The Top Mountain Motorcycle Museum in the Austrian ski resort of Hochgurgl, which contained hundreds of historic and rare motorbikes, plus other vehicles, has been destroyed by fire.
The museum, located at The Crosspoint on the Timmelsjoch High Alpine Road that links Austria to Italy, was a popular attraction for skiers and snowboarders in the winter season and the 100,000-plus motorcyclists who ride the route from Tirol’s Ötztal Valley to Italy’s South Tyrol in the summer, with many stopping to visit the museum.
The building, which was attached to a restaurant, and the Kirchenkarbahn gondola base station, is made almost entirely of wood.
Twins Attila and Alban Scheiber who opened the Motorcycle Museum in 2016
The display of around 300 vehicles, each worth thousands of pounds, was opened in 2016 by twins Attila and Alban Scheiber. Their family own several businesses in the Hochgurgl/Obergurgl area including the TOP Hotel which in 2018 was designated the first and only five-star superior hotel in the Tyrolean Ötztal Valley.
Fire crews were called to the area at around 4.30am on Monday morning and an investigation is now underway to discover how the fire started.
The museum housed more than 300 exhibits
Museum owner Attila Scheiber shows off one of the unusual bikes he built himself to Skier & Snowboarder editor Frank ‘Scoop’ Baldwin when he visited the area in 2019
The museum displayed many rare and historic vehicles
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