Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

The " Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin" (Museum of Natural history of the Humboldt University of Berlin) was built between 1883 and 1889 by the famous Berliner architect Auguste Tiede. On a surface of exposure of more than 6.000 square meters (separate in rooms sets of themes), it shelters today a collection including/understanding more than 25 objects million, pertaining to the fields of the Zoologie, the Paléontologie, the Géologie and the Minéralogie. The " Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin" thus brings an overall picture of the evolution of the life on ground, and makes it possible to observe closely the beauty and the diversity of nature.

A place impossible to circumvent of the world of the Natural science

In the enclosure of the " Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin" , work more than one hundred of scientists. They study the collection in order to better include/understand the Histoire of the Earth as well as the development and the evolution of the life. These important research tasks, ignored general public, form the principal activity and the raison d'être of the Museum. The specialists attached to the Museum are in permanent contact with collaborators coming from the whole world and take part in many projects. In addition to that, scientists of many countries visit and use the collections of the museum.

History of the Museum

List principal directors of the museum:

Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger (1775-1813)
Hinrich Lichtenstein (1780-1857)
Jean Louis Cabanis (1816-1906)

Note:: At the time of both Allemagnes, the " Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin" was in East Germany (GDR), which explains a little old-fashioned style of the museum.

the room on Achéoptéryx and other dinosaurs

This room (most impressive of the museum), shelters many original bones coming from all the areas of the world. The major pieces of the museum belong to this collection. It is about the famous Berliner specimen of the Archéoptéryx lithographica and the fossilized bones of the Brachiosaurus brancai. The ancestor of the birds, the Archéoptéryx lithographica, discovered close to Solnhofen (Germany), most beautiful and is best preserved of the ten specimens (including three pertaining to private collections) discovered until now. When with the Brachiosaurus brancai, with its 23 meters length, and its 12 meters in height, it is the largest skeleton of dinausaure reconstituted to date.

the room on the Preparation

The exposure on the taxidermy reconsiders the history of the development of the techniques of preparation of the specimens: Construction of the dioramas (See Diorama) and biological modelling until the Naturalization of the mammals, the Taxidermie of the birds and the techniques of the Moulding. One of the headlights objects of the museum is the Bobby gorilla. Arrived at the zoological garden of Berlin at the three years age, Booby very quickly becomes the animal fetish of the Berliners. Reached of a rare disease affecting its growth it never reached the adult stage. After its death, in 1935, the museum wished immortaliser this imposing gorilla. Bobby was thus naturalized by the artists taxidermists of the museum, K.Kästner and G.Schröder.

the room of the Ongulés

One there décrouvre an astonishing variety among the animals with shoes. Curiously, between the stags, the Horses, the Rhinoceros, the ocyctéropes, the peccaries (See Peccary or Peccary with collar) and a certain number of other species, one classifies there also the hippopotamuses (See Hippopotame)… Many Ongulés coming from Africa, like the Syncerus caffer (a African race of Buffalo), are also presented in cettre room.

the room on the Evolution of the mammals

The specimens of this room illustrate the evolution of the Mammifères and in particular of the men. The evolution and the diversity of the Insectes are also treated.

the room of Minerals and Meteorites

The room of the Mineral and Météorites (See Meteorite) makes it possible to discover the impressive variety of forms and colors existing at the Cristaux. Moreover, this room contains one of the most important collections of Meteorites in the world. One finds there in particular Meteorites dating from the formation of the solar system, there is 4,5 billion years, coming for the majority from the collections from the famous scientist Alexander von Humboldt. The exposure of Meteorites of the Museum includes/understands also original samples having belonged to Ernst Chladni, founder of the theory of the cosmic origin of the meteorites.

the room of the Birds of our areas

Meries, thrushes (See Thrush), finches (See Finch) and of many other specimens of birds expose their plumage thanks to more 300 models taxidermic.

the room of local Poisson, Batrachians and Reptiles

Among the 80 fish species living in our lakes and rivers, around fifty are represented in their natural environment. The Silure is remarkable by its exceptional size. This Carnassier glouton has only very small teeth but he aspires in his enormous mouth with an extraordinary power his preys such as: Poisson, frogs, small mammalian and water birds.

the room of the indigenous Mammals

Almost all the species of the mammals of Central Europe are represented in these dioramas. A diorama is a reproduction in three dimensions of an animal naturalized in its natural environment. The collection of the indigenous mammals includes/understands animals like the stag and the deer. The oldest dioramas date from the Thirties of last century but of new dioramas recently were create by the employees of the Department of the Exposures of the Museum.

the room on the Models of insects

Single models representing of the indigenous insects on scale 100, works of Alfred Keller were create out of papier-m4ach3e, plaster, wax, wood and cellulose between 1930 and 1955.

the room of the fossils

This collection of fossils, single to the world by the quality of its samples, presents fish fossils, plants, reptiles, mammals, insects… This room presents also fossils of marine lily or lily of sea (Comatule in rosette or crinoide) strongly resembling plants although the lily of sea is an animal.

Small history of the various zoological collections

The zoological collections of the museum belong to largest world and count more than 21 million objects.

Poisson: The collections of Ichtyologie count 1.100 dried skeletons, 1.750 specimens and more than 130.000 specimens preserved in Formol. It are rich of 1.700 standard different. The oldest specimens are those of Marcus Elieser Bloch (1723-1799) and of Peter Simon Pallas (1741-1811) and date from the XVIIIe century. Among the other collections of historical importance, it is necessary to quote those of Johannes Peter Müller (1801-1858), those of South America of Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), Robert Hermann Schomburgk (1804-1865) and Moritz Richard Schomburgk (1811-1891), those of Africa of Wilhelm Carl Hartwich Peters (1815-1883), Franz Ludwig Stuhlmann (1863-1928), and Friedrich Fülleborn (1866-1933), that of the Japan of Franz Martin Hilgendorf (1839-1904), those of the Red Sea of Friedrich Wilhelm Hemprich (1796-1825), Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg (1795-1876) and Carl Benjamin Klunzinger (1834-1914), and those of the South-East Asia of Francis Day (1829-1889) and of Eduard Carl von Martens (1831-1904).

Mammalian: This department counts 150.000 specimens of which a standard thousand of S different, two hundred year old fruit of effort in particular of Hinrich Lichtenstein (1780-1857), of Wilhelm Peters (1815-1883), of Paul Matschie (1861-1926) and well of others.

Crustacean: 27.000 specimens are preserved in this department, oldest are those gathered by Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst (1743-1807).

Invertebrate sailors: This department counts 40.000 specimens of eleven Phylum S like the Porifère S, the Cnidaire S, the echinodermatous S, etc the principal collections were made during the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century in particular by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg (1795-1876), Carl Benjamin Klunzinger (1834-1914), Ludwig Heinrich Philipp Döderlein (1855-1936), Fritz Schaudinn (1871-1906), of Willy Georg Kükenthal (1861-1922),…

Molluscs: Five million specimens is preserved what makes the second collection of it of many specimens of the natural history museum after that of entomology. Number of them were gathered by Eduard Carl von Martens (1831-1904). The natural history museum acquired, during the history, various historical collections like those of Wilhelm Bernhard Rudolph Hadrian Dunker (1809-1885), of Friedrich Paetel (1812-1888), of Franz Alfred Schilder (1896-1970)…

Insects: The department counts nine million specimens.

Source

Official site of the Natural history museum
Leaflet of the museum

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