The new Porsche Museum, located in the heart of the Porsche factory in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, Germany, officially opened to the public on Saturday, January 31, 2009.
The museum features 60,250 square feet (5,600 sq meters) of exhibition space designed entirely in white, ample space for approximately 80 historic vehicles and more than 200 smaller exhibits depicting Porsche’s history.
The exhibition concept of the Stuttgart museum designer Professor HG Merz deliberately dispenses with the idea of a staged theme world with flashy show effects and instead lets the sportscars speak for themselves. “Exhibits of this quality need no elaborate packaging”, stresses Professor Merz. “In Zuffenhausen they stand like sculptures in a white gallery. Against these reduced surroundings, the visitor can be alone with the vehicles and with his or her own personal feelings.”
Dr. Wolfgang Porsche, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Porsche AG, emphasized the task of the sports car manufacturer: to remember the founding personalities of the Company and to keep the spirit of their work alive: “My grandfather and my father were passionate automobile pioneers, engineers, and entrepreneurs. Their life’s work and everything that their successors successfully made of this and further developed from it, is documented here.”
Porsche is expecting at least 200,000 visitors per year. Even in the previous museum on the works site, which could barely accommodate 20 exhibits, 80,000 guests a year would turn up. The historic collection of Porsche AG encompasses a fleet of 400 racing and sportscars, with almost all exhibition vehicles still taking part in historic racing events. Since the rare items on show in the “Museum on Wheels” are constantly being changed, repeat guests will always find something new and fascinating at the museum.
Spacious conference areas are available for events, including access to an impressive roof terrace. Further, the exclusive “Christophorus” restaurant on the second floor – which has both a view through the glass facade onto the Porscheplatz as well as through the glass partition into the exhibition itself – has its own separate entrance and is also open at hours different from those of the museum itself.
The new Porsche Museum is open daily, except on Mondays, from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. Admission is 8 Euros for adults and children under 14 receive free admission when accompanied by an adult.
For more information, visit www.porsche.com/museum.
Porsche Museum Photo Gallery
[Source: Porsche AG]
The Porsche Museum is beautiful and it makes want to go to Stuttgart right now. The displays are awesome and I hope more is written about it and a book written about the Porsche Museum.
Thanks for the article with photos. Makes you want to start planning a trip to Stuttgart tomorrow.
These pictures of a museum I’ve never visited are more impressive than most of the museums I have visited. I’m saving money to go.
WOW
I`m putting a visit to the museum on my bucket list.
I visited the former museum in Zuffenhausen in the late 1980’s and it was much smaller than the new one. One of the first displays was a white opalescent 959 cut down the middle. Imagine doing that!! The museum was just yards from the factory and I was lucky enough to join a factory tour. The parts bins were being filled for the 959 at the time – I felt like me in Wonderland. The new one with amazing architecture is stunning and a fitting home for Porsche.