While staying at Lindau, we went to see the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen. The industrial town is situated on the german shore of Lake Constance and west of Lindau. We saw a zepplin on the first day we arrived in Lindau.
The museum presents on 4000 m2 of exhibition space its world’s largest collection on airship navigation: a multimedia narrative of history, courageous people, technical innovations and high performance.
We used in this post much of the explanation of the museum from their web site which is here. We saw a short movie about the history of airship and the company which developed the technology.
Ferdinand von Zeppelin established his famous dirigible factory at the end of the 19th century. The 128m-long LZ1 airship (Das Luftschiff) rose from its mooring on July 2, 1900.
The first large exhibition hall on the ground floor is dedicated to the biggest and most famous Zeppelin airship: the LZ 129 Hindenburg. This partial reconstruction brings to life a flight to North and South America by airship that took place in the 1930s.
This ship became the Hindenburg disaster which occurred on May 6, 1937, in Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States. The LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast. Of the 97 people on board, there were 35 fatalities (13 passengers and 22 crewmen). A variety of hypotheses have been put forward for both the cause of ignition and the initial fuel for the ensuing fire. Photo taken from wikipedia.
The disaster was recorded on film and widely distributed. The event shattered public confidence in the giant, passenger-carrying rigid airship and marked the abrupt end of the airship era.
Despite the disaster, it is clear that the frame is an amazing piece of engineering.
Intricate and precise. Perhaps, this is a reason why steampunk is almost believable.
Besides the preparations required for the journey, it visualizes the luxury at the time on board the flying hotel.
Via the drop-in ladder you can climb into the real-life passenger compartments of the LZ 129, which have been recreated according to historical plans. It was noted that the interiors were designed according to the Bauhaus school in 1930’s – so the airship really incorporated state-of-the art design and technology of the time.
In the permanent exhibition, flying is explained graphically using the principle of “lighter than air” and made tangible at experimental stations.
The successful history of the Zeppelin Group and its pioneers shows how technical innovations have emerged and the cult of Zeppelin has been celebrated for over a century. There was a display of numerous zeppelin-inspired objects, e.g., pens, etc.
We took a coffee break at the cafe.
Other aviation companies, including Maybach, also arose in Friedrichshafen to help service the industry, which received a major impetus from World War I.
Old poster about identifying British versus German military aircrafts in World War I.
Maybach limo and engine
The exhibitions on the period from 1933 to today is mostly about the integration of the company into the Nazi and the WWII economy, the destruction of Friedrichshafen, and the reorganisation and redevelopment of industrial enterprises after 1945.
Because of its industrial output, Friedrichshafen was heavily bombed during the war. This aerial photo shows a decimated factory complex and all the bomb craters around it.
The company is still in existence and has diversified into various light and heavy industries, e.g. ZF Group that makes gear box for cars.
It was a really interesting visit as we know so little about zepplin before. Too bad it was too late to join a flight. I will try to do it next time.
The museum is located in front of the harbor and we took a ferry back to Lindau. Nice visit.