Address:
Museum, Collections & Geopark
Göttingen Center for Geosciences
Goldschmidtstrasse 3-5
37077 Göttingen
Opening hours/access:
Mon.-Fri. 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (except public holidays), Sun. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.,
Closed: Easter Sunday and between Christmas and New Year
Contact person/contact:
Dr. Alexander Gehler
Tel.: +49 551 39-27998
E-Mail: geomuseum@gwdg.de
Homepage der Sammlung
The collections are used in research and teaching as well as for exhibitions. They form the basis for a large number of ongoing research work by national and international scientists and are the repository of a large number of paleontological and mineralogical type material. There is high-frequency national and international lending for research projects and exhibitions.
Collection history:
Founded in 1773 (Academic Museum);
1877 Opening of the Natural History Museum at what is now Berliner Straße 28b;
1971 The geoscience institutes began moving to the north campus (completed in 1976).
Important directors or curators of the collections or parts of the collection:
Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752-1840),
Johann Friedrich Ludwig Hausmann (1752-1851),
Wolfgang Sartorius von Waltershausen (1809-1876),
Karl von Seebach (1839-1880),
Johann Friedrich Karl Klein (1842-1907),
Adolf von Koenen (1837-1915),
Theodor Liebisch (1852-1922),
Otto Mügge (1858-1932),
Hans Stille (1876-1966),
Hermann Schmidt (1892-1978),
Viktor Moritz Goldschmidt (1888-1947),
Othenio Abel (1875-1946),
Sigmund Koritnig (1912-1994).
Details on the history of the Göttingen geoscientific institutes and collections can be found at the following link:
A chronicle of the Göttingen geoscientific institutes and collections
Total number of objects:
> 4,000,000
Partial collections/convolutes:
Systematic paleontology of invertebrates, approx. 250,000 objects and series
Systematic paleontology of vertebrates, approx. 100,000 objects and series
Amber collection, approx. 25,000 objects and series
Paleobotany and palynology, approx. 40,000 objects and series
Systematic paleontology of ichnofossils, approx. 12,000 objects and series
Micropaleontology, approx. 2,000,000 objects and series
Stratigraphy and regional geology / paleontology, approx. 1,000,000 objects and series
Fossil deposits (excluding Willershausen), approx. 10,500 objects and series
Willershausen fossil deposit, approx. 35,000 objects and series
The digitization of a selection of objects from the Willershausen fossil deposit was funded by the German Digital Library with funds from the “Neustart Kultur” program run by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media.
M. Ballerstedt Collection (Lower Cretaceous of Lower Saxony), approx. 1,500 objects and series
Systematic mineralogy, approx. 300,000 objects and series
Deposit collection, approx. 30,000 objects and series
Gemstone collection, approx. 300 objects and series
Geology, sedimentology, petrography, petrology, approx. 100,000 objects and series
Natural stone, approx. 5,000 objects and series
Meteorite science, approx. 1,500 objects and series
State of digitalization:
approx. 3% digitally developed, of which approx. 8% illustrated
(as of 11/2016)
Ongoing digitization campaigns, for example as part of “naniweb” (cooperation project with the Central Custody of the University of Göttingen) and “Blumenbach-online” (cooperation project with the Göttingen Academy of Sciences) as well as the development of digital teaching collections
