Heinz Nixdorf Museumsforum

Description

In the heart of Paderborn, the Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum presents the development of information and communication technology with historical depth and technical breadth. The museum is housed in the former headquarters of Nixdorf Computer AG and serves as a permanent cultural anchor for the city.

From a private collection of historic office machines, stimulated by donations in the late 1970s, the project for a computer museum emerged through a period of concept development and municipal decision-making in the 1980s and early 1990s. Between 1992 and 1996 the building was redesigned and conceived as a museum; it opened in October 1996. The institution is operated by a foundation established from the namesake’s estate; since its opening the museum has recorded more than 100,000 visitors annually and to date over 3.1 million guests.

The permanent exhibition covers around 6,000 square metres across two levels and traces some 5,000 years of information history — from the first written signs in Mesopotamia around 3,000 BCE to the Internet, artificial intelligence and robotics. More than 5,000 exhibits are on display; the collections comprise about 25,000 objects, parts of which are accessible digitally.

On the lower exhibition level the historical foundations are the focus: writing, language and mathematics as well as early calculating aids and mechanical automata are presented. Topics such as telegraphy, telephony, office automation, early computers and the history of cryptography are brought together there. The upper exhibition level is devoted to more modern systems and applications: development lines from vacuum tubes through relays to transistors, microprocessors, personal and home computers with representative examples, supercomputers, as well as current fields such as robotics, new media and learning networks. Interactive stations throughout invite hands-on exploration.

Another floor houses a school laboratory, a research centre for students and a space for rotating special exhibitions and seminars. The programme is supplemented by an extensive events schedule with lectures, conferences and museum education formats; the museum regularly hosts regional competitions and educational projects in the fields of computer science and robotics. A virtual agent complements visitor guidance with dialogue-oriented offerings.