Photo: Deutsches Museum | Christian Illing
Museum Island
Hall of Fame – Temple of Technology and Natural Sciences
The centrally located Hall of Fame commemorates outstanding people from science, technology and industry – as the Deutsches Museum saw it at the time of the museum’s founding in 1903.
Exhibition closed
The second half of the museum is currently being renovated, which is why this area has been closed since July 2022. The modernisation of the exhibition is scheduled to be completed in 2028, the 125th anniversary of the museum's founding.Why a Hall of Fame?
The concept of this room is based on the perception of history in the 19th century and the idea at the time that “men make history”. The Hall of Fame was intended to inspire reverence among visitors for the outstanding creators of “masterpieces” in science and technology.
Even though the museum today takes a critical view of such a strongly personality-centred portrayal of technology and the writing of history, this biographical approach was long a characteristic of exhibitions in the past.
1925The year the Hall of Fame opened
24The number of busts in the Hall of Fame
Themes and Contents
The marble bust of nuclear physicist Lise Meitner was added to the Hall of Fame in 1991. It was produced by Chrysille Schmitthenner. Photo: Deutsches Museum
A tour takes visitors past Nobel Prize winners and engineers. The only woman represented is the nuclear physicist Lise Meitner.
“Prometheus” ceiling painting by Hermann Kasper. Photo: Deutsches Museum
As part of the museum’s reconstruction after World War II, a new ceiling painting with an allegorical depiction of Prometheus was added in 1955.
“His eyes have been opened to new laws of light, the stars have moved closer to us through the masterpieces he has created.”
View inside the Hall of Fame
Facts
- The Hall of Fame is on level 1
- It covers 347 sqm