Coburg Natural History Museum

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Logo of the Coburg Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum Coburg is a natural history museum in the Upper Franconian town of Coburg . It is located on the grounds of the Coburg Hofgarten and goes back to the collecting passion of the Coburg dukes.

history

The old building of the natural history museum
New building made of glass and metal, main entrance

The collections essentially go back to the brothers Duke Ernst II (1818–1893) and Albert (1819–1861), Prince Consort of Queen Victoria of Great Britain . In 1844 the collections, the "Ducal Art and Natural History Cabinet", were opened to the public for the first time. The first director from 1844 was Carl Friedrich von Schauroth . After several moves due to a lack of space, it was housed on the Veste Coburg . Finally, from 1912 onwards, the building for the Natural Science Museum was erected on the edge of the Coburg Hofgarten on behalf of the last Duke Carl Eduard . The official inauguration was on July 1, 1913, the opening followed on May 19, 1914. The building was planned by the Berlin architect and court building officer Rudolf Zahn . With a floor space of 1,800 square meters, it was one of the largest new buildings for a natural history museum in Germany. The construction costs amounted to 170,000 marks.

The three-story, historicizing old building has a distinctive three-axis central wing with a dome, which was intended as an observatory. The windows on the upper floor are rectangular, on the ground floor they are arched. The basement is designed in rustic ashlar.

The former Hofgarten Museum, previously privately owned by the Duke, has belonged to the Bavarian state since 1919; the collections are owned by the Coburg State Foundation . From 1931 to 1955 Hans von Boetticher was director of the museum. In 1987 the name was changed to the Coburg Natural History Museum. Due to an extension from 1991 to 1996, the museum has 4800 m² of usable space, an exhibition area of ​​2400 m² and 1000 m² of storage space.

Since 2006, a room in the Natural History Museum, the Duchess-Auguste-Saal, is named after Auguste Reuss zu Ebersdorf , the second wife of Duke Franz von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld, who, through her interest in nature, both with her husband, but especially with awakened a passion for collecting in their grandchildren Ernst and Albert .

Subject areas

Special exhibitions

  • The Big Four (November 30, 2014 - December 29, 2014)
  • Scotland - land of dinosaurs, kilts and lochs (October 18, 2014 - February 22, 2015)
  • Ideas instead of waste - the cultural phenomenon of recycling (February 28, 2015 - June 5, 2015)
  • Mushrooms - Networkers of Nature (June 19, 2015 - February 21, 2016)
  • Biodiversity in Duckburg - Animals from a Parallel World (March 11, 2016 - May 29, 2016)
  • Dogs, people! About life on six legs (June 12, 2016 - October 9, 2016)
  • The secret life of raccoons (October 6, 2016 - January 21, 2017)
  • Heinz Sielmann (1917–2006): A life for nature (February 5, 2017 - March 26, 2017)
  • Wild plants in front of the door (May 21, 2017 - July 30, 2017)
  • JCM Reinecke: Des Urmeeres Nautili - 200 years of ammonite research in Coburg (March 11, 2018 - September 30, 2018)
  • China's Red - A Country Between Tradition and Modernity (October 27, 2018 - March 31, 2019)
  • The Orkney Islands - Scotland's outpost between the Atlantic and North Sea (October 12, 2019 - April 19, 2020)

useful information

  • Guided tours for children by trained staff, etc. a. microscopy
  • All subject areas are shown with large pictures and models, e.g. B. Replica of an African hut, mineral tunnel for children, large replica of a rice field with ox and farmer.
  • Many original exhibits from the Stone Age and from dinosaurs
  • Secret basement area with a large archive of collectibles, countless mineral finds
  • A bee showcase is set up not far from the entrance.

Web links

Commons : Naturkundemuseum Coburg  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Eckard Mönning: On the construction of the Natural Science Museum in the Hofgarten in Coburg (1912-1914) . Yearbook of the Coburg State Foundation 2015, p. 157.
  2. ↑ Gertraude Bachmann: Nature and art in the travel diaries of Duchess Auguste Caroline Sophie von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld (wording of the lecture on the 175th anniversary of the death of Duchess Auguste on November 16, 2006 in the Natural History Museum Coburg), Coburg 2006

Coordinates: 50 ° 15 ′ 42 ″  N , 10 ° 58 ′ 31 ″  E