Museum für Naturkunde, Natural history museum at Fredenbaumpark, Dortmund, Germany
The Museum für Naturkunde is a natural history museum in Dortmund spread across two floors with displays focused on the region's past and present nature. The exhibitions feature fossils, minerals, animal skeletons, preserved plants, and living aquatic animals from the Ruhr area and Westphalia.
The museum was established to preserve the natural history of the Dortmund region and later underwent major renovation work. After six years of modernization, it reopened in 2020 with updated exhibitions reflecting current conservation knowledge.
The collections reflect how local people have interacted with nature over time, showing the relationship between the region and its wildlife. Visitors encounter exhibits that demonstrate how the landscape has been shaped by human activity and conservation efforts.
The museum is located on Münsterstraße and is open to visitors Tuesday through Sunday, with free admission for children and teens. Plan to spend at least two to three hours to explore the exhibitions at a comfortable pace and observe the aquariums.
The museum houses one of the few completely preserved skeletal remains of a woolly mammoth in Germany that visitors can view at close range. This prehistoric animal lived during an era when the region was covered in ice sheets.
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