18th May marks the international museum day, and what would be a better way to celebrate it, than to rank up Europe’s best car museums. car museums are a particular focus of Egzostive, covering over 30 museums in over a hundred articles.
Thus, we feel best placed to assemble the list of best car museums in Europe.
The International Museum Day (IMD) is an international day held annually on or around mid-May since 1977. The activities are coordinated by the International Council of Museums (ICOM), following a particular theme of the year. The 2021 International Museum Day theme is titled “The Future of Museums: Recover and Reimagine”.
This theme offers nourishing food for thought. Museums keep innovating their approaches and techniques all the time, with interactive projections, simulators, test drives even classics (sometimes even by offering the driving seat).
All these innovations aim at enhancing the visitor experience with a practical objective. Those who paid for the ticket shall leave with lasting memories, and will hopefully return. The Covid 19 pandemic turned this axiom upside down, adding a new dimension.
There were entire months when Museum could not receive visitors. As a response, many museums added an additional virtual layer to preserve their ability to disseminate knowledge and transpire culture.
Egzostive joined this trend long before it was cool. The website features hundreds of articles as testimonies of earlier visits. As they were carried by a tight-knit community of people, it is easy to draw up a list based on equal standards. Though the ranking might not be as self-evident as one would think.
When visiting a museum, what will take your breath away? Is it enough to see a rarity or an unusual weirdo? Can a warehouse be overwhelming?
Or, you only settle with a hypercar or the cars of your dreams? Can the scenery of a diorama make up for the fact that you see crappy Wartburgs and Trabants?
Will the rubble and the decay of the Automobil Welt Eisenach deduct or add to the Museum experience of the Eastern Block?
The built environment can strongly influence the overall impression. The best museum buildings were designed by leading architects and easily outrank landmark architectures. The Mercedes Museum or the Italian National Automuseum was designed to impress even before meeting he first cars of the exhibition.
In fact, the former impresses already with its parking lot when you park right next to Bernd Schneider’s DTM champion CLK.
Racing legends, ground-breaking innovations unique masterpieces contribute to the experience… Some museums offer dozens of jaw-dropping models.
Among the best, offering a few brilliant vehicles may not be enough. The exhibition has to ensure sufficient diversity and variability. Different epochs, different brands, and various nations, the best museums offer a 360 image of Automotive and/or a complete timeline, from 19th century to the future.
And finally, size does matter! Some of the best collections encompass over 400 cars (as actual and whole, decoration and scale models not included). Surrounded by a comprehensive museum experience, these sites offer a full day of programmes.
Next up, we are going to rank the best car museums in Europe. We will observe size, content and style, and excelling in one will not guarantee a place. Buckle up, the ride starts with the next article!
Looking forward to the list!
[…] Now that we settled the rules of the game, let’s see the top five car museums in Europe. You might be surprised about the first museum on the list, and believe me, there was quite a struggle about singling out Alfa’s factory Museum over BMW World, Porsche Museum or the Musei Ferrari, just to name a few well-known competitors. But as a museum, it surely beats the above competitors simply through the brand’s rich history and class. […]