The Mercedes-Benz museum narrates the glorious history of this world renowned
luxury car manufacturer. It is an automotive museum that takes on a voyage of automotive discover starting from the invention of automobiles to the latest visions and dreams for the future. To deliver a tangible experience to car enthusiasts around the world this automotive museum opened its gates in 2006.
Inspiring and Dynamic Architecture
The
Mercedes-Benz Museum situated in Stuttgart, Germany is designed by the UN Studio established by Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos in Amsterdam in 1988. The founder of this design company adopted the design concepts and technological creativity of a car to develop the inspiring museum for the car brand.
The dynamic architecture of the museum is based on a unique cloverleaf concept using three overlapping circles and the centre removed to form a triangular atrium. The outer skin of the beautiful architecture is draped in aluminium and glass to offer an air of transparency and weightlessness.
As the visitors step into the interior of the museum all eyes get stuck and one central lift takes them to the top level of the museum. The interior reflects the rich heritage car of the company. A spiral route takes visitors to the ground level showcasing the traces of automotive history from its beginning to the present day innovations.
Legend Rooms Showcasing the Unique Tradition of Mercedes-Benz
Legend rooms are innovatively designed to showcase a chronological tour that follow a series of gently sloping ramps to showcase the brand history from its beginning to the present visions for the future.
Legend Rooms or ‘M’ (title given to legend rooms by Mercedes) comprises seven different rooms to display different aspects of the rich heritage of Mercedes-Benz.
- M1 - Invention of the Automobiles: The M1 room displays all the innovations starting from the 1885 Daimler Riding Car and the 1886 Daimler Motorized Carriage to the 1896 Daimler belt-driven car and the 1899 Benz Dos-a-Dos that were powered by the contra engine, world’s first opposed-piston engine.
- M2 - Birth of the Brand: This section of the museum narrates the actual story of the birth of the brand starting from 1902 to 1914. The inspiration of the first Mercedes car was drawn from the businessman Emil Jellinek who demanded an automobile that would be the fastest at that period of time. The Chief Engineer Wihelm Maybach of DMG (Daimler-Motoren-Gesellscaft) then designed the car for Jellineks who then named it ‘Mercedes’ after his daughter. The car had soon become a huge success on the racing tracks and thus the name ‘Mercedes’ was born. It displays all the introductions and innovations starting from the 1902 40 bhp Mercedes-Simplex to the 1909 20/35 bhp Benz Landaulet.
- M3 - Time of Diesel and Superchargers: For Mercedes the 1920s and 1930s were the ear of diesel and superchargers that were introduced to boost power output of its luxury cars. This room displays the first supercharged engine introduced by the brand and also narrates the story of how Benz and DMG merged into Daimler-Benz AG. It displays everything from the Mercedes D III aero engine introduced in 1915 to the DB 603 aero engine introduced in 1944.
- M4 - Form and Diversity: During the years of Germany’s economic miracle the faith of Mercedes-Benz automobiles started changing and the company introduced almost 180 models in 1953 and then moved to the pontoon-type construction. The Ponton-Mercedes, gullwing and gasoline injection, 1954 300 S, 1955 300 SL Coupe, and 1962 300 SL roadsters are all the signpost of the fourth legend room.
- M5 - Safety and Environment: Mercedes-Benz is known for its thorough research on safety technologies and environment-friendly concepts. The brand has also pioneered many safety technologies including the airbags, antilock braking system, and safety door locks, crumple zones, and safety steering wheel. The fifth legend room displays all the introductions and innovations by Mercedes in this arena.
- M6 - Global and Environment: Mercedes moved ahead with high hopes and bright dreams. Despite of facing a number of challenges in the journey the company continuously moved on developing better cars and commercial vehicles for the global auto market. The company also made a significant move towards introducing concepts and technologies that reduce fuel-consumption and emissions. Everything that Mercedes has done since 1982 to drive the world is showcased in the M6.
- M7 - Races and Records: In the seventh legend room the museum narrates the story of Mercedes rendezvous with motorsports including Formula One. The section also displays the dynamic and legendary Silver Arrow introduced in 1934 and also the racing records.
Collection Rooms Showcasing the Wealth of Expertise, Experience, and Engineering
The Collection Rooms are connected to the Legend Rooms through various intersections to enable visitors to switch between tours at any point of time. It is also designed innovatively with spiral staircases that showcase the wealth of expertise, experience, and engineering.
There are five collection rooms in the museum comprising of:
- C1 - Gallery of Voyagers: It displays the entire range of automobiles introduced by Mercedes including buses, taxes, and vans that are producing better travelling experience on all journeys. Staring from the 1907 Milnes-Daimler double decker to the modern day Travego touring coach introduced in 2005 the C1 showcase all the introductions.
- C2 - Gallery of Carriers: This section displays all the delivery vehicles introduced by the brand. From the first diesel production truck to the modern day tailor-made transport solutions for diversified customer needs, this section displays all.
- C3 - Gallery of Helpers: This room displays all the vehicles introduced by Mercedes that help to make lives safer and more comfortable. It displays the fire engines, ambulances, police vans, and disposal vehicles introduced by the brand.
- C4 - Gallery of Celebrities: This section showcases the names and profile of all the celebrities from around the world who are known to be the first customers of some of the most scintillating Mercedes cars. The 1892 Daimler motor car purchased by Moulay Hassa I, Sultan of Morocco and the 1997 Mercedes-Benz ML 320 purchased by many stars are some of the examples.
- C4 - Gallery of Heroes: This collection room displays all the heroic cars built with a perfect harmonization of quality, comfort, safety, practicality, and reliability. All these attributes reflect the unique tradition of the brand as well as the design skills and technological creativity of the talents residing in the house of Mercedes-Benz.
Fascinating ‘Fascination of Technology’
‘Fascination of Technology’ is a completely separate exhibition hall in the museum where experts and specialists from Mercedes-Benz present themselves and provide the insights into the researches that the company has undergone till date. They also narrate the story of how designing and engineering evolved from the traditional concepts to the present day fascinating concepts. Visitors gain hands-on experience of technology and design through the exciting and emotional speeches of the experts.