Exhibit C: A tour of Dresden Transport Museum
When IATM asked it’s members for current and upcoming exhibitions, it received numerous entries. Our five-part article series takes you around the world to many of them. Join a virtual tour of Dresden Transport Museum in this article.
First stop: All aboard! – Permanent exhibition on railway transport
The models in this exhibition give an impression of how the railways shaped people’s lives in the past, the role they play today, and how they might look in the future. Join us on an exciting journey back in time with several walk-in carriages and locomotives that you can enter and soak up the atmosphere of past times.
More interested in a smaller scale?
Vehicles built to a scale of 1:45 can also be explored and steered:
Up next: Railway history in miniature – the model railway
225 locomotives and carriages, 785 metres of track, five stations. Lose yourself in a lovingly crafted miniature world. Spanning 325 m², the model train set is one of the world’s largest in 0-scale size with a desk for commands at your fingertips.
Transfer to: Hoofs, wheels and tyres – permanent exhibition on road transport
In the last 200 years, ground-breaking inventions in road transport have enabled increasing numbers of people to travel the world. This exhibition presents the pioneers of this field, trailblazing bicycles, motorbikes and automobiles. Additionally, it looks at how changes in road transport have had an impact on our everyday lives.
From the road to the sea, the next part of the exhibition sets sail: Anchors aweigh!
How have people, past and present, lived and worked on and by the water? Navigate through 1,000 years of ocean and inland seafaring history. From 21 March, a special focus in naval history is put on Pirates.
Stopover: Pirates! – Special exhibition (21 March 2024 – 5 January 2025)
They plundered, pillaged, and murdered on their search for booty. Pirates were the curse of the high seas! Or were they rather noble, courageous buccaneers in pursuit of adventure and freedom? What do we really know about how pirates lived? What is true, and what is myth?
Pirates have been around for as long as ships have sailed the seas. They appeared wherever trade flourished and there was no protecting power. Different laws applied on board the ship. Prisoners, slaves, and even women saw piracy as an opportunity for freedom and a self-determined life.
Today, Pirates still operate worldwide as they did 3,000 years ago. Their global sign is the Jolly Roger flag with a skull and crossbones. The sight of it once instilled fear on trade ships. This has changed in time, with companies now using its symbolism for their own purposes.
What do we really know about how pirates lived, what they did, and how successful they were? What did they do with their loot, and how did they live out their lives?
With these questions answered, we continue the journey. Would you rather look at the scenery from up above? Dreams of flight take you into the sky.
Flying: once a perilous feat of daring, now an everyday occurrence. The Dresden Transport Museum’s exhibition on the history of aviation pays tribute to those courageous pioneers and their high-flying adventures. A special focus lies on aircraft construction in the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
Inspiring your work
If this permanent exhibition sparked your interest or you are working on a related subject, we’ll happily connect you. Museums in over 30 countries are represented within the International Association of Transport and Communications Museums. They share similar topics and can be extremely different in their approach. We want to provide you with a sense of the current topics and approaches in the institutions.
On 5 March, we’ll take you on a train ride through several museums.
Find the previous article here.
