Senckenberg_Museum

Naturmuseum Senckenberg

Naturmuseum Senckenberg

Museum of natural history in Frankfurt

The Naturmuseum Senckenberg (SMF)[7] is a museum of natural history, located in Frankfurt am Main. It is the second-largest of its kind in Germany. In 2010, almost 517,000 people visited the museum, which is owned by the Senckenberg Nature Research Society.[8] Senckenberg's slogan is "world of biodiversity".[9] As of 2019, the museum exhibits 18 reconstructed dinosaurs.[10]

Quick Facts Former name, Established ...

History

In 1763, Johann Christian Senckenberg donated 95,000 guilders–his entire fortune–to establish a community hospital and promote scientific projects.[11][12] Senckenberg died in 1772. In 1817, 32 Frankfurt citizens founded the non-profit Senckenberg Nature Research Society, German: Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung (SGN), which is a member of the Leibniz Association.[13][14][15] Soon after, Johann Georg Neuburg [de] donated his collection of bird and mammal specimens to the society.[14] The Naturmuseum Senckenberg was founded in 1821, just four years later.[lower-alpha 1][17] Initially located near the Eschenheimer Turm,[18] the museum moved to a new building on Senckenberganlage in 1907.[19] During World War II, the building was partly destroyed.[lower-alpha 2] However, the exhibits had been evacuated before.[14]

Building

The neo-baroque building[20] housing the Senckenberg Museum was erected between 1904 and 1907 by Ludwig Neher [de] outside of the center of Frankfurt in the same area as the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, which was founded in 1914.[21] The museum is owned and operated by the Senckenberg Nature Research Society.[22] The exhibition area covers 6,000 m2 (65,000 sq ft).[23]

  • Floor plans of the basement, ground floor and first floor of the Senckenberg Museum at the time of construction, published 1908
  • Cross section through the main axis of the Senckenberg Museum, published 1908

Source:[24]

Expansion plans

As of 2018, the museum has been expanded to 10,000 m2 (110,000 sq ft).[lower-alpha 3][26] New planned sections: Human, Earth, Cosmos, Future.[27][28]

Directors

  • 2021–present Brigitte Franzen [de][29]

Collections

The Senckenberg Museum Frankfurt has a large collection of animal, plant[30] and geology[31] exhibits from every epoch of Earth's history.

Dinosaurs

Diplodocus

Main attraction is a Diplodocus from Bone Cabin Quarry, Wyoming,[32][33] donated by the American Museum of Natural History on the occasion of the present museum building's inauguration on 13 October 1907,[16][34][35] The 18 m (59 ft) mounted skeleton with additions contains bones of three different sauropod genera (Diplodocus and closely related Apatosaurus and Barosaurus).[32][36]

Psittacosaurus

As of 2022, a key holding is a fossilized Psittacosaurus (specimen SMF R 4970) from Liaoning, China, with clear bristles around its tail and visible fossilized stomach contents.[37][38][39] The specimen was first reported in 2002.[38][40] The exact date and locality of the discovery within Liaoning is unknown.[37] A controversial debate about the legal ownership arose.[37][41] In 2021, researchers described its cloaca in more detail and found similarities with the body outlet of birds.[42][43][44] In 2022, for the first time a belly button was found in a dinosaur fossil.[38][45] A physical life reconstruction of the animal was prepared by paleoartist Robert Nicholls.[46][47]

Edmontosaurus and Triceratops

Another originals are an Edmontosaurus annectens mummy (specimen SMF R 4036) from Lance Formation, Wyoming.[48][49][50] and two Triceratops skulls.[51][10] The museum bought the three specimen from fossil collector Charles Hazelius Sternberg and his sons in the early 20th century.[52][53] The museum also exhibits a cast of a complete Triceratops,[10] the museum's mascot.[54]

Casts

Big public attractions also include the casts of Tyrannosaurus rex[lower-alpha 4] and Diplodocus longus (in front of the museum), an Iguanodon, the crested Hadrosaur Parasaurolophus and an Oviraptor.[33]

Further casts or single bones:[33]

Birds

A living reconstruction of the extinkt dodo and many other stuffed birds are shown in a permanent exhibition in the upper level.[55] Additionally, the museum owns a large and diverse collection of birds with 90,000 bird skins, 5,050 egg sets, 17,000 skeletons, and 3,375 spirit specimens (a specimen preserved in fluid).[56][57] This is 75% of the known bird species, only a minor part is exhibited.[57]

Reptiles

Anaconda is one of the oldest and most popular exhibits.[58] Since the remodeling finished in 2003, a new reptile exhibit addresses both the biodiversity of reptiles and amphibians and the topic of nature conservation.[59]

Messel research

The museum houses many originals from the nearby Messel pit,[60] Germany's first UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site,[61] among them a predecessor to the modern horse that lived about 50 million years ago and stood less than 60 cm (24 in) tall.[62][63][64] In 2015, researchers found an foal fetus in the body of the petrified primeval horse mare.[65][66][67] Also primates, crocodiles, bats, snakes, turtles and other fossils were found at Messel pit.[68]

Mammals

Display collections full of stuffed animals are arranged in the upper levels; among other things one can see one of twenty existing examples of the quagga, which has been extinct since 1883.[69][70]

The mammal collection focuses on bats, primates, rodents, and insectivores (not exhibited).[71]

Human evolution

Unique in Europe is a cast of the famous Lucy,[lower-alpha 5] an almost complete skeleton of the upright, 1 m (3 ft 3 in) tall, hominid Australopithecus afarensis.[73] The exhibition also includes reconstructions of the heads of human ancestors.[73]

See also

Notes

  1. The museum was opened to the public on 22 November 1821.[16]
  2. Bombing of Frankfurt am Main in World War II, on 22 March 1944.[14]
  3. Including buildings Alte Physik (south) and Jügelbau (north) by architect Peter Kulka.[25]
  4. Copy of a Tyrannosaurus located at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.[10]
  5. The original Lucy is stored in a safe at the National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.[72]

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