Museum für Naturkunde

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The Museum für Naturkunde - Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science is an integrated research museum within the Leibniz Association.

It is one of the most important research institutions worldwide in the areas of biological and geological evolution and biodiversity.

Alongside knowledge transfer, research and collections are the main pillars of the Museum’s work. The collections are a unique cultural asset and inextricably linked to research. They comprise over 30 million items covering zoology palaeontology, geology and mineralogy and are of highest scientific and historical importance.

The permanent exhibitions and the regular special exhibitions give the public an insight into current research at the Museum. They highlight original research objects, and visitors are encouraged and inspired to find their own route into research and experience ‘evolution in action’ rather than following a given pathway.

Children from age 5 and teenagers of all class levels can explore the world of science in guided tours and microscopy classes. Here is an overview of further programmes and workshops on offer.

Nature & art – guided tour and making masks

In the dinosaur hall, the children get to know the over 13-metre-high Brachiosaurus and many other dinosaurs, such as carnivore Allosaurus or the spine-studded Kentrosaurus. After the tour, the children make dinosaur masks so that they can act out being a dinosaur.

Nature & art – guided tour and fossil-casting

What are fossils and how were they formed? This guided tour introduces children to unusual animals such as ammonites, trilobites, as well as dinosaurs and pterosaurs. After the tour, they can make their own plaster cast of an original fossil.

Journey into the Past – a Project about Fossils and Dinosaurs

This school project teaches pupils interesting facts about dinosaurs, fossils and the methods used by palaeontologists. They take part in an “excavation” and take a cast of a fossil.

Nothosaurus Ocean Adventure Camp

A two-day programme including an overnight stay at the Museumspark Rüdersdorf, a site that holds 240 million year-old deposits from a muschelkalk sea. On the first day, pupils will visit the open-cast mine at Rüdersdorf, where they collect fossils and minerals, as palaeontologists would do. After a night in the researchers’ camp, the project is continued at the Museum für Naturkunde. Pupils can view a research collection and dig up dinosaur bones in a mock excavation.

Jurassic Adventure Box

A project by the Freunde und Förderer e. V. des Museums für Naturkunde in cooperation with the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin – The Jurassic Adventure Box is a case that schools and kindergartens can receive on loan. The box contains everything children between age 4 and 12 need for a scientific excavation and identification of fossils: 15 different fossils, tools, identification charts and a large picture showing the plants and animals of the period.

By playing, children will familiarise themselves with a Jurassic environment and habitat. The Jurassic Adventure Box can be used anywhere where there is a sandpit. There is material for a maximum of twelve scientists and it is suitable for kindergartens, primary schools and all sorts of childrens‘ parties.

The adventure box is on loan for free from the Museum or the Freunde und Förderer e. V. des Museums für Naturkunde.

Workshop for Schools "Protection of Species"

When customs officers check the luggage of tourists in airports, they still find many souvenirs that come from endangered species and must be confiscated. In this workshop, pupils from age 13 learn which species are most frequently affected and why they must be protected. This is followed by a role play where pupils play the parts of tourists and customs officers to demonstrate their newly acquired knowledge of species protection.

Workshop “Human Evolution”

The evolution of humans has a particular fascination for most people. The tree of life of humans is redrawn nearly every year. In this workshop, pupils compare the casts of skulls of various representatives of the genera Australopithecus and Homo and learn to recognise the characteristics by which they differ.

Credit: image and video of Museum für Naturkunde

Opening hours

Tue–Fri 09:30–18:00, Sat–Sun 10:00–18:00.

Tickets

Erwachsene: 8 EUR
Ermäßigt: 5 EUR
Familien: 15 EUR (zwei Erwachsene mit bis zu drei Kindern unter 14 Jahre)
Mini-Familien: 9 EUR (ein Erwachsener mit bis zu zwei Kindern unter 14 Jahre)
Erwachsene in Gruppen ab 10 Personen: 5 EUR
Ermäßigte in Gruppen ab 10 Personen: 2 EUR
Jahreskarten Erwachsene: 32 EUR
Jahreskarten Ermäßigt: 20 EUR
Jahreskarten Familien: 60 EUR (zwei Erwachsene mit bis zu drei Kindern unter 14 Jahre)
Jahreskarten Mini-Familien: 36 EUR (ein Erwachsener mit bis zu zwei Kindern unter 14 Jahre)