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The Natural History Museum (german: Museum für Naturkunde) is a natural history museum located in Berlin, Germany. It exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history and in such domain it is one of three major museums in Germany alongside '' Naturmuseum Senckenberg'' in Frankfurt and '' Museum Koenig'' in Bonn. The museum houses more than 30 million zoological, paleontological, and mineralogical specimens, including more than ten thousand type specimens. It is famous for two exhibits: the largest mounted dinosaur in the world (a '' Giraffatitan'' skeleton), and a well-preserved specimen of the earliest known bird, ''
Archaeopteryx ''Archaeopteryx'' (; ), sometimes referred to by its German name, "" ( ''Primeval Bird''), is a genus of bird-like dinosaurs. The name derives from the ancient Greek (''archaīos''), meaning "ancient", and (''ptéryx''), meaning "feather" ...
''. The museum's mineral collections date back to the Prussian Academy of Sciences of 1700. Important historic zoological specimens include those recovered by the German deep-sea Valdiva expedition (1898–99), the German Southpolar Expedition (1901–03), and the German Sunda Expedition (1929–31). Expeditions to fossil beds in Tendaguru in former Deutsch Ostafrika (today Tanzania) unearthed rich paleontological treasures. The collections are so extensive that less than 1 in 5000 specimens is exhibited, and they attract researchers from around the world. Additional exhibits include a mineral collection representing 75% of the minerals in the world, a large meteor collection, the largest piece of amber in the world; exhibits of the now-extinct quagga, huia, and tasmanian tiger, and "Bobby" the gorilla, a
Berlin Zoo The Berlin Zoological Garden (german: link=no, Zoologischer Garten Berlin) is the oldest surviving and best-known zoo in Germany. Opened in 1844, it covers and is located in Berlin's Tiergarten. With about 1,380 different species and over 20,2 ...
celebrity from the 1920s and 1930s. In November 2018 the German government and the city of Berlin decided to expand and improve the building for more than €600 million.


Name

The museum's name has changed several times. German speakers mainly call this museum ''Museum für Naturkunde'' since this is the term on the façade. It is also called ''Naturkundemuseum'' or even ''Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin'' so that it can be distinguished from other museums in Germany also named as ''Museum für Naturkunde''. The museum was founded in 1810 as a part of the Berlin University, which changed its name to ''Humboldt University of Berlin'' in 1949. For much of its history, the museum was known as the "Humboldt Museum", but in 2009 it left the university to join the Leibniz Association. The current official name is ''Museum für Naturkunde – Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung'' and the "Humboldt" name is no longer related to this museum. Furthermore: there is another Humboldt-Museum in Berlin in
Tegel Tegel () is a locality (''Ortsteil'') in the Berlin borough of Reinickendorf on the shore of Lake Tegel. The Tegel locality, the second largest in area (after Köpenick) of the 96 Berlin districts, also includes the neighbourhood of ''Saatwinkel'' ...
Palace dealing with brothers Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt. The Berlin U-Bahn station ''
Naturkundemuseum The Natural History Museum (german: Museum für Naturkunde) is a natural history museum located in Berlin, Germany. It exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history and in such domain it is one of three major ...
'' is named after the museum.


Exhibitions

Since the museum renovation in 2007, a large hall explains biodiversity and the processes of evolution, while several rooms feature regularly changing special exhibitions.


Dinosaur Hall

The specimen of '' Giraffatitan'' ''brancai'' Gregory S. Paul formally moved the ''Brachiosaurus brancai'' species to a new subgenus (''Giraffatitan'') in 1988, and George Olshevsky promoted the new taxa to genus in 1991. Although the change has been generally accepted among scientists, as of 2015 the museum's labels still use the old genus name. in the central exhibit hall is the largest mounted dinosaur skeleton in the world. It is composed of fossilized bones recovered by the German paleontologist Werner Janensch from the fossil-rich Tendaguru beds of Tanzania between 1909 and 1913. The remains are primarily from one gigantic animal, except for a few tail bones (caudal vertebrae), which belong to another animal of the same size and species. The historical mount (until about 2005) was 12.72 m (41 ft 5 in) tall, and 22.25 m (73 ft) long. In 2007 it was remounted according to new scientific evidence, reaching a height of 13.27 m. When living, the long-tailed, long-necked
herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...
probably weighed 50  t (55 
ton Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean * the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds ...
s). While the ''
Diplodocus carnegiei ''Diplodocus'' (, , or ) was a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaurs, whose fossils were first discovered in 1877 by S. W. Williston. The generic name, coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878, is a neo-Latin term derived from Greek διπ ...
'' mounted next to it (a copy of an original from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, United States) actually exceeds it in length (27 m, or 90 ft), the Berlin specimen is taller, and far more massive.


''Archaeopteryx''

The "Berlin Specimen" of ''Archaeopteryx lithographica'' (HMN 1880), is displayed in the central exhibit hall. The dinosaur-like body with an attached tooth-filled head, wings, claws, long
lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...
-like tail, and the clear impression of
feather Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and a premier ...
s in the surrounding stone is strong evidence of the link between
reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...
s and birds. The ''Archaeopteryx'' is a transitional fossil; and the time of its discovery was apt: coming on the heels of
Darwin Darwin may refer to: Common meanings * Charles Darwin (1809–1882), English naturalist and writer, best known as the originator of the theory of biological evolution by natural selection * Darwin, Northern Territory, a territorial capital city i ...
's 1859 magnum opus, '' The Origin of Species'', made it quite possibly the most famous fossil in the world. Recovered from the
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
Solnhofen limestone beds in 1871, it is one of 12 ''Archaeopteryx'' to be discovered and the most complete. The first specimen, a single 150-million-year-old feather found in 1860, is also in the possession of the museum.


