Taking tradition a step further The Mercedes-Benz Museum

The Mercedes-Benz Museum is the only museum in the world that can document in a single continuous timeline over 120 years of auto industry history from its very beginnings to the present day. On nine levels and covering a floor space of 16,500 square metres, the museum presents 160 vehicles and over 1,500 exhibits.

The exhibition not only presents the fascinating history of the Mercedes-Benz brand, it also affords illuminating insights into the future. This dual function is also reflected in the architecture of the Mercedes-Benz Museum, designed by the UNStudio of Dutch architects van Berkel and Bos, Amsterdam.

The building’s interior is inspired by the double helix structure of the DNA spiral that carries the human genome. This in turn illustrates the Mercedes-Benz brand’s philosophy of originality – to continuously create radically new products to advance the cause of human mobility.

During a two-hour tour of the exhibition, visitors experience a unique journey through automotive history. Transported by lift to the uppermost level of the museum, the visitor arrives back in the year 1886, where two museum tours gradually spiral their way down through the extensive collection and back to the museum exit.

The first of the tours consists of seven Legend rooms which narrate the chronological history of the brand. The second tour groups the wealth of vehicles on display into five separate Collection rooms, which thematically document the breadth and diversity of the brand portfolio and collection.

The visitor can switch from one tour to the other at any time. Both tours finish at the banked curve entitled Silver Arrows – Races & Records. The exhibition is rounded off by the Fascination of Technology display, which offers a glimpse into day-to-day work at Mercedes-Benz and also presents topics concerning the future of the automobile.

The exhibition at the Mercedes-Benz Museum is divided into Legend rooms and Collection rooms. The Legend rooms narrate the history of the Mercedes-Benz brand, dividing it into themes and epochs. The rooms are ordered chronologically and the exhibition is fully through-designed.

The Collection rooms are arranged thematically and document the breadth and diversity of the brand’s vehicles. The Fascination of Technology on Level 0 offers a glimpse into present-day Research & Development at Mercedes-Benz.

The seven Legend rooms, which take visitors on a chronological journey through the history of the automobile to the present day, are each linked by 80-metre ramps. With the exception of the first and last rooms, the Legend tour is designed in line with a consistent principle: along the outside of a curved, clover-leaf wall, a ramp sweeps down to the vehicles, which form the focal point of each display.

While visitors can look down at the exhibits to the right-hand side, a chronological display on their left illustrates key events in corporate history as seen against their specific historical backdrop. The Legend rooms offer a striking illustration of the context in which epoch-making innovations in automotive engineering were made.

Each Legend room illustrates a particular era by developing a central theme. These include the invention of the independent, petrol-driven road vehicle, the origin of the Mercedes brand, the development of the supercharger and diesel engine, the Gullwing and semi-forward control trucks of the 1950s, the increasing importance of safety and environmental protection, the brand’s global presence, and in the final Legend room the complete history of racing and record-breaking cars.

• Legend 1: Pioneers – The Invention of the Automobile, 1886 – 1900
• Legend 2: Mercedes – Birth of the Brand, 1900 – 1914
• Legend 3: Times of Change – Diesel and Supercharger, 1914 – 1945
• Legend 4: Post-war Miracle – Form and Diversity, 1945 – 1960
• Legend 5: Visionaries – Safety and Environment, 1960 – 1982
• Legend 6: Moving the World – Global and Individual, 1982 to the present day
• Legend 7: Silver Arrows – Races & Records

The generously designed Collection rooms accommodate a large number of exhibits providing broad coverage of the background to each themed room.

The themes range from travel by bus, taxi or passenger car, goods transportation and distribution, the Gallery of Helpers documenting firefighting, the emergency services and municipal operations, celebrity cars, the Gallery of Heroes, with exhibits from everyday situations and changing special exhibitions.

Discreet floor graphics reminiscent of road markings indicate the topic of each Collection room and the direction to be taken through the vehicle layout. The vehicles in the Gallery of Helpers, for example, are all oriented towards a focal point in the centre of the space, while the Gallery of Celebrities is displayed on high-quality wooden plinths.

