4/5 Jaroslav M. 3 years ago on Google
The
Natural
History
Museum
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.
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
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.
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
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,
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.