Ferdinand Porsche and other pioneers

“It is not technology that makes history, but the people who invented it.
Ferdinand Porsche (1875–1951), born in Maffersdorf in the Jizera Mountains
Ferdinand Porsche, the father of the legendary VW Beetle, is one of the technological pioneers from Bohemia and Moravia who made history and paved the way for the mobility we enjoy today. His 150th birthday in 2025 provided the Sudeten German Museum in Munich and the Jizera Mountains Museum in Neugablonz with an opportunity to follow in the footsteps of these pioneers.
The search for clues begins with the railway, the first means of mass transport. However, the exhibition focuses on ‘self-propelled vehicles’: the bicycle, the motorbike and the car. These brought individual freedom of movement. Behind all these modes of transport, not only in Bohemia and Moravia, were resourceful engineers and creative designers. Alongside Ferdinand Porsche, the most famous among them, the exhibition presents Franz von Gerstner and Central Europe’s first horse-drawn railway. A bicycle factory founded by Vaclav Laurin and Vaclav Klement in 1895 became the car manufacturer Škoda in 1925. Even such whimsical creations as Albin Liebisch’s metre-long Böhmerland motorcycle are on display. The Sudeten German Museum presents a 1927 Tatra DELTA. It was designed by Hans Ledwinka. Visitors can also admire the 1954 VW Beetle, which is part of the museum’s permanent exhibition. “Neugablonzer” will surely remember the red and black Tatra 57 B, which was restored by Kurt Wenzel. This is also on display on the ground floor of the Gablonzer Haus.
Further attractive loans have been provided by, amongst others, the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, the Škoda Museum in Jungbunzlau/Mladá Boleslav, the Deutsches Museum in Munich, the PS.Speicher in Einbeck, the German Bicycle Museum in Bad Brückenau, the Egerland Museum in Marktredwitz and the Sinsheim Technical Museum.
As natural as driving a car is today, the early days were full of adventure. Baron Theodor von Liebieg from Reichenberg was one such adventurer. In 1894, he tested the new technology’s suitability for everyday use with the first long-distance journey lasting several days in automotive history. The exhibition tells the story of his pioneering journey. As an accompanying publication, Liebieg’s handwritten travel diaries are being published in print for the first time. They complement the richly illustrated exhibition catalogue.

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Last edited on 22.04.2026