History of Wunderland

It took only five months from the initial idea in July 2000 until the construction of the first section started. Just eight months later, in August of 2001, the Miniatur Wunderland opened with its first three theme worlds. Here you can read how an idea, which at first appeared impossible to realize, turned into a major success.

The most important information beforehand:
On August 16th, 2001 the Miniatur Wunderland had its grand opening with the sections Central Germany, Knuffingen and Austria.
By today we already have 10 complete sections.
The last section to be opened was Fun Fair on February 21st, 2018.

In July 2000, Frederik Braun was visiting the alpine city of Zurich, Switzerland. Strolling through the alleys of Zurich’s center, he came across a railway model shop, which at once evoked childhood memories in him. Inspired by this reminiscence, the idea to make a long forgotten childhood dream come true became more and more prominent within hours after seeing the railway model shop.

On the very same day, Frederik called his twin brother Gerrit, taking him by surprise by saying: “We are going to build the world’s largest model railway”. Gerrit, rather sceptic by nature, thought Frederik had gone mad and doubted the sincerity of his idea. But after receiving at least another six calls that day, with Frederik enthusiastically proposing new ideas on the topic, Gerrit realized how serious his brother was about the idea. He started considering the project from an economical and technical point of view. He came to the conclusion, that the project would be a technological challenge, the economic aspect would be very risky, from an entrepreneurial point of view it would be plain crazy, but overall it should be possible. Thus, Gerrit was infected by this idea as well. At that time, the two brothers, together with their business partner Stephan Hertz, had been running a night club in Hamburg and wanted out of the nightlife scene for a while.

The following days and weeks Frederik, Gerrit and Stephan spent their time substantiating their mutual dream, in spite of all doubts and skepticism from people around them. Shortly after the “Zurich Epiphany”, all three of them felt that they would commit themselves to this risky adventure.

Why Hamburg, why the historic warehouse district?
“To me, Hamburg is the most beautiful and perfect city in the world.” is a quote often heard from Frederik, Gerrit and Stephan, when asked about the city. All three of them are Hamburgians by heart and feel a close connection to their home city as well as responsibility. Therefore, from the beginning, it was clear to the team that the world’s largest model railway would of course be built in Hamburg.

However, looking for a suitable location within the prospering city on the Elbe river proved to be complicated. The task was to find a location that is attractive to both tourists and locals and easily accessible. At least 2,000 m2 would be needed on each floor, as well as a possibility to expand in the future. And the architecture had to be suitable for a model railway! All at affordable prices, of course. The Hamburg Board of Economics made the introductions to the HHLA (Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG), who was immediately enthusiastic about the idea and provided the premises at Kehrwieder at fair conditions. The perfect location was found.

How was the Wunderland financed?
It soon became clear that a model railway of this size and richness of details would be enormously expensive and a loan needed to be taken on to get started. Frederik made an appointment with their preferred bank, the Hamburger Sparkasse (Haspa), and presented two pages of paper roughly outlining their idea and the wish to secure a loan of 2 million Deutsche Mark. All three of them were sure that their bank adviser would laugh at them. 2 million, two pieces of paper and the dream of a model railway. Certainly, this would not look like a promising investment to a banker or so they thought.

Surprisingly, the Haspa agreed to the loan very quickly. Looking back, the original estimate of 2 million Deutsche Mark was a miscalculation: Until today, the amount has grown to 14 million Euro. Fortunately, the number of estimated visitors was also miscalculated over 1,400,664 people from all over the world have visited the Miniatur Wunderland since then.

At this point, we might add that, other than most exhibitions of its size, the Miniatur Wunderland is not publicly subsidized.

Visit the Miniatur Wunderland located in Hamburg, Germany!