BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Stepping into the Barber Vintage Motorsport Museum, visitors notice a hush almost like that of a place of worship. That’s because in many ways, this four-story, five-level museum is the cathedral of motorcycling. More than 440 motorcycles, spread out over 100,000 square feet of display space, are exhibited like works of fine art.

 The museum, and collection, is the brainchild of George Barber, a third-generation resident of Birmingham and the former owner of Barber Dairy.

 The Barber museum is located at Barber Motorsports Park, one of the loveliest road-racing tracks in the country. The track is a 2.38-mile course that snakes and weaves through 740 acres of lush surroundings that look like a world-class golf course. Barber originally intended to build a small track for testing motorcycles after they were restored, but he decided to go all the way and create a world-class racing facility instead. Professional motorcycle and sports car races have been held at the track already, and it may be the site of an international motorcycle race next year.

 “I wanted to make this the Augusta of racetracks,” Barber said, and the level of detail and refinement are superb. Barber said he built the track and museum to help draw people to Birmingham and help change a bad reputation that dates back to the civil rights disturbances of the 1960s. He donated roughly $54 million to the museum foundation, making it one of the largest philanthropic contributions in the state’s history.

 Barber, who raced sports cars in the early 1960s, started out collecting cars, but soon realized that assembling a world-class car collection would be difficult. He turned his attention to motorcycles in 1989. In the intervening years, he has gathered examples of some of the most significant bikes in existence. His collection numbers about 860, although only 440 are on display at one time. He has one of the most extensive gatherings of Lotus race cars.

 The museum, which Barber designed, has curved ramps around a huge central atrium. A 10-by-20-foot glass elevator  sits in the center of the atrium, and it is used to deliver bikes and cars from the first-floor restoration shop to the display areas. Motorcycles are displayed on wooden stands that are completely accessible.

 Barber loves motorcycles because their mechanical pieces are out in the open, “Cars are paint jobs with hub caps,” he said. “You have to open them up to see everything. But with bikes, you can see the heads, suspension and all of the mechanical parts. I fell in love with them.”

 That’s obvious when you see his museum.