Naturama
The Naturama is a natural history museum in the Swiss city of Aarau . It is located on Bahnhofstrasse diagonally across from the train station and next to the old canton school .
founding
In 1811 passionate naturalists founded the Aargau Natural Research Society . Many of them were influential public figures and pursued their natural history studies out of hobby. These included Albrecht Rengger , Heinrich Zschokke and Friedrich Frey-Herosé .
At that time, natural research also included the systematic collection of natural objects. In 1827, for the first time, various private collections were combined into a public "natural history cabinet" and stored in the old canton school . As a result, the rapidly growing collection moved several times until in 1922 - after more than 15 years of planning - it was housed in a neo-baroque building designed by the Baden architect Hans Hächler. From 1951 to 1953, the existing museum building along Feerstrasse was expanded to include additional exhibition rooms and a lecture hall.
In the following decades, the Aargau Museum of Nature managed to survive under the direction of the cantonal school teacher Werner Schmid . The once exemplary exhibition lost its attractiveness for the general public and the buildings urgently needed to be renovated. It was necessary to fundamentally renew the business in structural, conceptual and financial terms if it was to meet the requirements of an educational institution of cantonal importance.
The first planning work began in 1983, but had to be realigned several times over the next 15 years. In the spring of 1997 the government council finally approved a new operating concept and in 1998 the ANG, as the previous operator of the museum, the canton of Aargau and the city of Aarau merged to form the Naturama Aargau Foundation to form the new sponsorship. After completion of the planning and construction work that had been going on since 1997 , the extension planned by Arthur Rüegg after a competition , which replaced the older extensions, was completed at the end of 2000 and the new exhibition and new training rooms opened in April 2002.
Permanent exhibition
The museum's tasks also include the maintenance, expansion and scientific supervision of the collections. In Naturama, these include, among other things, important collections of insects and Aargau fossils, as well as rare bird specimens (e.g. giant alk , pigeon ) and the scientifically important “ Herbarium Argoviense ”. As a new addition in 2002, the house received the unique Dr. Gottfried Keller, which includes over 1200 watercolors of native and European orchids. Like most museums, the Aargauer Naturmuseum has mainly collected according to the opportunity principle to this day. As a cantonal “natural history state archive”, it intends to concentrate even more on the documentation of the Aargau nature and landscape and its changes in the future.
Although Naturama does not primarily see itself as a research institute, it does, on occasion, carry out its own scientific work, for example as part of the dinosaur digs in Frick . In addition, the collections and archives are available to all interested scientists.
The exhibition philosophy
The Aargau habitat : Naturama is committed to being a regional museum. It does not want to explain the whole world to its exhibition, but rather concentrate on the natural region of Aargau and bring it closer to its present-day residents.
Inclusion of people : people have been settling in the Swiss Central Plateau region for around 8,000 years. In this long period of time they have thoroughly redesigned their habitat and thus also strongly influenced the natural diversity.
Change in time : Just like human culture, nature and landscape are also in constant change. The Aargau habitat is therefore not only shown retrospectively in its (natural) history, but also in its current form and - as far as possible - in its future development.
Facts and opinions : Not uncontested facts, but contradicting values and subjective opinions rule the world. This is why the exhibition puts facts and opinions side by side in a forum-like manner and thus enables visitors to make their own judgment.
Media diversity : Authentic objects and meticulous replicas, traditional forms of representation and modern technologies, artificial dioramas and living animals complement each other. Many objects can also be touched. Finally, numerous background sounds ensure specific moods and an exhibition experience that is also over the ear.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Society for Swiss Art History (ed.): Inventory of modern Swiss architecture: 1850-1920 . Zurich: Orell Füssli, 1984. S. xxx
- ^ Werk, Bauen + Wohnen , Vol. 88 (2001), Issue 10 - o. S. (Werk-Material). Zurich: Werk Verlag
Coordinates: 47 ° 23 '32.8 " N , 8 ° 3' 5.6" E ; CH1903: 646,276 / 249250