The Aathal Dinosaur Museum (Swiss German native name: Sauriermuseum Aathal) is a

paleontological Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of foss ...

museum in the locality '' Aathal'' of the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Seegräben Seegräben is a village and a municipality in the district of Hinwil in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Besides the village of Seegräben itself, the municipality also includes the settlements of '' Aathal'', ''Aathal-Seegräben'', ''Aretshal ...

in the canton of Zürich, Switzerland, and one of the few

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

museums in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

History

Hans-Jakob Siber, a mineral and fossil dealer, started in 1977 to exhibit temporarily a fossilized giant turtle from four and a half meters in length at his annual special show in Aathal, and was featuring the eight-meter-long skeleton of an '' Edmontosaurus'' four years later. In 1992 the collection was expanded and in 1993 the ''Sauriermuseum Aathal'' in the current building was opened. The family-owned company ''Siber + Siber'' supported the funding of the further activities.

Museum and excavations

Museum

The former building of the ''Baumwollspinnerei Streiff & Cie'' weaving mill in Aathal was built in 1903 and houses the museum on about , including the outside park on the surrounding property. The focus is on the museum's own excavations and original dinosaur bones, 19 special exhibitions and subsequently integrated new finds. A shop, a cafeteria and a park for children (''Dino-Gardino'') are sections of the museum. Among around 645 exhibits, there are skeletons, reproductions and originals finds of ''

Stegosaurus ''Stegosaurus'' (; ) is a genus of herbivorous, four-legged, armored dinosaur from the Late Jurassic, characterized by the distinctive kite-shaped upright plates along their backs and spikes on their tails. Fossils of the genus have been fou ...

'', Ankylosaurs, Pterosaurs, 'featured' Dinosaurs, '' Archaeopteryx'' eggs and embryos and footprints, as well as meteorites and minerals of ''Siber + Siber''. The collection includes 10 skeletons being finds from excavations by the museum's team, 10 further original skeletons from Dino, air and marine saurians, 19 detached skeleton fossil dinosaur replicas as well as 31 life-size dinosaur models and 42 replicas of dinosaurs and dinosaur skulls. In 2012 there were 437 guided tours, of which about three hundred for school classes, and since 1992 about 1,571,012 visitors. The staff of the museum consists of approximately 33 employees, of which six are members of the paleontological-scientific team.

Excavations

Beginning in the early 1990s, Hans-Jakob Siber and his team perform excavations on the Howe Ranch in the upper Jurassic Morrison Formation, and since 2010 in the Dana-Quarry, Ten Sleep, Big Horn Basin, Wyoming, USA. Skeletons are recovered and subsequently dissected, mounted and exhibited in Aathal. The excavation technique is presented in the museum, and the taxidermists may be seen at work in the so-called ''Schaupräparatorium''.

Facilities

Public transportation is provided by the S-Bahn Zürich line

S14 (ZVV) The S14 is a regional railway line of the Zürich S-Bahn on the Zürcher Verkehrsverbund (ZVV), Zürich transportation network, in the canton of Zürich, Switzerland. Route * The line runs from Affoltern am Albis to Zürich Hauptbahnhof, b ...

to Aathal railway station. The museum is located about from the station towards

Uster Uster (High Alemannic: ''Uschter'') is a town and the capital of the Uster District in the Swiss canton of Zürich. It is the third largest town in the canton of Zürich, with almost 35,000 inhabitants, and is one of the twenty largest towns i ...

. The museum is closed on Mondays. After hours visits are available by appointment, as well as guided tours for groups.

Cultural heritage of national importance

In the Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance, the museum respectively the ''Baumwollspinnerei Streiff & Cie'' building is listed as a ''Class A'' object of national importance.

References

External links

* * {{authority control 1993 establishments in Switzerland Museums established in 1993 Museums in the canton of Zürich Dinosaur museums Natural history museums in Switzerland Fossil museums Paleontology in Switzerland Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Zürich Seegräben