May the 4th be with you… everywhere, also in the fighter cockpits – an exhibition that will take you on a journey to a galaxy far, far away

4 May 2026

Three cockpits, three different fantasies about flying

The three machines waiting at the exhibition are more to Star Wars fans than just vehicles from the film. They represent three completely different galaxy lifestyles and three completely different fantasies about flying among the stars.

• Razor Crest, well known from The Mandalorian, is a ship of people who prefer to act alone. A little scratched, a little improvised, but reliable when you really need to fly under the radar. In its cockpit, it’s easy to imagine a journey to the Outer Rim, a couple not-so-legal contracts, and a long journey with hyperspace humming in the background.
• On the other end of the galactic aesthetic spectrum is the imperial TIE fighter. Here, everything is clean, compact and made to serve one goal and one goal only. Just look at the characteristic cockpit and you can immediately hear the metallic roar of engines in your head, which for decades meant one thing – an Empire patrol is somewhere nearby. If you have always wondered what the world looks like from the perspective of a TIE fighter pilot, now is the chance to see it for yourself.
• And as the cherry on top: the X-Wing. A machine that is simply synonymous with Star Wars for many fans. A symbol of the Rebellion, the bravado and the most legendary moments of the Saga. Sitting in its cockpit is a bit like going back in time and watching the scenes that made many of us feel the enormity of the faraway galaxy for the first time.

The best part is that it’s not about looking at exhibits from a safe distance of a ‘do not touch’ sign. You can enter the cockpits, sit at the controls and take photos that look like someone is about to say: “Red Leader, standing by” through the comms.

When the fandom says “let’s build it for real then”

Behind all this are people who belong to that special part of the fandom, people for whom watching the movies is just the beginning of the fun. There are fans who collect figurines, there are those who know all the dialogues by heart, and there are also those who look at the screen and think: we can build it.

For over a decade, they have been creating full-size props, ships and sets that allow them to bring a fragment of Star Wars into the real world. They do this with an obsessive attention to detail that can only be understood by a fan who has inspected a single movie frame just to see what a given control panel looks like. These are not decorations vaguely resembling the machines from the movies. These are projects built with the intent of someone being able to approach them, look inside, touch the switches and feel, even just for a moment, like they are really sitting in the cockpit of a ship from a galaxy far, far away.

This exhibition, straight from eastern Hesse, works so well because it’s not just a model show. It is much closer to what the Star Wars fandom has always been and what it still is – a shared game of fantasy and imagination in which someone finally said, “if we can imagine it… then let’s try to build it.”

So if you want to celebrate properly on May 4th, there’s no better way to do it than to plan a visit to the Star Wars Zone. Make time to see the exhibition that allows you more than just an outside look at the galaxy far, far away. You will be able to literally get inside, sit at the controls and see which cockpit suits you best: the austere imperial one, the rebellious one or maybe the one for lonely wanderers crossing the galactic frontier.

Awaken both the nostalgia and imagination, but also the pure joy of being a fan, because that’s what it’s all about. See you at Pyrkon and as always – may the Force be with you!