1. The Mercedes-Benz Museum: A heritage for the future

2. Timescale: Key dates

3. Facts & figures: Key details of the Mercedes-Benz Museum

4. Architecture: A design masterpiece

5. Exhibits: Innovative concept for an impressive heritage

6. Materials: Man-made leather and parquet for orientation

7. Technology: From lighting to the audio guide

8. A family museum: Perfect for children and young people

9. Stuttgart & surroundings: Art and cuisine highly recommended

10. Travel directions: The quickest way to Untertürkheim

Exhibits: Innovative concept for an impressive heritage


Each area in the Mercedes-Benz Museum tells a continuous story and specifically focuses on individual exhibits. It is the exhibits – not the context in which they are presented – that are the stars and the centre of attention.

"The Museum must project itself from inside, from its content", says HG Merz. "The content and the building itself should be of equal importance, complement each other and appear as a comprehensive whole. " The design by Ben van Berkel expertly takes these present-day requirements into account, making it possible to incorporate them into a modern-age museum in many ways.

Exhibiting and archiving

Exhibiting and archiving are two characteristic functions of a museum, as defined by the social historian Prof. Gottfried Korff, who accompanied the conceptual process for the Mercedes-Benz Museum as an adviser. The division into Legend and Collection rooms is in line with this approach: the Legend rooms show individual, outstanding vehicles from the 120-year product history of Mercedes-Benz, while the Collections act as viewing areas which offer space for a large number of exhibits, including many commercial vehicles and passenger cars, and are designed to facilitate frequent replacement of these exhibits.

The first space encountered in the new Museum is the atrium, a brightly-lit area in the centre of the double-helix realised by the architectural plan. This helix structure provides scope for several alternative tours. The lifts in the atrium give visitors a "pre-show" to set the scene for their impending experience, then deposit them at the uppermost level from which the tours begin.

The need for two tour routes is due to the sheer number of exhibits which the company has assembled as highlights of the brand during the course of its history, and to the wealth of definitive and pioneering advances which the company has contributed to the history of the automobile over 120 years. There is also scope for varying tours to include the history of the brand in the Legend rooms and more detailed information in the Collection. The Legend rooms and Collections combine to create an internally consistent brand message which reaches its zenith in the subsequent, emotionally charged "Races and Records" display.

The chronological tour ends in the racing section with its impressive collection of more than 110 years of racing history, as well as associated memorabilia and driver profiles. The final display area in the Museum - „The Fascination of Technology“ – is flanked by record-breaking cars. This insight into the work of Mercedes-Benz engineers in research, design, development and production also provides an outlook on the future of the brand. "The special feature of this area is that the visitor leaves the past behind at this point", say Ingo Zirngibl and Thomas Hundt, whose agency Jangled Nerves developed and realised the media concept for this section. It shows filmed portraits of researchers, designers, developers, production planners and assembly workers thinking about the present and future of Mercedes-Benz, and talking about their personal motivation and commitment.

The Legend rooms

The seven different scenarios presented in the Legend rooms bring the Mercedes-Benz legend to life as a sensual experience. As something akin to a journey through time, they tell the story of the Mercedes-Benz brand from the early days of the automobile right up to the brand’s global expansion in the present day. They show the close interaction between innovation and tradition, while documenting the challenges presented by different eras and the responses from Mercedes-Benz.

The Legend rooms are made up of four elements: an illustrated chronology, a display wall, a scene and a workbench. The illustrated chronology provides visitors with a general overview of the major topics of the era and the company’s history, preparing them for the presentation on that level. The display wall at the foot of each ramp gives visitors a written context for the vehicles displayed in that area, also showing the matrix for the visitor guidance system. The scene – the display section in the centre of each Legend room – presents the most important Mercedes-Benz vehicles and product innovations from the era concerned. The workbenches focus on the most important technical and design innovations.

These four components are supplemented with one more which extends throughout the entire Museum – through the Legend and Collection rooms: the "33 Extras". This points out the phenomenal changes which the invention of the automobile meant for mankind.

The Collections

The Collections show the sheer number and variety of the vehicles made by Mercedes-Benz. They illustrate the identity of the brand by the multi-facetted nature of its products. In other words, the Legend rooms provide the context while the Collections document the fascination that is Mercedes-Benz. With their enormous number of exhibits, the Collections reflect the experience, expertise and perfection inherent in the entire range of automotive products. Accordingly the accomplishments of the brand are put into permanent perspective.

The Collections, which are presented in topic groups as in classic museums, display an enormous variety of vehicles and associated exhibits in a factual atmosphere. The arrangement and choice of the individual exhibits produces a treasure-trove devoted to the relevant topic.

In contrast to the chronologically oriented Legend rooms, the Collections are arranged according to types of application. Their purpose is the intensive study of individual vehicles in their operational context. Passenger cars, buses, coaches and trucks are not displayed within a contemporary scene, but according to particular areas of Mercedes-Benz expertise. They are accompanied by explanatory (graphic and audiovisual) documentation, including data and information about the development of the products and their use.

In order to present the areas of expertise of the brand across their entire width, four of the five Collections depict these in the form of travel ("Gallery of Travel"), goods transport ("Gallery of Loads"), services ("Gallery of Helpers") and representation ("Gallery of Names"). The fifth Collection, the "Gallery of Heroes", presents the Mercedes-Benz as a hardworking day-to-day hero.

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