collection
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... read more
The collection comprises close to 25,000 inventory numbers. The oldest items are fossils that were recovered from quarries in 1850 and added to the collection as early as 1869. Further historical collections of marine animal fossils from the Mesozoic era of the Harz foreland and from the Paleozoic era of the Harz came to the museum in 1903. The “Magdeburgica” form an important part of the collection: plant and marine animal fossils from the Magdeburg greywacke (about 325 million years old), marine animal fossils from the burg greensand (about 35 million years old) and mammal skeletal remains from the gravels of the Magdeburg glacial valley (several 100 to 200,000 years old). The collections also include a large number of fossils from all periods of the Earth's history – from the... read more
Since its foundation, the museum has had an extensive entomological collection, which came into its possession through donations, bequests and purchases. Today it comprises more than 1,300 insect boxes with approximately 200,000 specimens. Seven orders of insects are represented to a noteworthy extent. The main focus is butterflies (Lepidoptera), followed by beetles (Coleoptera). The other orders of insects make up only a small part of the collection compared to these two orders, including hymenopterans, dipterans, bugs, cicadas and dragonflies. In addition, historical insect boxes on the biology and ecology of pests, for example, are integrated into the collection. Also noteworthy is the extensive collection of butterfly caterpillars and pupae, some of which have been hand-coloured to accurately document their natural colouring. Of particular importance are the collections of local fauna,... read more
BIRDS In cooperation with other institutions, an extensive collection has been built up (approx. 6,200 stuffed specimens and skins). In addition to specimens from the local region, numerous bird species from the rest of the Palearctic region (the landmasses of Europe and North Africa up to the southern edge of the Sahara and Asia) and from other faunal realms are included. The collection includes a number of rare species, some of which are threatened with extinction. MAMMALS In addition to the extensive collection of specimens of native mammals, representatives from all relevant orders are also present. In total, the collection includes more than 900 specimens. In addition to marsupials and primates, the most important species of native “small mammals” are present in the collection, and the range of species of... read more
The herbarium contains approximately 11,000 herbarium sheets and vascular plants. These include approximately 2600 specimens from the Botanical Society, which had Saxony-Anhalt and Central Germany as its main collecting focus. In addition, there are numerous specimens from other regions of Central Europe. Important specimens from the period before 1945 were collected by Max Otto Dietrich, Wilhelm M.E.L. Giese and Ernst Manzek, among others. The Magdeburg urban area is covered by a current collection from the 1990s by Siegfried Nickolmann. The herbarium of the Wolfsburg collector Hans-Dietrich Laatsch spans a greater range of regions: comprising close to 6,000 sheets, it contains seed plants from all five continents, carefully identified according to excursion floras and with the help of manuals. Important plant species from the various floral kingdoms, including those from the... read more
A good natural history museum should have a geological and a zoological preparation workshop. In addition to our numerous biological and geological collections, our geological and zoological preparation workshops ensure that the specimens we collect are preserved, made visible and accessible for research, storage, exhibition and education. In the zoological preservation studio, animals are immortalised by making casts or, using their original skin, claws, hair and feathers, transforming them into a dermoplastic with a great deal of creativity and sensitivity. The animals in question are those found dead, roadkill or animals that have died a natural death in zoos and wildlife parks. For geological preparation, fossils, minerals and rocks are prepared according to the object's later function. For example, fossils are uncovered mechanically, chemically or using thin-cutting techniques, then coloured... read more
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26.11.
2025
Event | Discussion - 26. November 2025 7:00 PM
Film und Gespräch
Das Museum für Naturkunde Kooperiert mit dem Moritzhof Magdeburg für einen spannenden Filmabend
Eintritt frei
02.12.
Senior Academy - 2. December 2025 2:30 PM
Seniorenakademie
Führung mit Dana Fabienne LiebkeMuseum für Naturkunde Magdeburg,
Treffpunkt Foyer, regulärer Eintritt, Führungsgebühr entfällt