Alongside the ramp linking each Legend tour to one of the Collection rooms is a glass showcase, viewable from both sides. On the outside it displays model vehicles, on the inside smaller exhibits such as vehicle parts, accessories and promotional articles. A “micro-cinema” also shows films illustrating the topic of each Collection room.

• Collection 1: Gallery of Voyagers
• Collection 2: Gallery of Carriers
• Collection 3: Gallery of Helpers
• Collection 4: Gallery of Celebrities
• Collection 5: Gallery of Heroes

Both the Legend and Collection tours end up at the “Silver Arrows – Races & Records” display, where a steep banked curve sweeps around the entire exhibition space, gradually becoming a vertical, cylindrical wall studded with famous record-breaking cars. Legend 7 is an emotional finale to the museum tour.

On entering this area, visitors are able to take a seat on a grandstand opposite the banked curve, either to savour the impressive overall image for a while or view film footage of historic motor races shown on six different monitors. The grandstand is connected to a passageway behind the banked curve, which opens out into a “racing tunnel” leading to the Legend room devoted to “Races & Records”.

Original memorabilia from famous racing drivers and two racing simulators offer visitors a further opportunity to immerse themselves in the fascinating world of motorsport.

The banked curve gradually becomes a vertical wall on which famous record-breaking cars are mounted – from the record-breaking W 125 of 1938 to the solar-powered Solarmobile, which won the Tour de Sol from Lake Constance to Lake Geneva in the mid 1980s. At the centre of this cylindrical display, five platforms rise from the lower level of the connecting building, displaying experimental vehicles past and present.

These exhibits link the museum tour with the Fascination of Technology display area, which covers an area of 800 square metres and showcases the current state of development and gives a prospect of the future.

After taking visitors on a journey through the spectacular history of the Mercedes-Benz brand, the museum tour eventually ends with a finale featuring innovations of the future.

The Fascination of Technology display presents the current state of development at Mercedes-Benz in an exhibition area covering 800 square metres.

Special presentations regularly show current and visionary themes from the Mercedes-Benz Research & Development department.

This free section of the exhibition is a spectacular manifestation of the brand’s visionary commitment, the achievements of its employees and their passion. The glimpse behind the scenes illustrates that technical innovations are the result of hard work, that they are created from a passion to optimise and that they are never the result of chance.

At the core of the exhibition and entirely surrounding the space is a double-walled glass façade. This display case contains high-tech exhibits drawn from everyday Mercedes-Benz technology. When the visitor stands in front of the glass display, flat screens appear as if by magic to provide background information.

A film presents a summary of research tradition and current research goals. Mercedes engineering has always been considered as pioneering, setting global standards both as a technology leader and in terms of environmental protection.

The topic of design is also addressed, from the initial draft concept right up to the creation of vehicle models and the design freeze – the stage at which development of a product concept is frozen prior to the production phase. A film on development illustrates the engineers’ work at the Mercedes Technology Center in Sindelfingen, birthplace of the vehicles with the three-pointed star.

Behind the façade is the laboratory, whose purpose is to tackle different approaches to the individual topics. This is done with the help of an ‘explainer’, who greets visitors and escorts them into the laboratory, before providing a concise, comprehensible and entertaining explanation of the technical background to the Mercedes-Benz brand.

What may appear abstract at first sight is made comprehensible using exhibits from the day-to-day work of relevant employees. The extended, semi-circular space of the laboratory contains unusual exhibits that include an ergonomics test rig, a camouflaged prototype (a genuine “Erlkönig”) and two laser welding robots.

These robots work hand in hand, thus demonstrating the principle of cooperating robots used in vehicle production.

The Fascination of Technology displays no fewer than five Mercedes-Benz experimental vehicles – the futuristic C111, the F 100, F 200, F 400 and the F 500. All highly visionary at the time of their creation, these vehicles symbolise the networking of technology development and show how each in turn made innovative technologies tangible.

