Dinotherium-Museum
Small fossil museum in the town hall of Eppelsheim with finds from the primeval Rhine about ten million years old and a cast of a Dinotherium skull.
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About the museum
The Dinotherium-Museum opened on 11 August 2001 in the town hall of the municipality of Eppelsheim. The impetus came from the former local mayor Heiner Roos; the concept and texts were developed by the palaeontologist Jens Lorenz Franzen. The museum was financed by the municipality, through donations and with a great deal of voluntary work.
The reason for it is a find of world importance: in 1835, Johann Jakob Kaup and August von Klipstein recovered the complete upper skull of a Dinotherium giganteum, a distant relative of the elephants, near Eppelsheim. The original is now in the Natural History Museum in London; the cast in the museum was donated by the Natural History Museum Basel.
On display are original finds from the roughly ten-million-year-old deposits of the primeval Rhine as well as casts of rare fossils – teeth and bones of rhinoceroses, proboscideans, apes and other mammals. Particularly significant is the thigh bone of a gibbon-like ape, found in 1820. A large panoramic picture, drawings and a map of the course of the primeval Rhine complement the finds; loans come from Mainz and Darmstadt.
Since 2003, the Förderverein Dinotherium-Museum (supporters' association) has looked after the museum and its opening, supports excavations in the surrounding area and organises lectures and excursions.
Highlights
- Cast of the Dinotherium skull recovered near Eppelsheim in 1835
- Original finds from the sands of the primeval Rhine
- Thigh bone of an early ape (found in 1820)
- Wall-sized panoramic picture of the animal world ten million years ago
Permanent exhibition
- Fossilien aus dem Urrhein – Original finds and casts of mammals from the Dinotherium sands around Eppelsheim, centred on the skull cast of the Dinotherium.
- Founded
- 2001
- Operated by
- Ortsgemeinde Eppelsheim; betreut vom Förderverein Dinotherium-Museum e.V.
Admission & discounts
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Kids & families
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Getting there & parking
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Amenities & dining
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Plan your visit
| Good to know | Group visits on request. A museum guide can be bought on site. |
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