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LOLATTA
Curator of the exhibition: Thorolf Müller

Exhibition

The Fascination of Diversity


Some 40 million exhibits gathered in the course of 200 years of research history make up the collections of the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung – and Senckenberg is now putting a section of these collections on show at Frankfurt’s Natural History Museum.

On a wall measuring 15 metres in length and 4 metres in height, the new special exhibition “Faszination Vielfalt” (“The Fascination of Diversity”) presents around 1,000 biological and geological exhibits in a huge display area inviting visitors to discover more about “System Earth” and so-called geobiodiversity research.

The Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung has come a very long way since its foundation back in 1817. Today, Senckenberg scientists conduct worldwide research into the incredible diversity of inanimate and animate nature with a view to understanding the Earth from a holistic perspective. To this end, it has for more than 200 years been collecting and preserving biological and geological finds. Already numbering around 40 million items, the collections continue to grow each year!

“Faszination Vielfalt”– is the name given to this special exhibition staged by the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung in which the approximately 1,000 exhibits are brought together in a huge display wall erected in one section of the museum. Yet this “wall” represents just a tiny fraction of the scientific collections – just 0.0025 per cent, in fact, but what an incredible collection it is! On space measuring 15 metres in length and 4 metres in height, it presents visitors with a colourful cross-section of items from collections at the eleven locations maintained by Senckenberg: from a miniscule beetle through to fascinating fossils, from shiny exotic birds to glittering minerals, and on through to the imposing specimen of a male okapi. An exhibition that brings together animals, fossils and plants that would never otherwise have encountered one another – neither in the same place nor at the same time. The mere contemplation of such diversity is in itself already an amazing experience!

Further information about the exhibits can be accessed interactively. In doing so, visitors will learn that geo- and biosciences are so closely linked at Senckenberg that they are combined under the name of “Geobiodiversity Research.” At a “quiz table,” visitors can either play in a team or challenge each other to answer questions about the exhibits shown on the wall. Whatever their age, visitors will thus be treated to a unique hands-on experience introducing them to the fascination of diversity!

The exhibition “Faszination Vielfalt” is to be found in the Wolfgang-Steubing-Saal on the second floor of the Senckenberg Natural History Museum. It is part of our permanent exhibition: €10 for adults, €5 for children and young people (aged 6 – 15), and €25 for families (2 adults and up to 3 children).

Exhibition staged with the kind support of MESO.