The history of the car exhibition

1966 Leipzig Autumn Fair – The presentation of the Wartburg 312 as an “intermediate type” with an old body and a new chassis was a disappointment for most of the foreign representatives present as they had been expecting to see the announced new Wartburg. There was no mention of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the car factory either. While the fair was in progress, there was a discussion as to how this anniversary could be used to launch a permanent exhibition of historical vehicles from local production, something Eisenach had been hoping to do for a long time. In addition, these representative premises were to be used for meetings with foreign general agents. As a result, it was decided to build a modern, up-to-date exhibition hall in Eisenach.

1967 Leipzig Spring Fair – This saw the first ever public presentation of the Wartburg motor car from 1898 (see photograph below). It met with an overwhelming response at the Eisenach stand and almost upstaged the newly presented Wartburg 353. This increased the pressure to provide the finances and material contingents needed to take advantage of the favourable political situation in 1967 with its anniversaries of 900 years of the Wartburg Castle and of 450 years since the Reformation. The intention was also to establish a facility in Eisenach in the same year to honour the “traditional Eisenach workers’ movement”. Once a site had been found on Wartburgallee, things happened very quickly.

27 October 1967 – Company director Wilhelm Hellbach opened the so-called “Wartburg Pavilion” in the attendance of countless celebrities from the public and political sphere. The newly built exhibition pavilion was the only presentation of historical vehicles in the GDR outside of the Dresden Transport Museum, so it proved very popular from the start, attracting around 100,000 visitors each year.

11 April 1977 – After no more than 10 years in operation, a reception was held there for the one millionth visitor Mrs. Vera Salova – a worker in a Soviet shoe factory who was visiting Eisenach with a tour group at the time.

April 1991 – After production stopped and the Eisenach car factory was closed for good, the future of the car exhibition and all its vehicles as well as the building itself were up for discussion. The former owners of the pavilion promptly claimed ownership of the land in the south of Eisenach on which the pavilion stood.

3 July 1992 – Establishment of the car manufacturing museum association Automobilbaumuseum Eisenach e. V. with the aim of saving the vehicle exhibition from the threat of liquidation and securing the vehicles for a museum in Eisenach. The City of Eisenach was a member of the association right from the start, and it supplied the chairman in the form of the mayor.
The protection of the vehicles shown in the exhibition from being sold off and their eventual transfer to the City of Eisenach by the liquidator of the state holding company Treuhand was a lengthy and extremely time-consuming process.

Spring 1994 – The exhibition moved out of the pavilion as a group of investors from Speyer in Rheinland-Palatinate planned to build a hotel with a multi-storey car park on the site.

Summer 1994 – After much intervention by the car manufacturing museum association Automobilbaumuseum Eisenach e.V., the City of Eisenach acknowledged its technical history and the richness of its traditions and would act as the sponsor of the Eisenach car manufacturing museum Automobilbaumuseum Eisenach in future. The Wartburg-Sparkasse Eisenach bank provided suitable premises at a reasonable price in its new branch at the racecourse right next to the site of the former car factory Automobilwerk Eisenach.

29 October 1994 – Opening of the car museum Automobilmuseum Eisenach in the Sparkasse building at the racecourse. This was only possible because the car museum association Automobile Museum Eisenach e.V. covered the costs of the exhibits. The City of Eisenach would cover all ongoing operating costs and personnel expenses in future. All those involved agreed from the outset that this could be nothing more than a temporary solution as the limited space only allowed 9 vehicles to be presented at a time.

1996 – 1997 – After an extensive concept discussion involving the Board of Trustees of the car manufacturing museum association Automobilbaumuseum Eisenach e.V. as well as external experts, it was decided that the long-term goal of the City of Eisenach should be to bring a representative vehicle exhibition into being in a historical setting on the site of the old car factory.

16 October 1997 – The Eisenach City Council decided to purchase the historical production and administration building O2 from the state holding company Treuhand as a location for a car exhibition.

15 November 1997 – Mr. Geerlings from Wuppertal was welcomed as the 50,000th visitor to the vehicle exhibition in the Sparkasse building.

1 December 1997 – The Board of Trustees of the car manufacturing museum association Automobilbaumuseum Eisenach e.V. organized a public competition in the media to find a name for the new car exhibition hall. A total of 113 different suggestions were sent in.

24 April 1998 – The Eisenach City Council decided to call the future exhibition automobile welt eisenach (automotive world eisenach) – AWE for short.

30 October 1998 – Festive gala “100 Years of Car Manufacturing in Eisenach” in the O2 building with TV presenter Peter Escher. This first event held in the new building and the official announcement of the museum’s name as automobile welt eisenach helped to publicly document the perspectives of the future exhibition.

2 May 2005 – The exhibition in the Sparkasse building at the racecourse was closed and the exhibition moved to the new car museum automobile welt eisenach in the O2 building. This marked the end of the interim solution after a total of 10 years.

2003 – 2005 – Development of the first exhibition concept under the leadership of the City of Eisenach, which had now assumed full responsibility for the exhibition. In addition to the car manufacturing museum association Automobilbaumuseum Eisenach e. V., external scientists and designers were involved in the conception and design of the exhibition too.

4 June 2005 – Opening of the automobile welt eisenach museum with a fully equipped exhibition hall and a walk-in depot on the ground floor. Since that date, the number of visitors has leveled off at around 30,000 guests per year.

4 June 2005 – Recognition of the newly established Automobile Welt Eisenach foundation by the Ministry of the Interior of the Free State of Thuringia with the aim of supporting and expanding the car museum and taking responsibility for it.

1 April 2014 – Takeover of the automobile welt eisenach museum from the City of Eisenach into sponsorship by the Automobile Welt Eisenach Foundation.