by Dustin Wheelen from https://www.rideapart.com
Motorcycle enthusiasts around the world were heartbroken when Austria’s Top Mountain Motorcycle Museum was destroyed by a fire on January 18, 2021. Known as Europe’s highest motorcycle museum (7,200 feet above sea level), the Top Mountain housed over 280 motorcycles and cars. Not one of them escaped the early morning blaze.
Reports reflect that a faulty museum display led to the massive inferno. By the time firefighters arrived, they couldn’t save the 32,000 square-foot structure. However, they were able to contain the fire to the museum, keeping it from spreading to the nearby ski resort and restaurant. While the blaze is still fresh in our memories, Top Mountain founders Attila and Alban Scheiber are already planning a comeback for the Timmelsjoch museum.
“We want to offer more than a world of experiences, the goal is to offer something also to non-motorcyclists,” the Scheibers said. “There will be 250 motorcycles already promised by collectors from all over the world.”
Prior to the fire, the Scheiber brothers had plans to further expand the sprawling museum. The pair will leverage those blueprints to reconstruct the Passo Del Rombo facility along with the drafted expansions. The enormity of the project isn’t stopping the Scheibers from setting an ambitious goal of reopening by winter 2021. With the future museum hosting collectors’ motorcycles from around the world, safety will also be of the utmost importance.
After the damage incurred during the January, 2021, blaze, plans should undoubtedly include fire repellent building materials and advanced sprinkler systems. Of course, the project has many months of hard work ahead. However, if we would have known that the Mountain Top Motorcycle Museum would be back in less than a year after the winter 2020 fire, we might have been a little less heartbroken.
