See the world’s first cars: Mercedes-Benz Museum Stuttgart

The Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart is so packed with historic cars that it can easily keep you occupied for a whole day. But don’t worry if you are not (yet) interested in cars: The exhibition also includes a lot of information about design, German history, marketing and engineering.

The exhibition is housed in a modern building next to the quarters of Mercedes-Benz in Stuttgart.

After you buy your tickets on the ground floor, you will start your visit with an elevator ride up to the very top. There is a complementary audio guide with plenty of information. The German version includes special audio for kids and for more detail-oriented tech lovers (I do not know if all of these have been translated into English).

The exhibition is arranged in chronological order and after passing by a spooky stuffed horse, you arrive in one of the most spectacular halls of the museum.

The first exhibit is this spooky horse.

This first hall recounts the days when the first motors and cars were invented. This includes anecdotes of how the citizens of Mannheim reacted to seeing the first car ever, and how Berta Benz, the wife of one of the inventors, undertook the first long-distance car journey (without telling her husband anything about her plans!). You’ll see the world’s first cars, motorbikes and motorboats.

The world’s first motorbike.

The first cars looked like carriages without horses.

Continuing through the museum, you will learn how cars became popular, how the brand Mercedes was created and marketed in the very first days, and how the two companies Daimler and Benz merged later on. Everything car-related is set into context with the German history of industrialization, depression, war and economic rise. There is also a fair bit of advertisement for Mercedes-Benz but the museum still provides enough food for thought, laughter and admiration.

This beauty is one of the central exhibits of the museum.

Preparation
The museum has water fountains and seats to rest. If you plan to spend a whole day, you could consider to bring a snack; the attached restaurant leans towards the exquisite and expensive. We did not see any other places to eat in the area.

Be sure to check here if you qualify for a discount. The list includes students and holders of a Baden-Württemberg ticket. Admission is free on your birthday!

Recharge the batteries of your camera before you go: some of those cars are great photo opportunities and the light in the museum is perfect.

Ah, and there are quite a number of racing cars too.

Spread throughout the exhibition are information boards about all the smaller components of a car, from the mirrors to the signal-horn and the windshield wiper. All written information is provided in German and in English. The last sections of the museum are about the development of future cars and about design. Those design sketches together with the older cars are my favorite exhibits at the museum.

The last floor is dedicated to design.

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This article was published on perelincolors.com.