Berlin–May 16, 2026

Deutsches Technikmuseum

This is a museum mostly centered around older technologies, as far as I could tell. I am not sure how much I actually liked the museum. Granted, the things you see are totally impressive (mostly through sheer size), but it somehow didn’t click for me.

Exterior of Deutsches Technikmuseum, with propeller airplane mounted on roof.
Display case of toy robots

These are right inside the main entrance.

Display case of toy robots of various sizes and colors.
Model of several machines with braille markings on placards

An exhibit for blind visitors; the buttons activate a recording of the machine in action.

Railways

One very large section of the museum is dedicated to rail technology.

Wooden mining cart that runs on wooden rails
person pushing cart through tunnel
Black steam locomotive
Two classical statues flanking a video display showing old-time photos of railway personnel
Carpet bag decorated with a train surrounded by flowers
Early 1900s streetcar
Deutsche Bahn train car; bottom is white, top is dark blue. Approximately late 1940s?
modern streamlined lead train car; blue with white horizontal stripes
Bicycle designed to ride on rails; from 1914

Manufacturing

Birds-egg blue Fabergé containers
Black sewing machine

This sewing machine is designed for sewing hat bands.

Lamp made of ten plastic water bottles arrayed around a core

A cleverly designed lamp that uses 3-D printing for the lamp center and old water bottles.

Mouse-like animal made of corrugated paper.
Large mechanical weaving loom

Typesetting/Printing

This was possibly my favorite part of the museum.

Display showing terms associated with letter forms, such as baseline, serifs, etc.
Wooden frame with several lines of metal type forms.
Keyboard of Linotype machine with large array of metal wires behind it.
Large linotype machine
Printing press decorated with gold ornamentation and an eagle on top.
Modern printing press with a metal sheet for the type and rollers for the paper
Print sample showing a boy and girl in traditional dress; a print color bar is at the top.
Printing press with a stack of A5-sized cards in it

Communications

Old-style (1920s?) radio
Reel-to-reel tape recorder
1950s television camera
TV director’s console with a microphone and multiple small monitors

Computing

A large part of the display was devoted to Konrad Zuse and the computers he designed and built.

Vacuum tube computer
Placard showing an ALTAIR 8800 microcomputer from 1975

I remember these. This display made me feel very old...

Ships

I did not find this part of the museum to be terribly interesting, but those of you who like ships and sailing might enjoy it.

Model ship made of amber
Tugboat with green deck and wood panels on cabin
Propeller of a deep-sea ship
Front part of a wooden sailing vessel, ornately carved and with a crown on top
Models of multi-masted sailing ships

I was glad to see that there was an exhibit of chronometers, which were essential to the start of modern sailing. Without them, it was difficult (if not impossible) to determine a ship’s longitude. For the full story, I highly recommend the book Longitude by Dava Sobel.

Sea chronometer from 1834, it is a box with the clock face on the top
Pocket watch in wooden case

Airplanes

Glider with white fabric wings and tail
Large glider with yellow wings
World War I era propeller plane
Propeller plane with side panels removed so you can see the inner mechanisms
Nose of a wrecked airplane

Miscellanea

Stone column with sphere on top and what looks like a $ on the side
Du kannst die Musik nicht berühren aber sie dich!

You can’t touch music, but it can touch you!

cylindrical section of church buliding with a conical roof.