Stations are the starting point for every train journey. But there's much more to them than that. People have always flocked to large railway stations as centres of public life, and not always to catch a train.
The interactive exhibition Bahnhofszeiten reveals how stations have been transformed over the years. Exhibits from three centuries show how waiting rooms became restaurants and snack bars, and how people used to pass the time waiting for their train.
At the media displays, you can get to know some of the people from the stations of yesteryear. Meet the maid from the days of the German Empire or the Bundesbahn's post-war luggage porter and learn more about their experiences at the station.
Since the 1960s, Deutsche Bahn has been removing ever more operational facilities that are no longer required. In the spaces this has freed up, shops selling a wide range of everyday necessities have moved in. You can visualise these changes in an impressive photo montage of Leipzig's main station.
With the opening of the Bahnhofszeiten exhibition, the Waiting Room for the Highest Nobility, which dates from 1864, has also been opened to our visitors again. Known as the Königssalon, the royal waiting room originates from Nuremberg’s original main station and remains a valuable piece of German architectural history to this day.
Since February 2020, it has also served as a magnificent backdrop for civil wedding ceremonies.
