Museum 3. Dimension Dinkelsbühl, Visual perception museum in Dinkelsbühl, Germany.
Museum 3. Dimension is an exhibition about methods to display and capture images and objects in three dimensions. Across four floors, different techniques such as holograms, special prints, and optical illusions are presented to show how depth effects are created.
Gerhard Otto Stief, born in Suhl in the late 1930s, founded the museum in 1987 from his own collection of stereoscopic images. It first occupied the tower of the Nördlinger Tor and later moved to the adjoining old Stadtmühle. Stief also ran the 3D-Museum Explora in Frankfurt am Main from 1995 until the end of 2016. After renovation by the Dinkelsbühl Bauhof in 2025/26, the city reopened it in May 2026.
The museum's name refers to the third dimension that its exhibits simulate. Visitors receive red-green anaglyph glasses included in the admission price, which they need to view the anaglyph images. The collection also holds anamorphic drawings that only resolve into a picture with a viewing aid, plus Viewmaster reels and Magic Eye pictures.
The museum occupies four floors of the old Stadtmühle, directly beside the Nördlinger Tor at the southeast edge of the old town. Anaglyph glasses are handed out and included in the admission price, so no own equipment is needed.
A special technique in the collection is PHSColography, a method that captures depth and spatial dimensions in ways that regular photography cannot achieve. This specialized technique shows how far the methods for creating three-dimensional images can go.
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