Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Electropolis Museum, founded in 1992 in Mulhouse in the Dornach district, is the largest European museum dedicated to the history of electricity and appliances. The labeled Musée de France, it was created thanks to the patronage of EDF to preserve a master piece: a Sulzer-BBC generator from 1901, a 170-ton steam engine that fed D.M.C. spinning from 1901 to 1947. This industrial flagship, restored after 20,000 hours of work, is now staged during sound and light shows.

The museum offers a chronological path, from ancient lightning to modern inventions, through 12,000 objects, including 1,000 permanent exhibitions. It highlights pioneers like Franklin, Ampère, Edison or Tesla, and includes a 2-hectare technological garden. Its collections, enriched since 1983 by the Association for the Electrical Energy Museum, cover science, technology and decorative arts, with a documentary fonds unique in France.

The building, designed around a 25 metre cube housing the Sulzer-BBC machine, extends over 20,000 m2. Four half-cylinder pavilions complete the ensemble, illustrating architectural and museum evolution. The museum, close to the City of Train and the City of Automobile, is part of a major cultural and industrial centre in the East, attracting enthusiasts of technical history and industrial heritage.

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