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Exploring the birthplace of Ferdinand Porsche

There are many instantly recognisable landmarks in the automotive world, and then there are those that are more obscure. You’d never guess from the unassuming exterior of this house that it was the birthplace of Ferdinand Porsche.

Nowadays the town is known as Vratislavice nad Nisou and you’ll find it in the northern Czech Republic. Back in 1875, the town was part of Austria-Hungary and would have been called Maffersdorf. It was here that a young Porsche first learned the basics of metalwork and electrics, working late hours in his father’s workshop. In the neighbouring town of Liberec, he attended his earliest engineering classes at the Imperial Politechnical College.

The house underwent many different evolutions in the century-and-a-half that followed, there was even a period when the living room was outfitted as a full workshop with a lift.

In 2011, the house was acquired by Škoda, who took charge of reconstructing it into a museum, celebrating the life and achievements of Ferdinand Porsche.

"It was here that a young Porsche first learned the basics of metalwork and electrics, working late hours in his father’s workshop."

The museum also pays tribute to Porsche’s groundbreaking electric and hybrid efforts too, manufactured originally by Lohner-Werke around the turn of the century. The cars saw enormous success for the time, with some acquired by the emperor himself.

Currently on central exhibition is a 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder, a car that employs a much more evolved variation of that hybrid technology, who’s roots none the less begin over a hundred years ago when the reach of the Porsche name was just beginning to extend beyond the boundaries of this small Czech town.