The collection comprises more than 11,500 inventory numbers. These include just over 1,000 numbers that have been assigned to rocks (petrographic collection). Shortly after the founding of the Magdeburg Natural History Society in 1869, the Society received several donations of minerals and “petrefacts” (= fossils according to today’s definition), so that by the time the museum opened in 1875, around 600 minerals, rocks and fossils could already be displayed.
Through donations and bequests at the end of the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century, the museum acquired regional mineralogical rarities and specimens, including some of the mineral levels from the active period of ore mining in the Harz region from the active period of ore mining in the Harz region, as well as an exquisite collection of minerals with samples from North, Central and South America, Asia, South Africa and Europe.
The rock collection is organised into the three main rock groups: sedimentary rocks, metamorphic rocks and igneous rocks, with the latter forming the main focus of the collection. The pieces come from the typical hard rock deposits throughout Germany, including the Harz Mountains, the Mansfeld region and the Flechtinger Höhenzug. The sedimentary rocks come largely from Magdeburg and the surrounding area. Particular attention has been paid in recent times to the gradual expansion of the meteorite collection and of objects directly related to cosmic events.
