New Mercedes-Benz Museum Opens in Stuttgart

Saturday, 20 May 2006 11:08

Stuttgart, Germany - With over 160 vehicles and a total of 1,500 exhibits spanning more than a century of automaking, the New Mercedes Benz Museum was inaugurated.  The building designed by Dutch architect Ben van Berkel is expected to receive more than a million visitors per year. The cost of the building was around 192 million dollars.  The futuristic building replaces the old museum located in the plant.  “The 16,500-square-meter museum, directly outside the group's main factory, displays a replica of the world's first car, designed by Carl Benz, as well as buses, trucks and a current Formula One racing car, “ reported Expatica.

Mercedes-Benz is very proud of the fact that they invented the first practical automobiles and upon entering the museum that is what you'll see. Be sure to grab one of their wireless radios for a description of all of the exhibits.  The museum has angled floors that lead you up through the museum and the cars are arrayed in a more or less historical order. 

Visitors who visit the museum are lifted by an elevator 42 meters and start to view the exhibits from the top down.  “Dutch architect Ben van Berkel designed the museum according to principles developed in the construction of multilevel car parks: 110,000 tons of steel and concrete stretch the limits of modern engineering, making other car museums look like simple warehouses.  The basic principle is that of the spiral corridor, pioneered by the architects of New York City's Guggenheim Museum,” reported Spiegel Magazine.

Visit The Mercedes-Benz Museum at : http://www.ddavid.com/formula1/merc_museum.htm