Museum of Technology and Transport in Szczecin

Inside a tram depot from 1913 in Szczecin's Niemierzyn district you will find Stoewer cars, Junak motorcycles, trams and Polish prototype vehicles that never went into production. The Museum of Technology and Transport – known locally as the Art Depot (Zajezdnia Sztuki) – is one of the largest technical museums in Poland.

History: the depot that sent out the first tram

After Szczecin's trams were electrified in 1897, the city soon ran short of space for its cars. The new depot was designed by the Berlin architects Griesbach and Steinmetz, and the hall for 9 tracks and 63 cars opened in 1913. In 1925 another hall and workshops were added. The depot survived the Second World War, and it was from here that the first tram ran in post-war, Polish Szczecin. The museum was founded in 2006, and in 2010 the historic building underwent a full renovation.

What to see

• Stoewer – cars, sewing machines and typewriters from the factories of the Stoewer family of Szczecin (1858–1945),
• Junak motorcycles from the Szczecin Motorcycle Factory and pre-war Alba motorcycles,
• Polish prototypes: the Beskid, Smyk, LPT and the Iskra motorcycle,
• cars from communist Poland – Syrenas, Warszawas, Fiat 125p and 126p, the Żuk and Nysa vans, plus microcars,
• the history of city transport – three buses and seven trams, including a Bremen-type car from a batch of 40 delivered to Szczecin in 1926,
• the "Smyk" Motoeksperymentarium with 15 interactive stations on how vehicles work and road safety.

Interesting facts

• Bremen tram no. 133 carried passengers from 1926 to 1971 and then cleared snow from the tracks as a plough until 2006. Its driver had to work three separate cranks.
• The museum has a Konstal 105Na tram simulator – a cab cut from a real tram, with a view of part of Szczecin projected onto the windscreen.

Tripto tip

Allow 1.5–2.5 hours, longer with children. A standard ticket costs PLN 25, reduced PLN 17, a family ticket (up to 5 people) PLN 60, and entry is free on Tuesdays. The museum is closed on Mondays and open longest on Saturdays (10:00–18:00). Visitors can park in the depot courtyard, which also has room for coaches.