Some of the original studies are now in use in current production models; these include the night vision systems in the new E-Class or the variable space concepts in the A-Class, B-Class and R-Class.

The Mercedes-Benz Museum regularly shows current and visionary themes from the Mercedes-Benz Research & Development department in temporary special presentations. From the S 400 HYBRID to the ESF 2009 experimental safety vehicle and the Concept BlueZERO – the visitor here is in a place of innovation.

What Michael Bock, Managing Director of Mercedes-Benz Museum GmbH and head of Shows, Exhibitions and Events at Mercedes-Benz Cars, has to say…

“The Mercedes-Benz Museum lies just outside the factory gates at the parent plant in Untertürkheim. It was here in Bad Cannstatt that the automobile was invented, so we are in a truly historical setting.”

“The Mercedes-Benz Museum is the best and most unique place in the world to trace the history of the automobile and the legendary Mercedes-Benz brand in a totally new and fascinating way, from its earliest beginnings right up to the present day.”

“Daimler and Benz’s achievements touch everyone’s life in one way or another in today’s motorised society.”

“The Mercedes-Benz Museum takes visitors on a unique journey through the history of the automobile, covering 120 eventful years in the fullest of detail.”

... about the Legend and Collection rooms:

“The need for two tours results from the abundance of exhibits which have accumulated as brand highlights over the course of the company’s history.”

“The wealth of achievements throughout the company’s more than 120-year history have steered the overall course of automotive history.”

“In contrast to the chronologically organised Legend rooms, the Collection rooms are themed according to types of use. Their comprehensive range of exhibits reflects the experience, competence and perfection which are common to all automotive products across the board.”

“The ‘Fascination of Technology’ section features five research vehicles from Mercedes-Benz which can also be seen from the atrium. They illustrate the manner in which the various strands of technological development are interwoven and bring to life the new technologies which are ultimately incorporated into production models.”

“While levels 8 to 1 of the Mercedes-Benz Museum recount the history of the brand right from its earliest beginnings, The Fascination of Technology focuses on the present and affords an insight into the future.”

“The Mercedes-Benz Museum presents the fascinating history of our brand in an innovative exhibition against a unique architectural backdrop which embodies the brand’s “genes”. The building’s interior is modelled on a double DNA helix, reflecting the Mercedes-Benz brand’s innate capacity to continually evolve new creations dedicated to enhancing people’s mobility.”

The history of the automobile holds a special fascination for all age groups.

The Mercedes-Benz Museum offers numerous special amenities and services tailored especially to families with children and school classes – from the children’s audio guide through children’s birthday parties to free children’s dishes in the restaurant.

Before they embark on a tour of the museum, children are presented with a “discovery book” at the ticket counter. This free little guide provides children with a fun way to explore the exhibition in keeping with their age. The free audio guide with a special children’s profile is recommended as an alternative for visitors aged six and over.

This electronic guide recounts exciting stories in German and English spanning the history of the automobile from its invention to the present day. Alternatively, special guided tours of the exhibition and the “Fascination of Technology” section are available for children, subject to prior appointment.

160 vehicles and a good 1500 exhibits illustrate the history of the Mercedes-Benz brand at the Mercedes-Benz Museum. Apart from the sparkling silver Formula 1 vehicles and fascinating gullwing door models, the star attractions for children are everyday heroes – from refuse trucks through fire-fighting vehicles to the police car.

Visitors are free to clamber into various exhibits – a chance for toddlers to play at grown-ups and have their photograph taken with their dream car. A further highlight for the slightly older kids is a trip in a driving simulator, which is available to museum visitors of over 1.40 m (4′ 6”) in height.

Admission to the Mercedes-Benz Museum is free for all children up to the age of 14. Schoolchildren aged 15 and over receive a 50% reduction on the admission price. Groups of schoolchildren enjoy free admission to the museum, subject to prior notification.

Family parking spaces in the museum’s multi-storey car park, a barrier-free exhibition and buggies for hire demonstrate the Mercedes-Benz Museum’s child-friendly approach. Mothers’ and babies’ rooms and sanitary facilities are also available on all levels.

