A few months before the 1903 meeting of the Society of German Engineers, Oskar von Miller gathered a small group who supported his desire to found a science and technology museum. In a showing of support this group spontaneously donated 260,000 marks to the cause and elected a "Provisional Committee" to get the ball rolling. In June 1903,
Prince Ludwig agreed to act as patron of the museum and the city of Munich donated Coal Island as a site for the project. In addition, exhibits began to arrive from Munich, Germany, and abroad including collections from the
Bavarian Academy. As no dedicated museum building existed, the exhibits were displayed in the National Museum. On 12 November 1906, the temporary exhibits at the National Museum were ceremonially opened to the public and on November 13 the foundation stone was laid for the permanent museum. The first name of the museum, the "German Museum for Masterpieces of Natural Science and Technology", was not meant to limit the museum to German advances in science and technology, but to express the importance of science and technology to the German people. Oskar von Miller opened the new museum on his 70th birthday, 2 May 1925, after a delay of almost ten years. From the beginning, the museum displays are backed up by documents available in a public library and archives, which are open seven days a week to ensure access to the working public. Before and during
World War II the museum was put on a shoestring budget by the Nazi party and many exhibits were allowed to get out of date with a few exceptions such as the new automobile room dedicated on 7 May 1937. By the end of 1944 the museum was badly damaged by air bombings with 80% of the buildings and 20% of the exhibits damaged or destroyed. As Allied troops marched into Munich in April 1945, museum director, Karl Bässler, barely managed to keep the last standing bridge to Museum Island from being blown up by retreating German troops. Following the war the museum had to be closed for repairs and temporary tenants, such as the College of Technology and the Post Office used museum space as their own buildings were being reconstructed. The Museum was also home to the
Central Committee of the Liberated Jews, representing Jewish
displaced persons in the
American Zone of Germany after the war, as well as to
UNRRA that operated a camp for
displaced persons and later an International University with over 2000 students. In November 1945, the library was able to reopen, followed by the congress hall in January 1946. A special exhibit on fifty years of the
Diesel engine opened in October 1947 and the regular exhibits began reopening in May 1948. Not until 1965, more than twenty years after the end of the war in Germany, did the exhibit area match (and then exceed) pre-war size. During the 1950s, the museum focused on natural sciences rather than technology and many of the traditional large exhibits, such as civil engineering, were reduced in size to make way for more modern technological advances. in Deutsches Museum , is on display. At a speech on the donation of a
Opel RAK2 rocket-car replica to the Deutsches Museum, rocket pioneer
Fritz von Opel summarized the history of rocketry ("Ein Pionier des Raketenantriebs berichtet", April 3, 1968) beginning with ancient rocket technologies over the world's first rocket program
Opel RAK, initiated by
Max Valier,
Friedrich Wilhelm Sander and himself, to NASA's space missions of the 1960s. In August 1969, the
Apollo 8 space capsule was shown in a special exhibit entitled "Man and Space" and in 1970 the first full-time director, Theo Stillger, was appointed. In the 1970s the mission statement of the museum was modified to encourage the explanation of the cultural significance of science and technology in exhibits. The early 1980s saw severe damage to several exhibits due to arson resulting in the smallest exhibit space of 34,140 square meters (8½ acres). This was followed by an extensive reconstruction effort and additional building bringing the total exhibit space to 55,000 square meters (13½ acres) by 1993. The 1980s and '90s also brought agreements with the Science Centre in Bonn and the government resulting in the creation of
Deutsches Museum Bonn and the Flugwerft
Schleißheim airfield exhibit. In 1996, the Bavarian Government gave buildings at the historic
Theresienhöhe site in Munich to the Deutsches Museum resulting in the creation of the new transportation museum, the Deutsches Museum Verkehrszentrum, which opened in 2003 and now houses the road vehicle and train exhibits that were removed from the original Deutsches Museum site. The Theresienhöhe quarter is a new area on the edge of the inner city of Munich, and the Museum of Transport is a part of the quarter's design of mixed use.
Chronology • 1903 Museum's foundation • 1906 Opening the provisional collections in the rooms of the former National Museum in Maximilianstrasse • 1909 Opening additional collections in the old barracks on the Isar (Ehrhardtstraße) • 1911 Topping out ceremony of collection house • 1925 Opening of the Deutsches Museum in the new building on Museum Island • 1928 Laying the foundation stone for the library and hall • 1930 Topping out ceremony of the library and hall • 1932 Opening of the library • 1935 Opening of the Congress Center • 1944 Destruction of 80 percent of the building • 1948 Reopening after the destruction • 1983 Destruction of marine and engine sections by fire • 1984 Opening of the new hall for Aerospace; temporary closure of some departments to hail and water damage • 1992 Opening of the Schleißheim's Aviation Museum at the
Oberschleißheim's airport • 1995 Opening a branch of the Deutsches Museum in
Bonn • 2003 Opening of the Transportation Center on the former exhibition grounds • 2006 Opening the Halls I and II of Transportation Center on the
Theresienhöhe • October 2015 start of the first major phase of renovation/modernization, with several exhibits closing • September 2021 Opening of the branch Deutsches Museum Nuremberg - "Das Zukunftsmuseum" == Current permanent exhibits ==