Dresden Transport Museum

Experience the world of transport – Johanneum at Neumarkt square ...

Located in the heart of the Old Town of Dresden, vis-à-vis the Frauenkirche church, it has been housing the Dresden Transport Museum since 1956. The listed Renaissance building of 1591 has been connected with transport since its origin. During the years 1586 to 1591, Christian I, Elector of Saxony, extended the Residenzschloss (Dresden Palace) by a tournament ground and a building for housing the electoral stables, coach house and armoury.

Two halls on the building’s ground floor provided plenty of space for carriages, coaches and 128 horses. Several building alterations followed – the last under the art-minded King John, whose name the building has been bearing since 1876. The Langer Gang colonnade, whichis now housing the Shipping exhibition, was built on an old town wall. On its outside front is the famous Fürstenzug, the Princely Procession porcelain mural. The Langer Gang colonnade linked the old Stallgebäude (Stable Building) with the palace, forming an ornamental façade facing the Stallhof (tournament ground). The former centre of chivalry games and show tournaments is now Europe’s oldest preserved Renaissance courtyard. The Johanneum is Dresden’s oldest exhibition building. Over the past centuries, it had been used as armoury, picture gallery, porcelain collection and historical museum before it eventually became the Dresden Transport Museum more than 50 years ago.

Five modes of transport under one roof ...

With its 50-year-old history, the Dresden Transport Museum is one of Dresden’s newer museums. It was founded in 1952 as one of the first cultural institutions in Dresden after the Second World War. The origin and tradition of the Dresden Transport Museum, however, date back to 1877, the year when the later Saxon Railway Museum (Sächsisches Eisenbahnmuseum) started its collections. The museum, therefore, traces back to one of Germany’s oldest technical collections. On over 5,000 sqm of exhibition space, visitors will find an impressive variety of exhibits including unique originals, models and exceptionally rare vehicles of five different modes of transport. One of them – railway history – is given special emphasis. The “Muldenthal”, built in the Richard Hartmann locomotive works in Chemnitz in 1861, is Germany's oldest steam engine mostly preserved in its original state. In addition, you can admire one of the last original narrow gauge locomotives of Saxon Class IV K. The Local public transport exhibition ranges from a sedan chair dating from 1705 to historic tramways and an original Dresden funicular railway car of 1934. The Road traffic exhibition features remarkable automobiles, motorcycles and inventions around the bicycle.

A ride on the penny-farthing is a special attraction for courageous visitors. The new Shipping exhibition in the Langer Gang colonnade is certainly one of the highlights of the museum. In a historic hulk, you will be taken into the world of seafaring adventure. Here you can experience the heyday of navigation on the Elbe river or of transatlantic traffic, or even pilot a container ship yourself. Furthermore, the Aviation exhibition shows the development of passenger aviation from its beginnings to the present day.