The Club at the Mercedes-Benz Museum offers a particularly broad range of activities for children.

Children’s workshops are available on a weekly basis, subject to prior registration – from the kids’ mechanics course through the Mini-DTM to the museum rally.

In the school holidays there are also children’s holiday programmes during which the little ones are looked after as they toy with interesting topics relating to cars and get to make their own airbags, for example. A popular option for girls and boys alike is the opportunity to throw their very own birthday party at the Mercedes-Benz Museum.

Parents can attend to the decorations and catering themselves or call on the support of the museum’s staff. After the tour of the museum, kids are then able to set to work themselves and help deck out the premises. And anyone in search of the right gift will find just the thing for kids and adults in the museum shop, with its souvenirs and children’s collection.

Following a tour of the exhibits, the restaurant at the Mercedes-Benz Museum offers a special service, with a choice of three free children’s dishes on offer for children up to 7 years of age who are accompanied by a dining adult. Children’s toilets, high chairs and a children’s play corner round off the family-oriented amenities.

For school classes, the Mercedes-Benz Museum offers a unique educational service: Prior to visiting the museum, teachers are able to request detailed literature which will enable them to prepare for their visit and to incorporate it into their teaching curriculum. The literature is aimed first and foremost at primary and secondary school classes.

Teachers can use it to prepare their classes either in unabridged form or as extracts. On arriving at the museum, school classes are welcomed personally and shown a short introductory film. Schoolchildren are then able to explore the museum on their own, with the aid of various booklets dedicated to specific topics.

The selected topics are based on the curricula of the state of Baden-Württemberg and cover the areas of Inventors, Motorsport and Safety. The literature for pupils and teachers is provided free of charge.

Information on the various programmes and activities on offer for children and schoolchildren is available online at www.mercedes-benz.com/kindermuseum.

Anyone wishing to register for workshops, birthday parties or visits by school classes is welcome to call the Mercedes-Benz Classic Customer Center on 07 11 / 17 30 000.

The Mercedes-Benz Museum offers an attractive programme for visitors of all ages, showcasing the 120-year history of the automobile.

Senior citizens in particular enjoy numerous services and amenities.

Senior citizens come up trumps even before they embark on a tour of the museum, picking up a day ticket for half the normal price. The annual ticket is also available to senior citizens at a 50% discount.

Visitors wishing to discover the Mercedes-Benz Museum on their own initiative can use a free audio guide, which is available in eight different languages and incorporates specific profiles. Senior citizens are able to concentrate on the topics of history and technology, for example, while their grandchildren use the children’s profile.

The audio guide headphones are equipped with special loops which also make them suitable for hearing aid users.

Best agers with physical disabilities receive special consideration at the Mercedes-Benz Museum. Special guided tours are available on request for people with impaired vision and mobility. Visitors with physical disabilities are attended to at the group ticket counter, in order to avoid strenuous waiting times.

Non-slip ramps enable wheelchair users to move around the entire museum without encountering any barriers. Wheelchairs and zimmer frames are available for visitors who have difficulty walking. Numerous satellite lifts serve all eight levels throughout the exhibition.

After completing their tour of the exhibition, visitors of all ages are able to relax and enjoy the catering on offer in the museum’s café bar or restaurant. Snacks, seasonal and regional dishes await the visitor here, as well as home-made cakes and pastries.

When spring arrives, the Mercedes-Benz Museum is once again a popular destination for grandparents and their grandchildren. The museum is then accessible not only by land, but also by water. In keeping with Gottlieb Daimler’s mobility concept, the pleasure boats of the Neckar Käptn line call in at the Mercedes-Benz Museum twice a day.

The Mercedes-Benz Museum combines unique architecture with an exhibition which is free of barriers and accessible to everyone.

This means that handicapped visitors are also able to explore the history of the automobile, from its beginnings more than 120 years ago right up to the present day.

