Travelling: Mercedes-Benz Museum, Stuttgart

Last week I travelled to the south of Germany to show my American girlfriend the area where I grew up. We stayed 2 nights in Stuttgart, the cool and wealthy capital of the federal state Baden-Württemberg (wikipedia). The "Schwabenmetropole" (Swabian metropolis, referring to the Swabian dialect spoken there) is spread across a variety of green hills (some of them are used as vineyards) but also is the heart of a dense industrial area hosting world market leaders like Daimler Benz, the maker of the prestigious Mercedes,  Porsche and Bosch (engineering & electronics).

The highlight of our Stuttgart visit was the Mercedes-Benz Museum (mercedes-benz-classic.com). This automotive show is a must see. The exhibition is located between the Mercedes factories in Bad Cannstatt, one of Stuttgart´s suburbs. You can easily reach the place by S-Bahn (S1) which also has a stop at Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof (main station).

The museum shows the evolution of the automobile from the inventions by Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler & Wilhelm Maybach through the high-tech transport system of our times. The device of the show, "tradition meets innovation", is well chosen. The collection is a travel through time and you can learn a lot about the evolution of technologies, because engines developed by Benz, Daimler & Maybach also were used for powering trains, boats and planes, as you can see there.

The exhibition is accompanied by presentation boards and movies about the industrial revolution, which was heavily promoted by the invention of cars and their further development, and also gives a glimpse on the history of Germany as an important industrial country.

The exhibited engines are combined with movies and sound effects (for instance from car races) which generate a fascinating multimedia show. Some of the exhibited motors & cars are quite beauties, comparable with pieces of modern art.

The building, which hosts the exhibition, is a piece of art by itself and a marvel of modern architecture. We went up by elevator to the highest floor where the chronological structured exhibition starts and walked then down following a tour which is shaped like the double helix of DNA. The walk was pure pleasure and is highly recommended.