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Ask HN: Places in the UK / Europe Related to computers

by sailorganymede on 5/22/25, 9:14 AM with 17 comments

I’m interested in visiting some historic or special places related to this field as a way of rejuvenating my passion in the field again.

I’ve never been to Bletchley Park so I figured I might as well make a visit to see if I can get excited about something that doesn’t involve arguing about the merits of adding a column to a database.

Any other places people recommend / have been to ? Thank you!

  • by theGeatZhopa on 5/22/25, 9:47 AM

    I wanted to tell you about computer museums in Germany, but then I've found a list of computer museums of the world at wikipedia:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_computer_museums

    In Germany we've quite a few more or less good equiped museums.. The one in Stuttgart, South of Germany, is located at the University and is quite interesting. May be the upper List will be of good inspiration for you!

  • by laurieg on 5/22/25, 10:23 AM

    The National Museum of Computing (next to but completely separate from Bletchly Park) is fantastic.

    Definitely book a tour if you go. Speaking to the volunteers about how they used the machines on display is a fantastic way to experience part of the living history of computing.

  • by dcminter on 5/23/25, 8:14 AM

    I'm not specifically recommending them as I haven't been (and I often find museum exhibitions lacklustre) but these are on my list to check out next time I'm in the UK in the appropriate areas:

    Manchester is where the important early computer development in the UK occurred; Turing spent a lot of time working with the Manchester Baby: https://www.scienceandindustrymuseum.org.uk/whats-on/meet-ba...

    Reading was Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)'s centre in the UK. While it was an American company they had a huge estate here. I have a soft spot for their machines so I'm curious to see what this small museum managed to pull together - I know they reached out in some of the relevant Facebook groups for personal stories of DEC and their machines: https://www.readingmuseum.org.uk/whats-on/reading%E2%80%99s-...

  • by gadders on 5/22/25, 2:43 PM

  • by dotcoma on 5/26/25, 7:10 PM

  • by bergie on 5/23/25, 9:04 PM

    Berlin Museum of Technology has a Zuse Z1 replica among other things

    Konrad Zuse finished his Z1 in 1938. The computer was freely programmable. It worked by controlling mechanical switching elements that pushed metal pins into two different positions: position “0” and position “1.” This binary principle is still the basis of every computer.

    https://technikmuseum.berlin/en/exhibitions/permanent-exhibi...

  • by rlupi on 5/23/25, 5:37 AM

    In Switzerland, I recommend enter.ch. It has an extensive collection of consumer electronics, computing devices, and proper computers.

    It reminds me of the computing museum near Google main campus in Mountain View, California.

  • by gradschool on 5/24/25, 4:48 PM

    The Science museum on Exhibition Road in London sometimes has interesting things related to computers. I don't know if it's still on display, but there was a working mechanical computer based on designs by Charles Babbage that wasn't built until relatively recently. It was made with modern machine tooling but with tolerances that would have been achievable during Babbage's time.

  • by slartibardfast0 on 5/22/25, 8:03 PM

    To add to the delight of tnmoc, https://computermuseums.eu/ might be of interest.

    And from a more local angle & purely for a lovely day out, may I recommend a trip to Cork City and a wander through George Boole’s old stomping ground in UCC.

    Enjoy reconnecting!

  • by sloaken on 5/22/25, 4:01 PM

    Bletchley park is great. Consider it a full day.

    Cambridge has a bunch of computer stuff. I think Raspberry Pi started there.

  • by rahimnathwani on 5/23/25, 12:59 PM

    The (paid) PowerUp exhibit at the Science Museum in London:

    https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/see-and-do/power

  • by sebst on 5/24/25, 11:04 AM

    I had a lot of fun here: https://www.homecomputermuseum.nl/en/

  • by TartHint54 on 5/23/25, 7:20 PM

    Try the National Museum of Computing on the same site for live Colossus and Bombe demos and London’s Science Museum Information Age gallery for 200 years of communications tech