The building was designed by architect Ludwig Thürmer and opened to the public in 1996.
The collection includes a working replica of the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient Greek analog computer.
The museum holds an original Enigma machine used for encryption during World War II.
It preserves a complete collection of the iconic Nixdorf 820 desktop computers.
The interior layout is designed to mirror the chronological progression of human communication and data processing.
The facility contains a dedicated research library focusing on the history of office technology and informatics.
The Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum (HNF) is the world's largest computer museum, housed in a distinctive red-brick building formerly used by Nixdorf Computer AG. It spans 6,000 square meters of exhibition space, covering the history of information technology from ancient writing systems to the future of artificial intelligence. The permanent collection features over 2,000 objects, including rare historical calculation devices and early mainframe computers. The facility also functions as a high-tech conference hub for academic and industry symposiums. Interactive displays allow visitors to experiment with robotics, communication tools, and software development history. The museum was founded through a partnership between the Heinz Nixdorf Foundation and the University of Paderborn. It holds a significant archive of documents and hardware artifacts documenting the evolution of computing. Educational laboratories for children and adults are integrated into the main facility.
The impressive lobby area with its large, open architectural spans and the iconic 'robotics' section which features highly photogenic kinetic installations.
Start your visit at the top floor and work your way down to follow the chronological history chronologically.
Check the online events calendar for special temporary exhibitions, which change frequently.
Utilize the interactive 'hands-on' stations that are spread throughout the galleries to better understand mechanical computing.
Attempting to rush through the entire exhibition in under two hours, as the sheer volume of interactive material requires more time.
Closed on Mondays.
