August Horch Museum Zwickau

Drive an Audi and you are driving a piece of Zwickau's history. This is where August Horch founded his first car company in 1904, and when he fell out with the supervisory board and was no longer allowed to use his own name, he simply called his new company Audi, the Latin translation of "horch", German for "listen". In the oldest part of the former Audi factory, the August Horch Museum now tells more than 100 years of car-making in Saxony: from luxury Horch saloons and the Auto Union racing cars to the Trabant.

History: four rings from Saxony

On 10 May 1904 August Horch founded the August Horch & Cie. Motorenwagenwerke AG in Zwickau. After a dispute with the supervisory board he left and in 1909 set up a new company within sight of the old one. He lost the court case over the "Horch" brand name at the Reichsgericht, so from 25 April 1910 the firm was called Audi Automobilwerke GmbH. In 1932 Audi, Horch, DKW and Wanderer's car division merged to form Auto Union, whose four interlocking rings stood for the four brands. After 1945 the factories were dismantled and expropriated. In 1958 Zwickau became home to VEB Sachsenring, where the Trabant rolled off the line. A car museum first opened in 1988 in a former canteen. Since 2000 the city of Zwickau and Audi AG have run the museum together; it reopened in September 2004 and was expanded in 2017.

What to see

• Vehicle collection: Around 160 large exhibits – cars, engines and motorcycles – fill 6,500 m². The first section covers Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer up to 1945.
• Motor racing: The extension shows motorsport of the late 1920s and 1930s with the Auto Union racing cars.
• Staged scenes: A walk-in 1930s street with shops and parked cars, a historic petrol station, a racing grandstand and a GDR holiday bungalow form the backdrop.
• After 1945: From post-war production via the Trabant to today's Volkswagen plant in Zwickau-Mosel.
• August Horch's office and the Horch Villa: The founder's study and the factory owner's villa are part of the visit.

Good to know

The post-war years show how inventive the factories had to be: for a time VEB Horch made gas cookers and the former Audi plant produced ice skates. Since 2015 Zwickau's Trabant monument, formerly on Georgenplatz, has stood on the museum grounds. The museum is an anchor point on the European Route of Industrial Heritage.

Opening hours and tickets (as of October 2026)

• Tuesday to Sunday: 09:30–17:00, last entry 16:00. Closed on Mondays except public holidays.
• Closed on 24, 25 and 31 December; open 13:00–17:00 on New Year's Day.
• Admission: €15, reduced €13 (including children up to 15), children under 6 free. Families with two adults and two children pay €33.

Backpacks, umbrellas and bags larger than A4 go into lockers. Animals are not allowed, except assistance dogs.

Getting there and parking

The museum is at Audistraße 7 in the north of Zwickau. There is a free car park right in front of the entrance with EV charging points. Zwickau Pölbitz railway stop is about 700 metres away, and the tram stops at Kurt-Eisner-Straße.

Tripto tip

Allow two to three hours, car fans even more. Go chronologically: first the early Horch and Audi cars, then the racing cars, and finally the Trabant. That way you will understand why the four rings are now at home in Ingolstadt and why Zwickau has nevertheless remained a car town. With children, try the museum's detective trail.