The new museum Stadtpalais Stuttgart is located close to the U-Bahn Station Charlottenplatz (for more information about the public transport in Stuttgart click here), in the building that is also known under the name “Wilhelmspalais” because King Wilhelm II used to live here. Therefore, even the outer shell of the new museum is an important part of Stuttgart’s history.

For the opening, the museum has been decorated with paper puppets that are illuminated during the night. The puppets symbolise the people of Stuttgart who climb the building in order to finally get into their new museum. A very cute idea and quite a nice sight 🙂

The Stadtpalais Stuttgart offers free admission to the permanent as well as to the special exhibition until April 22. The permanent exhibition “Stuttgarter Stadtgeschichte(n)” (Stories from Stuttgart’s history) is located on the first floor. Here you find information and selected exhibits that explain Stuttgart’s history from mid-1800 up to now. The heart of the permanent exhibition of Stadtpalais Stuttgart and the starting point of your journey into the past is a media-projected model of Stuttgart that shows the topography of the city.

From here you have access to the two “Jahrhundert-Räume” (century spaces) that’ll give you a chronological narrative of the city’s history . The presentation is rounded off with a chronicle of the city’s history from the earliest times. And don’t worry if you don’t understand German. Every exhibit is explained in English, too.

The special exhibition “Sound of Stuttgart” is located on the top floor of Stadtpalais Stuttgart. Here you can experiment with the different sound that can be found in a city like Stuttgart. It’s quite fun actually!

Kids are invited to build their own city in the exhibition “Stadtlabor” (City Lab) on the garden floor, the lowest floor of Stadtpalais Stuttgart. I saw children with helmets building huge towers and having much fun knocking them down with wrecking balls afterwards 🙂

Next to the exhibitions there’s also a coffee shop, located on the ground floor, that is open to the public Thursday to Sunday between 10 am and 10 pm.

The permanent exhibition will remain free of charge, even after April 22. The special exhibitions will cost 5 Euro. Kids and teens under the age of 18 have free admission to the exhibitions.

More information about:

Stadtpalais Stuttgart

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The Weissenhofmuseum is located in the Weissenhofsiedlung (Weissenhof Estate) in the north of Stuttgart. The estate was planned and constructed as a architectonic exhibition of the Deutscher Werkbund (German Association of Craftsmen) in 1927. The exhibition’s goal was to present a prototype of future workers’ housing. Instantly the estate became a manifest of modern architecture. The 21 houses were built in only 21 weeks due to the usage of new materials and the high level of prefabrication. With the construction of the Weissenhofsiedlung begun a new era of architecture. The 17 participating architects, amongst them famous names like Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, turned their backs to rich decorations and other romantic gadgets and embraced simplified facades, practical solutions and open plan interiors.

What makes Weissenhofmuseum in Stuttgart such a special place?

“But what makes this museum so special?” you might ask now. The Weissenhofmuseum is located right in one of the original buildings, planned by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret. It is in fact the only building that is open to the public, the others got either destroyed during World War II or are private property. One part of the house hosts the actual museum. Here you can get information about the 1927 exhibition and the history of the estate. The other part of the house got restorated and is now an accessible exhibit. The rooms are in the exact state as they were in 1927. Visiting this part of the museum feels like stepping back in time. In Le Corbusier’s “transformable flat” everything had to be functional and practical, like in a train cabin. Some of the walls can be moved and – like in a sleeper cabin – the bed disappears in a wardrobe during the day. Thus, the numbers of living- and bedrooms were flexible.

This sort of interior design and architecture might seem quite normal for us today but in the late 20s it was a huge revolution. That’s why Le Corbusier didn’t only have fans in those days. Some complained about the lack of cozyness, others couldn’t imagine living in the constricted rooms. During the Third Reich, the regime even planned to break down the settlement as it didn’t fit in their old-fashioned, traditional idea of architecture. Luckily, that never happened.

And here’s a little extra on top of all this information. Make sure you put the Weissenhofmuseum in Stuttgart on top of your bucket list because you surely don’t want to miss a UNESCO World Heritage Site, do you? Yep, it’s true, the two Le Corbusier houses got listed by UNESCO in July 2016. And if all this didn’t convince you, you might still like this place because you’ve got an amazing view over Stuttgart from the roof terrace! 🙂

More information about:

Weissenhofmuseum

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The campaign is called “Hitzefrei” – a reference to the fact that school kids in Germany are allowed to go home when it’s getting to hot in summer. When the thermometer climbs up to 25 degrees Celsius (which equals 77 degrees Fahrenheit), the Landesmuseum (State Museum) offers free entry to everybody.

At Landesmuseum Württemberg you can explore the history of Baden-Württemberg, starting at the Stone Age. The museum was established by King William I in 1862 as a “state collection of national antiquities”. The Museum of Decorative Arts was merged into the museum in the 60s, which has been housed in Stuttgart’s old castle since 1969.

More information:

Hitzefrei at Landesmuseum Württemberg

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Most people think of cars when they think of Stuttgart. One of the famous brands that originates from Stuttgart is Porsche. Its logo even carries the Stuttgarter Rössle (Stuttgart Pracing Horse) in its center:

Since January 2009, Porsche operates its own museum in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen. And what can I tell you, this is the first museum where I found more male visitors than female ones!