The Mercedes-Benz Museum aims to enable all visitors to enjoy its offerings without any restrictions, ensuring equal treatment and the right of self-determination for everyone, regardless of any disabilities. The realisation of these aims brought the museum the 2007 architecture award for “exemplary barrier-free design”.

Barrier-free access to and movement within the exhibition was accorded top priority well before the opening. Ramps around the Mercedes-Benz Museum facilitate access for wheelchair users. The “Legend” exhibition rooms also incorporate DIN-standard ramps with intermediate landings and handrails at wheelchair-compatible height.

The materials used at the museum have also been chosen with the aim of ensuring a barrier-free environment, as demonstrated by non-slip flooring throughout the building.

Guests with physical disabilities receive special consideration at the Mercedes-Benz Museum. They are able to use a group ticket counter, in order to avoid strenuous waiting times. On request, the museum also offers special guided tours for wheelchair users. Guided tours for blind visitors and people with impaired vision are also available at the Mercedes-Benz Museum.

Models and exhibits which can be discovered by touching bring the exhibition at the Mercedes-Benz Museum to life for such visitors. Visitors with guide dogs are able to tour the exhibition with their dogs.

The museum’s multi-storey car park offers wheelchair users special parking spaces for the disabled and a lift. The museum and the exhibition can be accessed from the car park without encountering any barriers. There are numerous lifts serving all levels throughout the exhibition. A barrier-free environment is also ensured by appropriate toilets, swivelling doors at the entrance to the exhibition, a wheelchair and zimmer frame hire service and the audio guide with neck loop for hearing aid users.

For information or to register for services, please contact the Mercedes-Benz Classic Customer Center on 07 11 / 17 – 30 000 or at [email protected].

The Mercedes-Benz Museum has put together a host of special benefits for bus tour operators and groups – from special pricing arrangements through individual guided tours to free catering for drivers and tour guides.

Pricing Business partners of the Mercedes-Benz Museum purchasing 50 admission vouchers receive a price reduction for groups in advance of the actual visit. Groups with more than 10 regular visitors get a discount on their entrance1. Organisers can obtain information on the special pricing arrangements from the Classic Customer Center.

Several parking spaces for buses are available free of charge directly outside the museum. To reduce waiting times, a separate group admission counter is available for groups visiting the museum.

Guided tours of the Mercedes-Benz Museum can be booked in various languages. A free electronic guide is available for groups wishing to explore the museum without a personal guide. This guide features a special children’s profile for younger visitors. Groups with special needs and physical disabilities receive special consideration.

1 Valid from April 1st, 2010.

The Mercedes-Benz Museum provides a diverse range of culinary offerings – from small snacks to fine menus. Simple, very reasonably priced dishes are also available on request for groups with limited time at their disposal.

Drivers and/or tour guides accompanying registered groups enjoy free admission to the Mercedes-Benz Museum and a free snack in the museum restaurant. Admission and meal tickets are available from the information counter on presentation of a bus driver’s licence and confirmation of booking.

You can turn a group excursion to the Mercedes-Benz Museum into a unique and individual event. Why not combine your visit with a tour in the company of an expert guide, a trip to the restaurant and a personal memento from the shop? The Mercedes-Benz Classic Customer Center will be pleased to advise you and arrange an individual day out at the Mercedes-Benz Museum.

Mercedes-Benz Classic Customer Center

Tel: +49(0)711-17 30 000

Fax: +49(0)711-17 30 400

email: [email protected]

Further information is available at www.mercedes-benz.com/museum

At once the world’s most cutting-edge museum and a repository of the most deep-rooted traditions, the Mercedes-Benz Museum combines an elegant appearance with a unique structure based on a double helix. All aspects of this architecture are in flow, with no closed rooms or straight walls. Ceilings span 33 metres without any supports whatsoever and each of the 1800 triangular window panes is unique.

Three architecture firms have been instrumental in defining the character of the museum: Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos’s UNStudio created the building’s exciting design. HG Merz evolved the concept in close cooperation with the then DaimlerChrysler AG, from the initial invitation for tenders to detailed planning of the museum’s presentation. The former company DaimlerChrysler Immobilien GmbH assumed overall responsibility for the museum’s construction as the general contractor.

