Europe's Highest Motorcycle Museum To Reopen In November 2021

The brand-new structure replaces the one that burned to the ground in January.

02:27

Janaki Jitchotvisut

By: Janaki Jitchotvisut

Sep 21, 2021 at 4:30pm ET

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It’s hard to believe, but the horrific Top Mountain Motorcycle Museum fire happened just nine months ago, in January, 2021. Does it feel like it was longer ago to you? It certainly does to us. In any case, over 200 historic motorcycles (and a few cars, too) were lost in the blaze, as the entire wooden structure of the museum burned to the ground.

By March, owners and twin brothers Attila and Alban Scheiber had already announced plans to rebuild. Not only did they want to build a new museum, but they also announced plans to make it bigger and better than it was before. None of that was, perhaps, very surprising. Fires are terrible, especially when they burn up something you truly loved. The brothers have been enjoying and collecting motorcycles for their entire lives, so such a loss was certainly complicated.

In March, 2021, the brothers swore they’d get the museum rebuilt and reopened by the winter 2021 season. At this point, we must point out that they also own the ski resort where the museum is located—so their motivation is particularly strong here. Still, that seemed like an incredibly ambitious goal. Museum collections of any kind don’t just come together overnight—or do they?

On September 8, 2021, the Scheiber brothers took to the museum’s social media channels to announce that their plans are apparently right on track. The grand reopening of the Top Motorcycle Museum at the base of the Timmelsjoch Pass in Austria is currently scheduled to take place on November 18, 2021. That’s also when the ski resort will open for the season, as well.

After the fire, collectors from around the world stepped up to help the brothers out with unique historic machines. Winter is typically a season low on sunlight, but it’s only vitamin D you’ll need to worry about in 2021—no iron deficiency here.

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The Scheibers alluded to exhibits you’ll be able to sit on and experience in new ways, as well as some other new museum experience plans that they didn’t want to go into detail about just yet. The video also gave a glimpse at some of the new and ongoing construction, as well.

If you follow the museum’s Instagram and Facebook, you’ll see that they’ve been posting all kinds of photos of bikes. Some are the ones that perished in the fire, but others are some of the new bikes that will find a home in the rebuilt structure, and that you can look forward to seeing in person if you visit.