Collections at the Locations

Collections in Frankfurt/M.

Collections in Dresden

Geological-mineralogical Collections Dresden

The Museum of Mineralogy and Geology in Dresden is among the most significant museums in Germany with respect to research in the geosciences.  The collections comprise about 400,000 minerals, fossils and stones.  The fact that specimens in its collections were first mentioned in the year 1587 makes it the oldest geoscience institution in the world, and suggests an active developmental history.  The collections include many type specimens (described for the first time) and originals (researched items) of fossils and minerals and stones.

Zoological Collections Dresden

The Museum of Zoology in Dresden, with more than 6 million animal specimens, is one of the approximately 10 large zoological collections of Germany. The Dresden collections originate from all over the globe, and their international significance is due not least to the abundance of types represented. In the beetle collection alone (2 million specimens) are name-bearing type specimens housed for some 13,500 taxa (species and subspecies). Especially noteworthy are the rich holdings of exterminated vertebrates — among them, for example, a skeleton of the giant sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas). Also outstanding are the collections of birds and weevils.

Among the ca. 91,000 specimens in the ornithological collection, about 60% of the world’s ca. 9000 bird species are represented. The weevil collection covers about 20,000 of the globally 65,000 species. In addition to classical zoological collections containing alcoholic specimens, skins, coats, and mounted specimens, an extensive and continually growing collection of tissue and blood samples for molecular-genetic studies is provided, currently with over 20,000 samples.

Collections in Görlitz

The Museum of Natural History houses extensive scientific collections with a total of over 6 million objects from the  fields of zoology, soil zoology, entomology, botany, paleontology and geology. These collections represent an archive of the animate and inanimate nature and document the development of organisms in space and time. They serve scientists worldwide e.g. for taxonomic-systematic, morphological and ecological studies.

Collections in Tübingen

At the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (SHEP) at the University of Tübingen, nine collections are managed by Senckenberg. The six palaeontological collections have a history of more than 200 years and together comprise well over 1 million objects and more than 30,000 published individual items, mostly typological material. Fossils from the excavations of such important scientists as August von Quenstedt, Ernst Koken, Friedrich von Huene, Otto Schindewolf, Karl Mägdefrau, Alfred Eisenack or Adolf Seilacher can be examined. The collections also house central paleoanthropological fossils such as the bones of Danuvius guggenmosi (Madelaine Böhme) or the hominid teeth from the bean ore of the Swabian Alb (Wilhelm von Branco). In seven large exhibition halls, impressive vertebrate skeletons and other fossils, some in stratigraphic order and in a historicizing ambience, are presented in a long-established display, teaching and research collection.
The three collections of archaeobotany, archaeozoology and geoarchaeology developed from comparative research collections of the Tübingen Institute of Palaeontology, which has its origins in prehistoric studies.
In addition to the nine SHEP collections, there are also several working collections.