Even entering the exhibition area is quite an adventure because of the steep escalator (OK, there would have been stairs too, but… pleeeease!! )

Let the tour begin! There are more than 80 vehicles on display at Porsche Museum on 5,600 square meters.

I’d like to introduce you to the first Porsche construction, the C.2 Phaeton:

Fancy, hum?! But not as fancy as this one:

The Porsche 917 LH, it was constructed especially for the 24-hours race of Le Mans. It can reach up to 387 km/h…

While talking about the Le Mans race, they have a special exhibition about this famous race in the museum at the moment. So if you’re interested in the REALLY fast Porsche cars, you should go see them now. My favourite was the fat pig. No, I’m not rude, that’s what this racing car was called:

Due to its wide body, the 917/20 was called fat pig by many people in the race of 1917. So Porsche decided to paint it pink and labeled it with the specific portions of meat (“Schinken” meaning ham, “Haxen” stands for pork leg…). How awesome it that?!

I named this article “80 shades of Porsche” because of a reason. When I walked around between the more than 80 cars of the museum, I was astonished how colorful the vehicles were. So here’s a little selection of the different shades of Porsche:

In the order of appearance: 911 Sport Classic, 911 Turbo Cabrio Studie, 911 Turbo S3.3 Leichtbau, 924, Cayman S, 968 Cabriolet, 911 Carrera 3.6 Cabriolet, 911 Carrera 2.7, 911 Turbo S Edition 918 Spyder, Volkswagen

After looking at so many beautiful cars, you really want to jump into one, sit behind its wheel and feel the magic by yourself. Luckily, the people of Porsche anticipated this reaction. At the end of the exhibition, you can try how a real Porsche suits you:

I might look a bit lost but hey, I could still grow into it, right?!

I have to admit, all of the cars are pretty awesome. But if I had to pick one, it would be this 911 Carrera Coupe, inspired by the art of the Australian Aborigines:

And then, just when I was finished with my visit of the exhibition, I saw her! A real Hollywood star! Sally Carrera, who’s famous since she was one of the stars in the Disney’s movie “Cars”. Amazing! She was all down to earth and didn’t mind taking a picture with me:

Last but not least, a hint for everybody who want’s to play a little trick on the person accompanying them: If you want to scare the shit out of this person, just push him or her on one of the three black circles at the end of the exhibition and wait what happens…

This is my friend Miri after she got over the fist shock:

We had a fun time at the Porsche Museum. And when it was time to leave, we decided to use the stairs… Huuuuuu is this high!!

More information about:

Porsche Museum

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Staatsgalerie Stuttgart consists of two main buildings: The Old Staatsgalerie…

…with a statue of King Wilhelm I of Württemberg in front of it…

…and the New Staatsgalerie. And this building is a piece of art itself:

Designed by James Stirling, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart opened its doors in 1984. And since then, the rolling green glass front and the pink tubes made it to one of the top  landmarks of Stuttgart.

Now that we have appreciated Staatsgalerie Stuttgart from the outside, let’s step in.

What every guest notices straight away is the green floor…

… and the colour green being repeated in other architectonical elements.

But the Staatsgalerie has more to offer than its architecture. You find about 800 works in the permanent exhibition. Event though the focus lies on art of the 20th century, those of you who like the old masters won’t be disappointed, neither.

Let me introduce you some of my most favorite pieces of art:

Gerhard Richter, Abstract Painting, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

Frank Stella, The Forge, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

Pietro Belletti, The Fate Lachesis, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

For me, this painting is really special. Look at her face, the wrinkles, the look in her eyes… amazing.

Pietro Belletti, The Fate Lachesis, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

Theodor Christoph Schüz, Noontime Prayer at Harvest Time, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

Theodor Christoph Schüz, Noontime Prayer at Harvest Time, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

Claude Monet, Fields in Spring, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

Pablo Picasso, Bathers, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

Roy Lichtenstein, Spray, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

When talking about Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, you have to talk about Joseph Beuys, as they do have an interesting selection of this work on display. Well, I think his installations are quite interesting, but you have to invest some time and thoughts to get his ideas. Moreover, an audio guide or a tour do help a lot …

Joseph Beuys, Crucifixion, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

Last but not least, my favourite piece of art:

Duane Hanson, Cleaning Lady, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

Nope, she’s not real, she’s an installation! I love her. Years ago, the saying goes, she was sitting next to a window and after the gallery had closed, some walkers saw her from the outside, sitting in the dark all by herself. They called the police to rescue the poor lady…

Ok, enough art! After you’ve spent some hours at the great exhibition, you have deserved a refreshment! Make sure to visit café “Gast”. It’s on the ground floor, behind the wardrobe.

My recommendation: Sparkling wine with cassis sorbet! Hmmmmmm… best way to finish a great day at the museum.

Fun fact: If you want to learn German, you can do so while enjoying art! Staatsgalerie Stuttgart offers special tours for study groups.

More information about:

Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

Language studies (only in German)

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