Dresden Transport Museum

The Dresden Transport Museum (German: Verkehrsmuseum Dresden) displays vehicles of all modes of transport, such as railway, shipping, road and air traffic, under one roof.

The museum is housed in the Johanneum at the Neumarkt in Dresden. The Johanneum was built between 1586 and 1590; it is one of the oldest museum buildings in Dresden.

The history of the Dresden Transport Museum begins on 1 May 1952. On that day, negotiations started between the Hochschule für Verkehrswesen (High School for Transportation) and the Ministry of Transport for the construction of a transport museum in the German Democratic Republic. The museum was mainly intended to house the exhibits of the Saxon Railway Museum that had been evacuated during the Second World War. After Dresden was confirmed as the location, the first vehicles were stabled in a locomotive shed at Dresden's Neustadt station. Six employees began the development of the museum, and by 1953, two small exhibitions were on display. The actual opening in the then still badly damaged Johanneum took place in 1956. The first exhibition showed on the ground floor "120 years of Saxon Transport history." The first director was Elfriede Rehbein.

On 24 November 1958, the museum was transferred into the ownership of the Ministry of Transport. Renovation of the interior was completed in 1966, and the façade followed in 1968. The roof was not covered in copper, but in Duraluminium in keeping with aircraft construction techniques. Since the inauguration of the aviation exhibition in the 1970s, all means of transport, including railway, cars and bicycles, shipping, and air traffic, have been on display in the museum.

Because of the limited space in the Johanneum, not all the exhibits are based here. Numerous locomotives are stationed in the former Deutsche Reichsbahn locomotive depot (Betriebswerk or Bw) at Dresden-Altstadt. Furthermore, several vehicles have been loaned to other museums. The lack of space in the Johanneum prompted several discussions during the 1990s about moving the museum. However, the plan was not realized for financial reasons.

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