In 1763, Johann Christian Senckenberg donated 95,000 guilders–his entire fortune–to establish a community hospital and promote scientific projects.[11][12] Senckenberg died in 1772. In 1817, 32 Frankfurt citizens founded the non-profit Senckenberg Nature Research Society, German: Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung (SGN), which is a member of the Leibniz Association.[13][14][15] Soon after, Johann Georg Neuburg [de] donated his collection of bird and mammal specimens to the society.[14] The Naturmuseum Senckenberg was founded in 1821, just four years later.[a][17] Initially located near the Eschenheimer Turm,[18] the museum moved to a new building on Senckenberganlage in 1907.[19] In 1896 a mummified Egyptian child in their collection (inventory number ÄS 18) was the subject of the first mummy X-ray.[20] During World War II, the building was partly destroyed.[b] However, the exhibits had been evacuated before.[14]
Building
The neo-baroque building[21] housing the Senckenberg Museum was erected between 1904 and 1907 by Ludwig Neher [de] outside of the center of Frankfurt in the same area as the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, which was founded in 1914.[22] The museum is owned and operated by the Senckenberg Nature Research Society.[23] The exhibition area covers 6,000 m2 (65,000 sq ft).[24]
Floor plans of the basement, ground floor and first floor of the Senckenberg Museum at the time of construction, published 1908
Cross section through the main axis of the Senckenberg Museum, published 1908
As of 2022[update], a key holding is a fossilized Psittacosaurus (specimen SMF R 4970) from Liaoning, China, with clear bristles around its tail and visible fossilized stomach contents.[38][39][40] The specimen was first reported in 2002.[39][41] The exact date and locality of the discovery within Liaoning is unknown.[38] A controversial debate about the legal ownership arose.[38][42] In 2021, researchers described its cloaca in more detail and found similarities with the body outlet of birds.[43][44][45] In 2022, for the first time a belly button was found in a dinosaur fossil.[39][46] A physical life reconstruction of the animal was prepared by paleoartist Robert Nicholls.[47][48]
A living reconstruction of the extinct dodo and many other stuffed birds are shown in a permanent exhibition in the upper level.[57] Additionally, the museum owns a large and diverse collection of birds with 90,000 bird skins, 5,050 egg sets, 17,000 skeletons, and 3,375 spirit specimens (a specimen preserved in fluid).[58][59] This is 75% of the known bird species, only a minor part is exhibited.[59]
Reptiles
Anaconda is one of the oldest and most popular exhibits.[60] Since the remodeling finished in 2003, a new reptile exhibit addresses both the biodiversity of reptiles and amphibians and the topic of nature conservation.[61]
Display collections full of stuffed animals are arranged in the upper levels; among other things one can see one of twenty existing examples of the quagga, which has been extinct since 1883.[71][72]
Unique in Europe is a cast of the famous Lucy,[e] an almost complete skeleton of the upright, 1 m (3 ft 3 in) tall, hominid Australopithecus afarensis.[75] The exhibition also includes reconstructions of the heads of human ancestors.[75]
^ abcSENCKENBERG ANNUAL REPORT 2021(PDF) (Report). Naturmuseum Senckenberg. May 2022. Archived(PDF) from the original on 30 December 2022. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
^ abNaumberg, Elsie M. B. (1931). "The Senckenberg Museum, Frankfort-on-Main, Germany". The Auk. 48 (3). Oxford University Press (OUP): 379–384. doi:10.2307/4076482. ISSN0004-8038. JSTOR4076482.
^"Herbarium Senckenbergianum". Senckenberg Society for Nature Research. 27 January 2022. Archived from the original on 2 January 2023. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
^Uhl, Dieter (14 April 2020). "A reappraisal of the "stomach" contents of the Edmontosaurus annectens mummy at the Senckenberg Naturmuseum in Frankfurt/Main (Germany)". Zeitschrift der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften. 171 (1). Schweizerbart: 71–85. doi:10.1127/zdgg/2020/0224. ISSN1860-1804. S2CID216385262.
^"Die Edmontosaurus-Mumie". Senckenberg Society for Nature Research. 7 September 2022. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
^Sullivan, R.M.; Lucas, S.G.; Spielmann, J.A. (2011). Fossil Record 3: Bulletin 53. Bulletin of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. Archived from the original on 4 August 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
^Uhl, Dieter; Havlik, Philipe (2021). "Edmonds Urzeit". Biologie in unserer Zeit (in German). 51 (3): 238–245. doi:10.11576/BIUZ-4573. Archived from the original on 4 August 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2023. Bereits im Jahr davor hatten die Sternbergs in derselben Gegend zwei Triceratops-Schädel entdeckt, die sie später an Senckenberg verkauften. [Already in the year beforehand in the same area, the Sternbergs had discovered two Triceratops skulls, which they later sold to Senckenberg.]
^Sternberg, Charles H. (23 December 1912). "Expeditions to the Miocene of Wyoming and the Chalk Beds of Kansas". Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. 25: 45–49. doi:10.2307/3624243. ISSN0022-8443. JSTOR3624243.
^ ab"FFM Ornithology: Collection". Senckenberg Society for Nature Research. 28 October 2019. Archived from the original on 1 January 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
^"Section Herpetology". Senckenberg Society for Nature Research. 18 March 2021. Archived from the original on 30 December 2022. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
^Franzen, Jens Lorenz; Brown, Kirsten M. (2010). The rise of horses : 55 million years of evolution. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN978-0-8018-9373-5. OCLC298538023.
^Smith, Krister T.; Schaal, Stephan; Habersetzer, Jörg; Herlyn, Hendrik G.; Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung (2018). Messel : an ancient greenhouse ecosystem. Stuttgart: Schweizerbart'sche. ISBN978-3-510-61411-0. OCLC1054359916.
^"FFM: Mammalogy: Collection". Senckenberg Society for Nature Research. 30 November 2022. Archived from the original on 2 January 2023. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
^"Lucy's Story". Institute of Human Origins. 24 November 1974. Archived from the original on 12 March 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
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Ziegler, Willi (1987). Naturmuseum Senckenberg Führer durch d. Ausstellungen (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Kramer. ISBN978-3-7829-1108-5. OCLC74831798.
Senckenberg. Naturforschende Ges., Frankfurt a. Main (1972). Natur-Museum Senckenberg (in German). Frankfurt (am Main): Kramer. ISBN978-3-7829-1040-8. OCLC74134133.
Scholz, Joachim; Afshar, Karin (2017). Briefe an die Lebenden Geschichten aus dem Senckenberg-Museum (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung. ISBN978-3-929907-93-3. OCLC986511315.
Baumann, Margret; Bauer, Friederike; Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung (2020). 200 Jahre Senckenberg. Die Zeit von 1993–2017 (in German). Stuttgart: E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Nägele und Obermiller. ISBN978-3-510-61416-5. OCLC1192503441.
Mosbrugger, Volker; Dürr, Sören; Havlik, Philipe; Herkner, Bernd; Moll, Valentina; Neitscher, Eva; Rossmanith, Eva, eds. (2015). Auge in Auge mit der Natur Senckenberg Naturmuseum Frankfurt (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung. ISBN978-3-929907-90-2. OCLC926153922.
Nigge, Klaus; Schulze-Hagen, Karl; Fiebig, Jürgen; Vogel, Johannes (2022). Vogelwelten : Expeditionen ins Museum (in German). München: Knesebeck GmbH et Co. Verlag KG. ISBN978-3-95728-410-5. OCLC1350778543.