Description:

50 years after its creation shines the motorcycle museum in the castle Augustus tusburg expanded, renovated and modernized. Well presented 175 motorcycles from nearly 125 years, up from Ardie Zundapp motorcycle history and extremely aesthetically challenging.


The first exhibits have no engine. Nevertheless, the trolley is from 1830 and the 50 years his junior, unicycle important to the first room of the motorcycle museum in the castle Augustusburg. Through it in impressive style must be clear what had been tremendous progress in Daimler’sche riding car from 1885. “From the wheel for the first production motorcycle” is the motto of the first division.

The Hildebrand & Wolf Muller introduced the concept of motor-bike 1894 only one. The museum’s concept shows more than 175 motorcycles. In the newly designed, expanded to five rooms exhibit is also about relationships.

“We want to give people a feel for it,” says Uwe Meinig, director of the museum in Saxony, “what was so special to the respective machines.It’s not just about technology but also about the social and historical context.”

The first three rooms to show visitors the development of the motorcycle until 1920. In this context the single cylinder of Laurin & Klement is from 1899. In contrast, the Type 3 Wanderer hp motor with V-2 of 1910, as well as the FN four cylinder from the same year that rapid development of the motorcycle in the early 20th Century took.

“The new thing is the long-forgotten old”, says Uwe Meinig. The pedagogical principle of the museum is the educational nature of the presentation: Highly readable and informative text provides information that emerged in 1910 already 5104 motorcycles in Germany.

There was previously no nationwide mandatory traffic signs and indicators in the German Reich. They were also introduced in 1910.

Spoken texts on “audio-guides”, available in English, German or Czech, can be put together his own personal tour of each menu. Maybe one wants to know more about that 100 years ago, the legislature first formulated requirements for brakes and lights, tachometer or horn.

Also illustrate interactive screens, so-called touch screen and finger print on topics. There are computer animations to all major components of the motorcycle. They explain how a pendulum or what fork and crank steam engine have in common. The museum shows two “two-wheeled vehicles” of Megola from the early 20′s, a sports and a tour. But also, multimedia, in the style of the 21Century, as their five-cylinder radial engine that powered the front wheel in the unusual construction.

From the fourth room, it goes through the Saxon motorcycle history.

Look at the detail shows the rise of DKW’s largest motorcycle producer in the world before the Second World War. The role of the company and its products in the Nazi Reich, together with the subsequent removal of the jets-Sow, suppresses not the issue. Shows how MZ linked to it.

Nobody else in Europe, built in during the cold war so many motorcycles, 2,545,112 units from 1950 to 1992.Consequently, the core of the Saxon exhibition is still the largest collection of DKW and MZ-show on earth.

What logical given the location and history of sounds: the former princely hunting lodge of Augustus Castle is only ten kilometers from Zschopau. End of the 1950s was the then-MZ customer service manager Rudolf Hiller Zschopau start a motorcycle museum. Alone, it lacked a suitable building. So opened the “two-stroke motorcycle museum on 1 October 1961 in the then vacant kitchen wing of the castle Augustusburg. First, with 40 exhibits on 400 sqm.

1985, in the 100th Year of the motorcycle, the show has been expanded dramatically. Now, 150 motorcycles were ready in 18 rooms with a total of 800 m². In 2011 there are 175 motorcycles on stately 1200 square meters area.

Added more than 300 motorcycles are parked in various states of restoration and preservation in storage and not accessible to the public. Despite the impressing alone exhibited machines and DKW MZ. Since a DKW 500 is with ULD cargo pump in addition to the two-cylinder water-cooled Z 500 W, both from the pre-war era.

Completely spans the arch over the MZ-History: From the BK 350 – still under IFA flag – the first self-development to 500 R with Rotax four-stroke single as the last, in the old factory-built motorcycle, before the liquidation 1992nd This latest exhibit, a 1000 S in 2004, comes from MZ.

The salt in the soup are usually never to be seen prototypes, such as the built before the turn four-stroke research engine, studies for the foreign currency-bringing export or ever an air-and water-cooled prototype rotary engine: The were not shown in GDR times. In detail, the museum pays tribute to the glory days of MZ and DKW in road racing and track.

The highlight is the newly designed start-up of 16 famous racing motorcycles from Saxon production of DKWs musical saw to the two-cylinder 250th MP RZThe loving atmosphere with a camera man, a fan belt on a wooden ladder and historic advertising makes the racing atmosphere of yesteryear back to life.

The same applies to the redesign of the museum dedicated to producing films about the MZ-road racing sport with historical scenes and interviews with eyewitnesses. It gets under your skin. “We wanted to use the power of moving images,” says Uwe Meinig. With success. You can feel how close is the Sachsenring, mentally and geographically.

A special highlight: The sound simulator imitates the sounds completely different machines. The visitor may electronically DKW one charging pump, let each one MZ racing and off-road motor sports, a hiker-V2 and a four-stroke engine revving AWO in different speeds.

A whole range of other makes rounds off the exhibition. Beautiful, like the newly restored Indian Chief, rare as the Ariel Leader with two-stroke twin or bizarre as the Welbike, the Allied airborne forces dropped over France in 1944. Honor is a white Mars and two three-seat Bohemian countryside.

Whom none of this is enough to leave the carriage museum, the historical torture chambers, the Hunt Museum, or the bird of prey demonstrations, falconry admire the castle and end the visit to the historic vaulted cellar restaurant. The family trip is saved in any case.

And with winter and vintage car meeting in the autumn, castle Augustusburg blossomed more and more becoming a mecca for motorcyclists.