A peek into Porsche's mind blowing museum

An architectural wonder, the Porsche Museum is a car enthusiast's delight.

It is a treasure trove of some of the most exquisite cars from the Porsche stable. It is located in the Zuffenhausen district of Stuttgart, Germany.

Housed in this futuristic museum, are iconic vehicles such as the 356, 550, 911, and 917. The exhibits include some of the outstanding technical achievements of Professor Ferdinand Porsche from the early 20th century.

Photographs, courtesy: Porsche Museum

The Porsche museum is located just outside the Porsche headquarters.

It tells of the spirit and the passion that motivate work at Porsche, and pays tribute to the company as well as the people behind the product.

The museum was designed by architects Delugan Meissl. The exhibition spaces were designed by HG Merz.

Porsche built the original museum near its car factory in 1976 . It was a small museum, which could hold around 20 exhibits.

Porsche built the museum as a kind of 'rolling museum" with rotating exhibits from a stock of 300 restored cars.

While the cost to build the museum was initially pegged at euro 60 million, its actual cost hit euro 100 million.

Work on the concept for the museum began in 2003. A storyboard comprising relevant topics, exhibits and their presentation was designed.

The museum, with a contemporary design functions as a home base for the vehicles.

The history of Porsche sports cars began in 1948 with the legendary Type 356 No 1.

The credit for building the conceptual basis of the brand goes to Professor Ferdinand Porsche (1875 1951). His remarkable work was carried forward by his son Ferry (1909 1998).

Ferdinand Porsche laid the foundation for the House of Porsche by establishing an independent engineering office in Stuttgart in 1931.

During the past six decades, Porsche has built many innovative models like the 356, 911, 914, 924, 944, 928, the Boxster and the Cayenne.

Today, Porsche has grown into one of the world's most successful automobile manufacturers.

The display area is spread across 5600 square meters with many rare cars and historical models.

Porsche has a production capacity of around 100,000 units per year. The Porsche Museum houses a central department offering all the historical and contemporary knowledge about Porsche.

Porsche is bullish on sales in India. It expects to sell 500 units in 2011.

The waiting period for the sports utility vehicle (SUV) Cayenne is around 500 days and for other sports car models it is 100 days.

The global order book position for Cayenne is 74,000 units whereas the production is around 44,000 units.

Guests at the restaurant get a panoramic view of Porscheplatz and the production building where Porsche sports cars and engines are built.

The Christophorus Restaurant offers both Mediterranean, regional delicacies and the most exquisite wines. Guests can also see various cars on display from the restaurant.

For young visitors between 7-13 years, Porsche offers special tours, where they are guided about the company history and exhibition vehicles.

Porsche has established a special museum workshop. Customers can have their classic cars restored here.

The museum is considered to be an architectural emblem of the Porsche brand attracting a large number of visitors.