Minerals Halls

The MFN's collection comprises roughly 250,000 specimens of minerals, of which roughly 4,500 are on exhibit in the Hall of Minerals.Süddeutsche Zeitung Onlin
''Wissenschaft im Paradies - Schöner forschen''
accessed 9.9.2011
MFN entry in the databas
''University museums and collections in Germany''
of th
Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrums für Kulturtechnik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
, accessed 9.9.2011


Evolution in action

A large hall explains the principles of evolution. It was opened in 2007 after a major renovation of parts of the building.


Tristan – Berlin bares teeth

The Museum für Naturkunde normally exhibits one of the best-preserved '' Tyrannosaurus'' skeletons ( "Tristan") worldwide. Of approximately 300 bones, 170 have been preserved, which puts it in the third position among others.Tristan exhibitio
''Tristan – Berlin bares teeth''
accessed 4.2.2017
Tristan is currently at the
Natural History Museum of Denmark The Natural History Museum of Denmark ( da, Statens Naturhistoriske Museum) is a natural history museum located in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was created as a 1 January 2004 merger of Copenhagen's Zoological Museum, Geological Museum, Botanical Muse ...
.Back in 202
''Back in 2021 - Tristan''
accessed 13.2.2020


Wet Collection

The glass-walled Wet Collection Wing with 12.6 km of shelf space displays one million specimens preserved in an ethanol solution and held in 276,000 jars.Wet Collectio
''Wet Collections''
accessed 28.9.2019


History

Minerals in the museum were originally part of the collection of instructors from the Berlin Mining Academy. The University of Berlin was founded in 1810, and acquired the first of these collections in 1814, under the aegis of the new Museum of Mineralogy. In 1857, the paleontology department was founded, and 1854 a department of petrography and general geology was added. By 1886 the university was overflowing with collections, so design began on a new building nearby at Invalidenstraße 43, which opened as the ''Museum für Naturkunde'' (Natural History Museum) in 1889. The museum was built on the site of a former ironworks and this is reflected in two spectacular cast iron stairwells within the building. Of particular significance is the contribution of the first director after the move to the new building. In the past the museum simply consisted of the entire collections being open to the public, but Karl Möbius instigated a clear split between a public exhibition space with a few choice specimens, together with explanations of their relevance, and the remainder of the collection held in archives for scientific study. The collections were damaged by the
Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
bombing of Berlin during World War II. The eastern wing was severely damaged, and was rebuilt only in 2011, now housing the alcohol collections (partly publicly accessible). In 1993, after the shake-up caused by the
reunification of Germany German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...
, the museum split into the three divisions: The Institutes of Mineralogy, Zoology, and Paleontology. Infighting between the institute directors led to important changes in 2006, which saw the appointment of a director general and the replacement of the former institutes by a division into Collections, Research and Exhibitions. Since January 1, 2009 the museum has officially separated from the Humboldt-University and became part of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Scientific Community as the Museum für Naturkunde – Leibniz Institute for Evolutionary and Biodiversity Research at the Humboldt University, Berlin (german: Museum für Naturkunde – Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin). It is legally set up as a foundation.


See also

*
List of museums in Germany This is a list of museums and galleries in Germany. Baden-Württemberg Bavaria Augsburg * Augsburg Puppet Theater museum * Augsburg Railway Park * Fuggerei museum * German Ice Hockey Hall of Fame Bayreuth * Kunstmuseum Bayreuth Eichstät ...
* List of natural history museums *
Biodiversity Heritage Library for Europe The Biodiversity Heritage Library for Europe (BHL-Europe) was a three-year (2009–2012) EU project aimed to the coordination of digitization of literature on biodiversity. It involved 28 major natural history museums, botanical gardens, libra ...
(Museum für Naturkunde is a lead institution) *'' Zoosystematics and Evolution'' and ''
Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift ''Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift'' is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal covering systematic and taxonomic entomology. It was established in 1857 as ''Berliner Entomologische Zeitschrift'' and obtained its current title in 1875 ...
'' (
scholarly journal An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and d ...
s associated with the museum)


References


Further reading

* * * Maier, Gerhard. ''African dinosaurs unearthed: the Tendaguru expeditions''. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2003. (Life of the Past Series). *Damaschun, F., Böhme, G. & H. Landsberg, 2000. ''Naturkundliche Museen der Berliner Universität – Museum für Naturkunde: 190 Jahre Sammeln und Forschen''. 86-106.— In: H. Bredekamp, J. Brüning & C. Weber (eds.). Theater der Natur und Kunst Theatrum Naturae et Artis. Essays Wunderkammern des Wissens, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin & Henschel Verlag. 1-280. Berlin. *


External links


Museum für Naturkunde
(home page)



* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20150227084035/http://www.minrec.org/labels.asp?colid=149&submitmineral.x=40&submitmineral.y=8 History of the mineral collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Museum Fur Naturkunde Museums in Berlin Berlin Mineralogy museums Shell museums Geology museums in Germany Museums established in 1810 Humboldt University of Berlin University museums in Germany Scientist 1810 establishments in Prussia Buildings and structures in Mitte Dinosaur museums