Salamanca Automotive History Museum, Salamanca

The Salamanca Automotive History Museum has the distinction of being the first public museum in Spain devoted entirely to the world of motoring. It was inaugurated in late September 2002 by the then reigning monarchs, King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía.

Uniquely housed in a restored 19th-century industrial building that formerly served as Salamanca’s first power plant, the museum bridges past and present through its architecture and exhibits. The facility includes both the historic structure and a contemporary extension, offering spacious, well-balanced galleries.

The museum’s heart is the Gómez‑Planche Collection, assembled by engineer Demetrio Gómez Planche and his family, which includes over 100 historically significant vehicles-some of them one-of-a-kind-along with thousands of automotive artifacts and memorabilia. The permanent collection alone features around 90 to 150 vehicles that illustrate both technological and stylistic progress across eras.

The museum offers rotating exhibitions, like the “piece of the month,” spotlighting vehicles such as the Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL (from 1974) or the Peugeot 201BC Coupé (from 1932) and even tributes to automotive legends like Mercedes on the “International Museum Day”.