The Museum für Naturkunde was the number one place I dreamed about visiting in Berlim. Not only because they house the world's largest dinosaur, but because I set an important scene in my current story at that very museum. It was every bit as awesome as I expected it would be.
1. Dinosaur Hall
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| This is probably the closest I'll get from experiencing what Dr Grant felt when he saw that Brachi at Jurasic Park. |
As soon as I entered the museum, I could see the Brachiosaurus* at the Dinosaur hall ahead, beyond an arch, in an experience close to what I felt walking towards Michelangelo's David at the Galleria d'ella academia at Firenze. In addition to the Brachi, the dinosaur hall also had some Allosaurus, and an archaeopteryx in a special dark room. And I learned about some species I had not heard about before (Dicraeosaurus, Nanosaurus agilis, Zephyrosaurus)
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| T-Rex. Always impressive |
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| Dinosaur hall from a different angle. Can't you almost see them walking away? |
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| The archaeopteryx, me and the brachi in the back |
2. Taxidermy
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| The amazing birds at the taxidermy exhibit |
This was the most unexpected discovery in this museum. I mean I am sure I have seen taxidermy before, but I had never actually noticed how amazing taxidermy can be. I saw south american birds (papagaios e araras) in colours that I had never seen back home.
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| This was one of my favourite items on display: the one in the middle is a hybrid, her differently colored parents on either side. |
Another highlight were some of the iconic animals that used to live at the Berlim zoo, such as Bobby the gorilla and Knut the polar bear. It was these animals that made me want to visit the Berlin zoon (which I did a fews days later).
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| Bobby, the Gorila, and the faint reflex of the photographer in the glass |
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| This is a quagga. Initially I thought it was a made up model, but it is actually a taxidermy preserved specimen of a species that was hunted to extinction in the XIXth century. |
3. The Wet collection
The wet collection is a huge glass laboratory covered by 12.6Km of shelves. In these shelves are over one million specimens preserve in solutions in over 276000 jars. As soon as I set eyes on these shelves, my only thoguht was: wow, followed by "no wonder there have been so many great German scientists". I was in such awe of the richness of these specimens that I walked around the length of the room twice. It reminded me of fifth grade, before I started military school, when I used to spend the breaks in the science lab looking at the jar specimens with the technician (Arlete, I think, was her name). I loved this exhibit, could have spent much longer learning about all the different specimens.
4. The Hall of Minerals
The hall of minerals was the last room I explored, and I didn't have time to explore it fully, but I had a good time admiring all the different stones in bright colors. Made me want to pay a bit more attention to the mineral exhibits at Oxford's museum of Natural History. I also did what I always do: looked for some of the minerals from the "rockanimal" collection I had as a kid
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| Wish I had my (actually ours) "sapo de malaquita" to juxtapose |
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| I think this specimen was in a small area for anomalies, and it seems to be conjoined twins with a single head and two bodies |
* The species at dinosaur hall may actually be a Giraffatitan. However the museum signs and the website still refer to it as a Brachiosaurus, which is why I kept that here.
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