Geologisch-Paläontologische Museum der Universität Hamburg

Description

In the basement of the Geomatikum in the Rotherbaum district of Hamburg is the Geology-Palaeontology section of the Museum der Natur Hamburg (formerly the Geologisch-Paläontologisches Museum). On an exhibition area of 900 m², geological processes and the history of life on Earth are vividly presented.

The institution traces its origins to the geological-palaeontological collections of the former Naturhistorisches Museum Hamburg. In 1977 the collection moved into its current premises; in Rotherbaum the museum’s two other houses for mineralogy and zoology are also located. In 2014 these institutions were organizationally consolidated within the Centrum für Naturkunde (CeNak) of the University of Hamburg. On 1 June 2021 a merger with the Museum Koenig (Bonn) formed the Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversitätswandels; subsequently the institution received its current name. The aim of this restructuring is to create a unified natural history museum in Hamburg that brings the three research areas together at a single site.

The exhibition thematically presents the development of life over roughly 3.5 billion years. Fossils from well-known sites such as Solnhofen and Messel are on display. The exhibits link the Earth’s geological development with biological evolution and explain the effects of glacial advances and retreats during the ice ages.