24 October 2021 to 7 August 2022 | Admission is free

The anniversary exhibition looks back – with a twinkle in its eye – at the 25-year history of the Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum. Visitors experience a colourful tour through all the highlights, set up in the style of a fun fair. Familiar fun fair attractions and modern elements bring to life the exhibitions, events and anecdotes of those years: A strong blow on the ring-the-bell game called "Hau den Lukas” gains visitors an impression of the most exciting stations in the history of the HNF. A virtual horse race illustrates the lightning-fast development of computer technology from its beginnings up to today. An amusing quiz rewards people who know or can guess the right answers. Who’ll be the first to the goal?

Special replicas and buried treasure

Every fair should have a barrel organ! Accompanied by music, visitors turn a virtual crank to move images of unique exhibit objects and admire highly accurate replicas. This is a good way to work up an appetite for the HNF’s permanent exhibition. In the cabinet of rarities, the HNF presents previously hidden treasures from its depot, from the world’s smallest steam engine to curious apples that help learners calculate fractions, to a special dog skull and through to the extremely rare Casartelli calculating disc.

Memories of special exhibitions and retro computer games

At the shooting gallery, visitors can test their ability to hit the target – naturally with an up-to-date infrared device. Every hit wins a glance at one of the around one hundred special exhibitions at the HNF. Visitors can try their hands at old computer games, be amazed by the simple graphics and enjoy the memories – including, of course, that cuddly plumber, Mario.

Robot as barker

And who else should advertise the fair’s sensations if not a robot? He appears appropriately costumed as a fair barker, escorts visitors to the stands and is the source of a great deal of publicity in the process. He is a bit of a sensation in his own right: The first fun fair robot in the world!