Lake Constance Museum of Nature

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Lake Constance Museum of Nature Constance (2011)

The Bodensee-Naturmuseum is the natural history museum of the city of Konstanz and is located in the building of the Sea-Life-Center near the Swiss border. The focus of the exhibitions in this museum is the geological development and nature of Lake Constance .

history

Part of the Rosgarten Museum

In 1871 the Constance pharmacist and councilor Ludwig Leiner (1830–1901) opened the Rosgarten Museum in the former guild house "Zum Rosengarten". The Rosgarten Museum was supposed to house “antiquities and natural objects in the local city” and, in addition to the finds from the city's past uncovered by Leiner during renovation and demolition work, also give an overview of the local nature. The basis for this scientific collection was formed by the collections of Ludwig Leiner himself, who massively increased the collection of beetles and butterflies inherited from his father Franz Xaver Leiner (1801–1846) and his father's herbarium and also collected minerals and petrefacts . As early as 1868 the city had acquired the ornithological collection of the painter Karl Spackholz for 500 guilders, which included 500 copies of 180 bird species found on Lake Constance as well as all Lake Constance fish. In 1873 Leiner acquired the von Seyfried'sche natural history collection of Öhninger fossils . The Macaire-Zeppelin collection (butterflies and minerals), which was built up by Caspar Macaire and re-inventoried and expanded by his nephew Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin , was added to the newly founded museum in 1872 (butterflies) and 1874 (minerals). In 1878 and 1891, the museum finally received the mineral collections of the doctor Eduard Rauter and Nikolaus Vincent.

As early as 1920/21, due to the increasing lack of space in the Rosgarten Museum, a separation of the cultural-historical and natural history collections was considered. After the Second World War , natural history was almost completely stored in a magazine. Various locations were discussed (Rheintorturm, Zeppelin-Gewerbeschule, Reichenaustr. No. 1, Villa Prym on Seestrasse, the former AOK building on Brauneggerstrasse), but failed due to static considerations or the growing space requirements of the Konstanz city administration.

Part of the cultural center at the Münster

In 1967 the local council decided to accommodate the Lake Constance Museum of Nature in the building Katzgasse 5–7, which the city had recently acquired, and thus to let it become part of the planned municipal cultural center at the Münster. In 1996 the museum was on the verge of collapse due to financial constraints, but a signature campaign by the citizens of Constance, during which 13,700 signatures were collected in order to preserve the museum, prevented the museum from being closed.

Top floor of the Sea-Life-Center

The current location was moved into in 1999: as part of a public-private partnership , the city invested 3.3 million  DM (1.69 million euros), and the Lake Constance Museum of Nature moved to the top floor of the newly built Sea-Life-Center in Klein- Venice.

Exhibitions

The permanent exhibition includes exhibits on the geology , formation, meteorology and biology of Lake Constance. Preparations show animals and plants in the different habitats of Lake Constance, from open water to the beach of Lake Constance to the forest . A computer set up in 2015 enables detailed information on the individual exhibits to be obtained. The Lake Constance Museum of Nature shows one to three special exhibitions every year.

collection

Over 30,000 objects are stored in the depots of the Lake Constance Natural History Museum: herbarized plants, prepared insects (around 18,000) and vertebrates, fossils (around 5,000) and minerals (around 2,200), mainly from the Lake Constance area.

Leiner Herbarium

The Herbarium Ludwig Leiner includes approximately 16,000 documents and allow an analysis of the flora of southwestern Germany in the 19th century. The herbarium was restored and cataloged from 2002 to 2004 on the initiative of the Botanical Working Group of Southern Germany. In the course of the work on the Leiner herbarium, three further, smaller herbaria were taken over, so that the BNM now has over 20,000 plant specimens. In the course of cataloging z. B. 23 type specimens of the genus Hieracium found, in addition some initial evidence for Baden-Württemberg or evidence of an earlier occurrence of feral neophytes than previously assumed.

deals

The Lake Constance Nature Museum regularly offers family afternoons and events for children of all ages.

literature

  • Bodensee-Naturmuseum Konstanz - about the lake, its formation and its environment. Museum guide
  • Manfred Jäger: The dinosaurs of Switzerland and the Federal Republic of Germany: a special exhibition in the Bodensee-Naturmuseum, Konstanz, from June 12th - August 10th 1986. Seekreis-Verlag Konstanz, Konstanz 1986.
  • Norbert Fromm, Marieluise Geiger-Pahl and Manfred Jäger: Mussels and snails: architects of nature. A special exhibition in the Bodensee-Naturmuseum, Konstanz, from May 14th - August 30th 1987. Seekreis-Verlag Konstanz, Konstanz 1987.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tatiana Sfedu: The Rosgartenmuseum in Konstanz - establishing an art and cultural history museum . Constance 1996
  2. ^ Theo R. Lindner: Constance Natural History Museum - Finally at home . In: Konstanzer Almanach XIV. Konstanz 1968, pp. 19-21
  3. ↑ Ulrich Hilser: Stages of urban development 1996–2011 - a city changes face and retains its character . Konstanz 2011, pp. 38–39
  4. ^ Michael Dienst: Restoration and cataloging of the Leiner Herbarium in Konstanz - description of the project . In: Restoration and cataloging of the Leiner herbarium in Konstanz . Reports of the Botanical Working Group Southwest Germany, Supplement 1. Karlsruhe 2004, p. 7

Coordinates: 47 ° 39 '25.6 "  N , 9 ° 10' 49.8"  E