History of the Exhibitions

The history of the exhibitions in the Museum für Naturkunde is linked to the development of an, at that time, revolutionary concept for exhibitions. In a real sense the exhibitions’ history began with the move of the museum from the main building of the university into its own rooms in the Invalidenstrasse. In 1889 the natural history collections of the university, then called the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, were transferred into the new building. During the planning period fierce discussions took place about how the treasures of the museum should be presented.

The director of the Zoological Institute, Wilhelm Peters, strongly insisted that the public should have access to all the halls, thus making it possible to visit the entire collections. He succeeded in imposing his view against the architect August Tiede who wanted to create a special exhibition space. Peter’s successor, Karl Möbius, came up with new ideas. When the museum was opened, the exhibitions were 'only' to be seen on the ground floor. The idea of a separation into a 'show' collection and a 'main' collection was revolutionary at that time and was soon adopted by museums everywhere. The two representative staircases of the Berlin museum which were originally built to give general access to the upper floors, are visible witnesses of this 'museum dispute' even today.

The following years were marked by manifold changes in the exhibitions. When a new annex was added to the museum’s building in 1914-1917, the exhibitions no longer presented the natural world only according to a systematic arrangement, showing all animals of a particular group together. Dioramas became an essential element of the exhibition layout. Another major change happened when the dinosaurs from Tendaguru were mounted in the large central hall, turning it from a 'hall of whales' into a 'hall of dinosaurs'. The Second World War put a abrupt end to all these endeavours. Changes in the exhibitions started again only in the 1950s.

Today the exhibitions aim at bringing together science and the public.