Deutsches Museum (German Museum)

The official name of Deutsches Museum in Munich is “Deutsches Museum von Meisterwerken der Naturwissenschaft und Technik“ (German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology). It is the largest museum of natural science and technique world-wide. On 55,000 square meters 28,000 objects are presented in about 50 departments. The Deutsches Museum is situated on a gravel bank on an island (Museum island) in the river Isar.

Every year the Deutsches Museum has about 1.5 Million visitors. It is the most common and popular museum in Germany. Everything man has invented in mining, in the underground and close to the stars, a planetarium you will find here on about 16 kilometers and six levels. The dimension and diversity of the Deutsches Museum is really impressive. There are sailing ships with rigged sails and aeroplanes with their entire wingspan. Everywhere something is moving, blinking and glowing.

Since 1992 very big missiles and planes are located at a branch of the Deutsches Museum on a former military airbase at Oberschleißheim in the north of Munich. Since the year 2000 there is another branch at Theresienhöhe in Munich, the transportation center, in the former trade fair center with exhibits from the division transport and mobility. Since 1995 there is also a further branch of Deutsche Museum in Bonn.

A museum for everybody

Deutsches Museum is very attractive for families and students but also for scientists and those who want to become scientists. Numerous tours for different age groups and subjects as well as the different departments make it easier for the visitors to find their way around in the big building. The Deutsches Museum wants to make scientific and technical findings accessible for ordinary people. Therefore they focus on the historic development and the meaning for society.

The history of the Deutsches Museum

Thanks to an initiative of the civil engineer Oskar von Miller (1855 to 1934) Deutsches Museum was built. Already around the year 1900 Oskar von Miller was planning the building of the Deutsches Museum. In 1903 the project started. To raise money he promoted the construction of the building among companies active in the German industry at that time. Due to the First World War the Deutsches Museum was opened only in 1925, on Oskar von Millers birthday.

During the Second World War bombings destroyed 20% of the exhibits and 80% of the buildings on the museum island. Right after the end of World War II the reconstruction started. In 1948 the Deutsches Museum reopened. But only in 1969 the exhibition space regained its former size.

* Photo: By Max-k muc.Max-k muc at de.wikipedia.Later version(s) were uploaded by Max-k at de.wikipedia. [CC-BY-SA-2.0-de], from Wikimedia Commons