Technik Museum Speyer

The museum's exhibits are unusually large and mostly walk-through. A Boeing 747 stands raised on a frame twenty metres up with a slide down from the wing, and visitors go through the cabin and cargo hold. Beside it is Buran OK-GLI, a Soviet test vehicle built for atmospheric flight trials of the shuttle programme, fitted with jet engines and flown twenty-five times in the 1980s; it came here in 2008 after a long dispute over ownership and is the only Buran vehicle in western Europe. A submarine, a Lufthansa 747 cabin, locomotives, cars and an IMAX dome complete the site.

History

The museum opened in 1991 as a sister of the Auto & Technik Museum Sinsheim, run by the same association, and by 2004 it had more than 2,000 exhibits on more than 150,000 m2 indoors and outdoors, drawing over half a million visitors a year, with a 22 m by 27 m IMAX dome (Wikipedia, Technik Museum Speyer).

What to look for

• The raised 747 - a Boeing 747 on a frame, entered and exited by slide.
• The Buran OK-GLI - a Soviet shuttle test vehicle, the only one in western Europe.
• The submarine U9 - a Bundesmarine boat opened up for walking through.
• The vehicle halls - locomotives, cars, fire engines and aircraft indoors.

When to go

Year-round; it opens daily including most holidays. School holidays and weekends are busy. The sister museum at Sinsheim has a Concorde and a Tupolev Tu-144.

Good to know

Climbing into the aircraft involves stairs and confined spaces. Outdoor exhibits are exposed in bad weather. It is aimed strongly at families.

Nearby

Speyer cathedral is in the town; Sinsheim's sister museum is east.

Key facts