Geological-Paleontological Museum Münster

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The Geological-Paleontological Museum in Münster

The Geological-Paleontological Museum of the Westphalian Wilhelms-Universität in Münster, Westphalia, has housed numerous fossils from various geological ages in its exhibition since it opened in 1824. Since it was the only museum in Westphalia with a significant collection of fossils for more than 150 years, many extraordinary finds came to Münster, which are exhibited in the museum and stored in the archive. In many cases, the sites are no longer accessible or exploited, so that some exhibits have considerable scientific value.

collection

The museum's collection consists largely of finds from all over Westphalia. This includes, for example, fossil remains of fish from the Upper Cretaceous , which were excavated in the Baumberge and Sendenhorst during the 19th century . The collection also includes remains of mammals from the Ice Age from Westphalian caves and gravel pits, as well as finds from the Upper Miocan during excavations on the Greek island of Samos in the 1920s . During excavations in the Sauerland in the 1970s, fossil remains of an Iguanodon were uncovered.

Exhibited exhibits of marine life include corals from the Paleozoic Era from the Schouppé and Oekentorp collections, as well as clams of the genus Inoceramidae from the Cretaceous period. The museum also includes finds of trilobites from the Cambrian , discovered in northern Spain.

history

The museum opened in 1824. The purpose of the “Museum mineralogicum et zoologicum” was to keep collections ready for the Westphalian Wilhelms University , which was downgraded to an academic institution in 1818, and the Paulinum grammar school . By 1848 the collection grew to 5500 objects. This was divided into 1637 mineralogical, 1176 geological and 2617 paleontological exhibits. In the course of the founding of the Westphalian Museum of Natural History by Hermann Landois in 1862, the mineralogical-geological department of the museum was separated. In the following years, the then head Hosius intensified the expansion of the geological-paleontological collection, which grew to 30,178 objects by the end of the 19th century.

After the first move to larger premises in 1851, the move to the Landsberg Curia , built by Gottfried Laurenz Pictorius , took place in 1880 . Since then, the museum has been located in this three-wing baroque building. The zoological-anatomical collection was also housed here until 1906. After the temporary separation of mineralogy and petrography in 1886, the mineralogical institute was expanded. The departments were supposed to be merged again in 1896, but were again separated from each other in 1919.

A public exhibition has existed since 1910. After a complete mammoth skeleton was found in Ahlen and other fossil vertebrate skeletons, they were exhibited to the public in the museum.

In contrast to the exhibits in the separate Mineralogical Museum, the collection was relocated before the Second World War and remained undamaged. The destruction thus only affected the building, the construction of which and the simultaneous restoration of the exhibits were completed in 1956. The move out of the University's Palaeontological Institute in 1971 enabled the exhibition to be expanded to include two more rooms, which are used, among other things, for temporary and special exhibitions.

In 2007 the museum was reunited with the University's Mineralogical Museum (Crystals and Rocks) to form the Geomuseum . In order for the collections to be exhibited in context, it was closed to the public in the same year for initial renovation work. The new geomuseum is located in the same building.

Problems with construction, financial problems and conceptual changes repeatedly delayed the opening of the museum. In 2019 they parted ways with the architectural office entrusted with the construction management and the exhibition implementation. University spokesman Norbert Robers assumes that the construction work will be completed in 2020 and that the museum can also be completed in the course of 2021.

location

The building of the Geological-Palaeontological Museum is located between Domplatz and Aegidiimarkt, directly opposite the LWL State Museum for Art and Cultural History at Pferdegasse 3, 48143 Münster.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Westfälische Nachrichten of April 1, 2017: First insight into the future Geomuseum
  2. ↑ Westfälische Nachrichten of July 20, 2017: Geomuseum should open in the first half of 2018
  3. ↑ Westfälische Nachrichten of May 3, 2018: Temporary "resurrection" of the mammoth skeleton in Ahlen
  4. ↑ Westfälische Nachrichten of October 18, 2019: University is looking for new site management

Coordinates: 51 ° 57 ′ 41.5 "  N , 7 ° 37 ′ 23.3"  E