UNStudio’s initial outline sketch depicted an apparently simple geometric figure consisting of three loops turning endlessly back into themselves. The routes through the building intertwine on nine levels along a time axis extending from the invention of the automobile to the present day in the foyer, where visitors are furthermore provided with an insight into the future of the automobile.

Situated directly outside the factory gates at the parent plant in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim, the museum forms a link between the plant and the Mercedes-Benz sales and service outlet. Rising as a vertical landmark on a hill of six metres in height, the building raises the site above its surroundings, its round forms at the same time harmonising with the hills and curves of the Neckar Valley. The building acts as a portal, with motorists turning off federal highway B 14 into the Neckar valley passing by the building as a key hub on their way into town.

Ben van Berkel used these topographic conditions as the starting point for his planning. The aim was for motorists to perceive the museum as a welcoming presence. In the twilight especially, the 110,000 ton building appears to hover weightlessly over the ground.

The museum’s shell consists of materials which are also used in the automotive industry – aluminium and glass. The bright polished aluminium panelling has the appearance of intertwining bands, while the darker-looking window strips beckon mysteriously inside. This impression is reversed at night-time, the external shell blending into the darkness while an enigmatic light glows within.

HG Merz was involved from the outset in developing the concept for the museum. He is an architect. His work is concerned less with the design of new buildings, however, drawing rather on the given historical context – Merz’s specialities are designing museums and incorporating new designs into existing buildings. Merz has been associated with the Mercedes-Benz brand for over 20 years now. Together with the architects Knut Lohrer and Dieter Herrmann he was involved in the revamp of the old Mercedes-Benz Museum back in 1985 and 1986.

He worked on the design of the Gottlieb Daimler memorial in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt from 1990 to 1992 and the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center in Fellbach between 1992 and 1993. Merz acquired great renown for his conversion of the Alte Nationalgalerie on the Museum Island in the centre of Berlin in 1993, since when the architect has also run an office in the capital.

The double helix depicts the more than 120-year evolutionary process of the automobile, taking in the history of the Mercedes-Benz brand and its predecessors. The DNA that has driven the evolution of the automobile since its invention in 1886 is to be found in the history of the Mercedes-Benz brand. The architectural design of the Mercedes-Benz Museum embodies this inseparable link between tradition and innovation.

The journey through time culminates in the final “Legend” room, which ends both tours and leads back to the present. Dozens of racing cars dating from 1900 to the present day bring the essence of the Mercedes legend to life here. The high-bank curve in which the legendary high-performance vehicles are presented takes up the complex geometry of the building while also alluding to renowned race tracks.

There are no right-angles in the Mercedes-Benz Museum. All walls and ceilings, ramps and columns are arched or turn in on themselves, gently flowing into one another. In reality, there is no strict division into different storeys. The Legend rooms are almost twice as high as the Collection rooms. And there is a difference of level between the two of more than a metre. It is not even possible to establish a strict distinction between horizontal and vertical surfaces: the so-called Twists, – as the name suggests, building elements incorporating two twists – are the most spectacular innovation in the building.

They emerge from the lift shafts as a vertical wall and then spiral upwards in a gentle sweep, supported by the next shaft. Finally, behind the light window strips of the facade they support a flat stairway that connects one Collection room with the next.

This complex geometry is continued in the ramps running along the outside of the building which connect the Legend rooms. In turn, these ramps rest on inclined pillars which perform their static function in ingenious fashion while also lending the large window areas of the Collection rooms a structured appearance. The pillars themselves gradually evolve from a triangular ground plan into a hexagon, before ending up as a reversed triangle.

Numerous prizes and awards attest to the unique architecture of the Mercedes-Benz Museum. The museum most recently won the 2009 Hugo Häring Prize for exemplary buildings in Baden-Württemberg.

