When a motorcycle museum is destroyed by fire, it is a devastating blow to the whole motorcycling community. The Top Mountain Motorcycle Museum suffered such a fate back in January 2021 but has been miraculously rebuilt and is again open to the public

The Top Mountain Motorcycle Museum Re-Opens!

If miracles do happen, then they happen in Austria! Just over a year after the Top Mountain Motorcycle Museum was destroyed by fire - along with over 300 of the priceless motorcycles - the museum has been rebuilt and is open to the public once again.

The reconstruction has taken just 10 months, all the more incredible when you consider that the museum is, as the name suggests, high up in the Austrian Alps - 2175 metres, to be exact! Collectors around the world have rallied to the museum's aid by loaning motorcycles to re-stock the museum.

"The fire was a huge shock," says Alban Schieber, who owns the museum with his brother Atila. "But we had to look to the future."

Despite the location and the altitude, the museum is located in brilliant riding country and so is a great destination for locals and tourists alike. The Timmelsjoch pass climbs up to the highest border crossing in Austria before plunging down into Italy via ten spectacular hairpin bends

In April 2016, a spectacular toll booth and cable car base station was opened on the Austrian side of the border crossing. Alban and Atilla Scheiber, who own the complex as well as the road itself, decided to build themselves a motorcycle museum on the same site to house their growing collection of classic motorcycles.

"We got our first moped when we were six years old, at eight we were sitting on our first motocross bike, we haven’t gotten off our bikes again since," recounts Alban Scheiber.

"The old toll station from the 1950s had to be restored," says Alban, "which gave us the idea to integrate a motorcycle museum into the new building at the same time and open our collection."

The museum houses 350 motorcycles and is a must-visit destination if you are touring in the Austrian Tyrol region. Even if you are not, then make time to get there.

For opening times of the museum and the access and toll roads, visit the museum website here