Museum of Industrial Culture

As early as the Middle Ages, Nuremberg was a leading location for highly specialised metalworking and a centre of supra-regional long-distance trade. This was one of the reasons why the city became the industrial heart of Bavaria at the beginning of the 19th century. This was aided by the construction of Germany's first passenger railway, which ran between Nuremberg and Fürth from 1835, and the development of the port, which was made accessible by the Ludwig-Danube-Main Canal. Many important mechanical, electrical and metalworking companies were established during this period. The toy and pencil industries, as well as the production of bicycles and motorcycles, were also leading in Germany in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The Museum of Industrial Culture, housed in a former screw factory from the 1920s, shows the history of industrialisation in Nuremberg from 1800 to the present day. It tells the story of how people's working and everyday lives have changed from the invention of the steam engine to the present day, combining technical, cultural and social history. Along the so-called Museum Street, 200 years of industrialisation are brought to life in historically recreated living and working environments. On the left-hand side, the changing world of work is depicted in a gypsum factory, a steam engine hall with a 1300-horsepower MAN tandem steam engine and a 1930s-style lead-printing workshop. The right-hand side is devoted to various areas of private and social life: from the workers' flat to the talking kitchen, from the workers' club pub to the colonial goods shop and the museum cinema, everyday life in the shadow of the factory and the office is brought to life. Visitors of all ages are invited to try their hand at some of the demonstrations. The Bicycle Collection and Motorbike Museum bring to life Nuremberg's heyday as a centre of two-wheeler production: Some 130 original vehicles from Nuremberg's production line illustrate the development from the first bicycle to the city's motorbike stronghold.