The beginnings of the museum stretch far back to before its opening in 1899. As early as 1882, the Bavarian State Railway founded a small museum for Bavarian railway history in Munich. Some years later, Nuremberg’s historically-minded mayor, Georg von Schuh, took the collection to Franconia.

Opening of the “Royal Bavarian Railway Museum” in 1899

In the spring of 1899, he offered to hand over an exhibition building located at Marientorgraben to the Bavarian railway administration at no cost. The “Royal Bavarian Railway Museum” was opened a few months later. In 1902, the official opening of a new department for Postal and Telegraph Services was celebrated. The railway museum was subsequently renamed the “Royal Bavarian Transport Museum”. 

Impressions of the former Museum of Transport Open picture gallery (6 pictures)

The combination of railway and postal services museum reflected the state administration structures. Even after the foundation of the German Reich in 1871, the railway and the postal and telegraph services in Bavaria were controlled by the Bavarian State. In administration terms, both areas were assigned to the same ministry: from 1871, the Ministry of External Affairs, and then, from 1903/04, the new State Ministry for Transport, to which the Museum of Transport was also allocated.

Construction of a new museum building in 1925

The enlarged museum soon needed more space. Once again, help came from the City of Nuremberg, which in 1910 handed over to the railway a building site in Lessingstraße at no cost and took over part of the construction costs for the new museum building. However, shortly after the construction work had started in the summer of 1914, World War I broke out and interrupted the continuation of the project. As a result, the museum was not opened in the building that still stands today until 1925. There were now a total of 9,700 square metres of exhibition space available, 8,500 square metres for the railway and 1,200 square metres for the postal services.

Separate administration authorities following World War I

Some key organisational changes took place during the construction of the new building in Lessingstraße. At the end of World War I, the museum’s departments had been assigned to separate administration authorities: the German Reich’s Transport Ministry, which was responsible for the Reichsbahn, and the German Reich’s Postal Ministry. The basic strategy of the two departments had also changed, and they now extended their focus to include developments throughout Germany.

Severe damage during World War II

World War II also marked a decisive break. The Museum of Transport, which had already closed in September 1939, was badly damaged during an air raid in 1943. It took until the 1960s before all the rooms had been made accessible again. On the occasion of the 125th anniversary celebration of the German railways in 1960, the large model railway on the first floor was presented to visitors for the first time.

The 150th anniversary celebration of the German railways in 1985 marked yet another change. This was the year in which the museum opened a new permanent exhibition and the outdoor area along with the new vehicle hall in Sandstraße opposite the main building.

Takeover as corporate museum of Deutsche Bahn AG

The most recent change in terms of the structure and layout of the Museum of Transport originated in the reform of the railway and the postal services in the 1990s. In the course of the postal reform in 1995, the postal department of the Museum of Transport became part of the recently founded “Museum Foundation for Postal and Telecommunications Services” and was renamed the “Museum for Communications”. The railway department was taken over by the recently created Deutsche Bahn AG in 1996 as the Group’s corporate museum and was designated the “DB Museum”. Since this time, there have been two independent museums under the roof of the former Museum of Transport.