When the opening of the first modernized part of the Deutsches Museum is celebrated with a three-day festival from Friday to Sunday, July 8th to 10th, it has a long tradition: “Like the opening of the Deutsches Museum in 1925 – there were also three days,” says General Manager Wolfgang M. Heckl. Hard work has been done on and in this first section of the building since October 2015. After the “Long Night of the Munich Museums” at that time, the big clearing out began – nevertheless, half of the museum remained open to visitors during the renovation. The fact that the museum then had to be completely closed several times from March 2020 was not due to modernization, but to Corona and the associated lockdowns. In 2028, on the 125th anniversary of the founding of the museum, the modernization of the building should be completed. But there’s still time until then, so let’s celebrate first.
Inside: only with a ticket
It starts on July 8 at 12 noon, online tickets are available at www.deutsches-museum.de/museumsinsel/tickets. About 3,500 people are allowed to be in the exhibition building at the same time, explains operations manager Dagmar Klauer during a guided tour in advance. In order to give as many people as possible the chance to visit, the opening times have been changed: the new building is open on Friday from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m., on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. From Monday, July 11, the museum will return to regular operations – with the usual opening hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 357 days a year.
Outside: bridge festival for everyone
Demand for opening weekend tickets is likely to outstrip supply. But even those who were unable to get a ticket will be offered a wide-ranging program outside. “We want a bit of a folk festival atmosphere,” says Wolfgang M. Heckl. “That was also the case in 1925.” At that time there was a parade through the city, this time there is a “bridge festival” on the Uferstraße between the Cornelius and Bosch bridges. Stands and stages will be set up there, the new museum garden around the sea rescue cruiser Theodor Heuss is converted into a beer garden, above which a slackliner shows his show at a dizzying height. In the afternoon, the circus “Wandelbühne” can be admired on the ship’s stage, from 8 p.m Express Brass Band from 9.30 p.m. to 11 p.m. the stage then belongs to DJ Ferit Stern. On the second stage at the Bosch Bridge, museum employees will provide insights into their work with science shows. The following applies to participation in this outdoor bridge festival: Admission is free. And the party continues until 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Glass interim entrance
Very important for visitors: For the first time in the almost 100-year history of the museum, access is no longer via the old entrance in the museum courtyard, but via a new, multi-storey glass building on the Corneliusbrücke. “This is an interim solution: in 2028 the entrance will move back to the museum courtyard. However, we are pleased to have found such an attractive solution for the meantime, which with its transparent appearance also stands for the new openness of the museum island,” says the site manager of the Deutsches Museum, Dieter Lang. The riverside road on the Isar on the entire Museum Island and the Museum Garden are now also accessible in the evening.
orientation
Where do I find what? For example the toilet. And how do I find my way out? Plant manager Dagmar Klauer knows from surveys of visitors that these are questions that many visitors have asked before in the nested and listed heavyweight stone building. “The good news is that we’ve got this issue well under control,” she assured before the opening. Among other things, large orientation walls and information boards in each exhibition area provide assistance.
The new exhibitions
Humanoid robots, the care and household helpers of the future? For the first time there is an exhibition on robotics in the Deutsches Museum.
(Photo: Catherine Hess)
“I’m really looking forward to seeing you again Aunt Ju, the big airplane in the aerospace hall,” says Wolfgang M. Heckl. The new aerospace hall alone has an exhibition area of almost 7,000 square meters. “You can experience aviation history here as well as the race into space – large airplanes and the Spacelab hanging in the air here. And we have re-staged and re-explained the planes – you can hardly escape the fascination of flying here,” says Heckl. The historical context of the Nazis’ so-called “wonder weapons” with their terrible side effects such as forced labor is clearly shown and documented. These explanations There were indeed earlier, but rather bashfully on the sidelines.There are a total of 19 individually curated new permanent exhibitions on an area of 20,000 square meters – from model railways to nuclear physics, from electronics to health, from bridges and hydraulic engineering to the musical instruments, and the exhibition on robotics is the very first in the Deutsches Museum.
The exhibits
Exhibits that tell contemporary history: After the terrible atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the early 1950s, America wanted to make atomic energy socially acceptable – and brought radioactive substances into children’s rooms.
(Photo: Catherine Hess)
The good news first: There are many beloved exhibits from the old house to see again in the new building – including the first diesel engine or the so-called “Microscopic Theater” on the scanning electron microscope, the flight simulator, the giant airbus-fuselage cross-section, the famous “Nuclear Fission Table” in chemistry, and the coveted red fire engine in Children’s Kingdom. But there are also numerous exhibits that people couldn’t see before: around a third of the exhibits were acquired especially for the new exhibitions, a third were previously in depots – and only a third could be seen in the exhibitions before.
concept
The little Nano in the new exhibition on robotics is to be given a new name.
(Photo: Catherine Hess)
In all exhibitions, a balancing act was attempted between conveying basic knowledge on the one hand and original objects on the other, explains Wolfgang Heckl. “The haptic principle is very important for our visitors,” Heckl states again and again. That may come as a surprise in the digital age. But he sees the need for visitors to document historical exhibits with photos, such as Rudolf Diesel’s engine: “I was here, it wasn’t a fake, it really exists, I stood in front of the diesel engine.” Heckl doesn’t want to name a favorite exhibition (“I feel like the father who loves all his children equally”). But the little robot in the new robotics exhibition, which imitates what it has learned at the push of a button, clearly gives him pleasure: he has even taught him John Travolta’s tones and dance movements for “Staying Alive”. The little guy is still called Nano. But visitors are encouraged to give it a new name. Perhaps “Oski” after the museum’s founder, Oskar von Miller? Heckl suggests.
Mediation and media guide
Fire from ice: During a demonstration in the chemistry room, ammonium nitrate is mixed with ammonium chloride and zinc powder.
(Photo: Florian Peljak)
There are plenty of explanations about the many unique exhibits – there are more than 8000 in total – at the media stations for you to click on, look at and listen to. “In addition to the media stations, we have implemented an extremely detailed digital guide that tells the exciting story of the exhibits and their inventors with audio tracks, films and texts. You can spend hours on that alone,” says Dagmar Klauer. Visitors can download this multilingual media guide onto their smartphones or rent it on rental devices. In addition, a diverse range of guided tours and demonstrations – for example in the auditorium in the entrance hall and in the chemistry room – was developed.
woman in the moon
The Deutsches Museum’s gastronomy, which is not quite finished yet, should be ready for the weekend: the “Frau im Mond” restaurant and her view.
(Photo: Catherine Hess)
Even if everyone in the museum makes their own individual “favourite” selection. A future highlight of the Munich company should already be certain: the roof terrace, which can also be accessed outside of the museum’s opening hours via its own elevator. There you can enjoy a sundowner with a wonderful view over Munich. Because the “Woman in the Moon”, appropriately located right next to the space exhibition, with 80 seats inside the building and around 100 partly covered seats on the terrace, allows a panoramic view over the Isar to the Alps. Incidentally, the name of the restaurant comes from the science fiction silent film “Frau im Mond” by Fritz Lang from 1929, explains Heckl during the tour. The restaurant, run by Maximilian Gradl and Alexander Recknagel, is open every day, Sundays and weekdays until 11 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays until 1 a.m.