The Mercedes-Benz Museum offers guided architectural and art tours on request. For information or to register for services, please contact the Mercedes-Benz Classic Customer Center on 07 11 / 17 – 30 000 or at [email protected].

A visit to the Mercedes-Benz Museum is intended to provide a memorable feast for all the senses. Regular gastronomic highlights are served up not only at the museum’s restaurant and café-bar, but also at the Mercedes-Benz Sunday Brunch, the Mercedes-Benz Sternennächte and the Mercedes-Benz Lounge.

From Tuesdays to Sundays, the restaurant in the Passage of the Mercedes-Benz Museum entertains its guests with cuisine of the highest quality. In addition to regional specialities – extremely popular with the museum’s international visitors – the menu also regularly features seasonal and European dishes.

At the exclusive end of the spectrum, guests may select from multi-course menus designed to create that special occasion.

Visitors for whom time is of the essence will find a variety of bar snacks, finger food and exotic drinks or cocktails – including alcohol-free beverages, of course. During the summer months the restaurant terrace offers a touch of Mediterranean flair, as well as fascinating views of the architecture of the Mercedes-Benz Museum.

On each second Sunday in the month the Museum restaurant is given over to a grand Sunday brunch, where from 10.00 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. guests can eat to their hearts content. The tempting buffet serves up a sumptuous range of meals and drinks – including healthy breakfasts, hearty dishes, delicious desserts, fruit juices, specialist teas and coffees or even a glass of sparkling wine.

Twice a year the Mercedes-Benz Museum presents its culinary events series, the Sternennächte. For ten evenings the casino on the top floor of the Mercedes-Benz Museum is transformed into a gourmet restaurant with a view of the first Mercedes and the surrounding vineyards. With gastronomic delights served up by two Michelin-starred chefs, the evening’s 60 guests can sit down to enjoy innovative gourmet creations paired with fine wines.

A summer highlight is the Mercedes-Benz Lounge. For around three months of the year, the hill outside the museum becomes the perfect place to unwind and relax with a summer drink and good food. Each evening from Tuesday to Sunday, guests can settle back in the comfortable lounge furniture and enjoy the gentle music and the fascinating atmosphere long into the night. A barbecue provides an additional attraction on certain nights.

Information about seasonal and gastronomic events can be found at www.mercedes-benz.com/museum

On certain days in the year the casino on the top floor of the Mercedes-Benz Museum is transformed into a registry office, enabling couples to tie the knot in a unique atmosphere in sight of the first Mercedes and the surrounding vineyards.

Dates still available for 2010 are 19 June and 23 October. Civil weddings take place on either date between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.. Reservations can be made at the Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt registry office.

In addition to staging the civil wedding ceremony, the Mercedes-Benz Museum also offers a full range of services for the special day, enabling the subsequent wedding feast to take the form of a wide variety of on-site events.

From discreet champagne reception or lavish party to a Mercedes-Benz classic car or an exclusive after-hours visit to the museum’s restaurant – the museum’s event experts can make almost any dream come true.

Naturally, this includes wedding photographs taken in the setting of the exhibition, guided tours for wedding guests or a new car booking with direct access to the main entrance.

Further information is available from the Mercedes-Benz Classic Customer Center on tel. 0711 / 17 – 30 000 or online at [email protected]

• Architect UNStudio van Berkel & Bos, Amsterdam
• Display conception Prof. HG Merz, Stuttgart
• Height of construction 47.5 meter
• Ground area 4,800 square meters
• Levels 9
• Gross weight 110,000 tons
• Number of triangular panes of glass 1,800 (none being identical)
• Length of the wire system laid in the concrete 630 kilometre
• Length of the heating pipes laid in the concrete 100 kilometre
• Number of lamps in the museum 12,000
• Exhibition space 16,500 square meter
• Legend Rooms surface 9,100 square meter
• Collection Rooms surface 5,300 square meter
• Fascination technology 1,300 square meter
• Total number of exhibits 1,500
• Total number of vehicles 160
• A visit of the Museum approx. 1.5 to max. approx. 5 km