist attractions in Mannheim