The Geological Museum was a separate

geology museum Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth s ...

located at the northeast corner of the

Copenhagen Botanical Garden The University of Copenhagen Botanical Garden (), usually referred to simply as Copenhagen Botanical Garden, is a botanical garden located in the centre of Copenhagen, Denmark. It covers an area of 10 hectares and is particularly noted for its ext ...

, in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. Although its location remains the same and the main exhibits have been maintained, it is now part of the

Natural History Museum of Denmark The Natural History Museum of Denmark () is a natural history museum located in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is affiliated with the University of Copenhagen The museum became an organizational entity in 2004 with the merger of Copenhagen's Zoological ...

rather than a separate museum. In addition to housing exhibits, it also facilitates research and study as part of the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

, with some of the museum staff actively partaking in research worldwide.

History

The Geological Museum opened in 1772 as the "Universitetets Nye Naturaltheater" (The New Natural Theatre of the University) and contains specimens which have been in museum collections for more than 300 years. Its original location was in

Nørregade Nørregade (literally "North Street") is a street in central Copenhagen, Denmark, linking Gammeltorv in the south with Nørre Voldgade in the north. Landmarks in the street include Church of Our Lady, Bispegården, St. Peter's Church and ...

, but in 1893 the museum moved into the current building, which was newly built to house the museum. From 1810 to 1976 the name of the museum was Mineralogisk Museum. In 2004, it was merged with other natural history museums in Copenhagen and in 2020 the combined entity was officially renamed the

Collections

The collections at the Geological Museum have been built up through centuries and include large collections of minerals, fossils, petrology, and meteorites.

Exhibitions

The museum features changing exhibitions as well as permanent ones such as The Mineral Exhibition where the minerals are presented in a crystal chemical order starting with elements such as gold and silver and ending with silicates such as feldspar and zeolites. The Agpalilik

meteorite A meteorite is a rock (geology), rock that originated in outer space and has fallen to the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical ...

, a part of the

Cape York meteorite The Cape York meteorite, also known as the Innaanganeq meteorite, is one of the largest known iron meteorites, classified as a medium octahedrite in chemical group IIIAB meteorites, IIIAB. In addition to many small fragments, at least eight large ...

weighing some 20 tons, can be seen in the museum courtyard. Also on exhibit is a small rock from the Taurus-Littrow region of the Moon, brought back by the

Apollo 17 Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the eleventh and final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the sixth and most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on the Moon, ...

astronauts in 1972.

References

External links

The Natural History Museum of Denmark

The Geological Museum in Copenhagen
(Archived) {{authority control Museums in Copenhagen Geology museums in Denmark University museums in Denmark University of Copenhagen