The University of Göttingen's museum of knowledge in the former natural history museum: how knowledge is created – with objects from more than 70 collections.
June 16, 2026 – November 16, 2026
Installation by the Göttingen Sociological Research Institute (Soziologisches Forschungsinstitut Göttingen) in the forecourt: at a telephone station, more than 100 interviewees describe how the coronavirus pandemic shaped the relationship between society, politics and science.
July 2, 2026 – January 31, 2027
Audio exhibition created with the Goethe-Institut Burkina Faso: in seven rooms, visitors wearing headphones experience stories, music and orally transmitted knowledge, along with instruments such as the balafon.
September 27, 2026 – January 24, 2027
In the "Feld" (Field) room of the core exhibition, residents of Göttingen's Grone district share memories and objects about self-sufficiency, work and community involvement.
The building on Berliner Straße near the train station was built in the 1870s as the University of Göttingen's natural history museum. Initially mineralogy, paleontology and zoology shared the building; anthropology and ethnology were added later. By the end of the 1930s most collections had moved out; zoology remained until it closed in 2017.
The idea of giving the university collections scattered across the city a shared public venue was pursued for about a decade. After a bid in the Excellence Initiative failed in 2012, federal funding in particular closed the financing gap. From 2017 to 2022 the architecture firms Krause + Pohl and gildehaus.partner converted the listed building and added a glass extension for the café and shop; construction costs up to 2022 amounted to around €38.6 million.
The Forum Wissen opened in June 2022. The core exhibition "Räume des Wissens" (Spaces of Knowledge) uses some 1,400 square meters and twelve themed rooms – such as the laboratory, the field, the workshop or the lecture hall – to show how scientific knowledge is created, tested and passed on. More than 1,500 objects come from over 70 university collections. Since 2023 the skeleton of a sperm whale has hung above the museum café; the Biodiversitätsmuseum Göttingen (biodiversity museum) is being set up on the upper floor.
Admission is free.
| Children & teens | –Free admission for everyone. |
|---|---|
| Students & apprentices | –Programs for school classes and daycare groups are free. |
| Groups | –Admission and group tours free; book about a week in advance via willkommen@forum-wissen.de or 0551 39-26600. |
Admission, guided tours and events are free (funded by the federal and state governments).
Certified under "Reisen für Alle" (Travel for All). Step-free access, elevators to all areas, most display cases and tables are wheelchair-accessible underneath; accessible parking spaces next to the main entrance. Hands-on stations for touching, listening and smelling, including an audio tour with descriptions; the app offers videos in German Sign Language and texts in Easy Language. No tactile guidance system.
Great for kids & families
| Time needed | approx. 1.5 hrs |
|---|
Hands-on exhibition Mini-Mathematikum for children aged 3 to 8; audio adventure "Pim, Pixel & Piku" via Toniebox or smartphone from age 5 (approx. 45 min.), detective scavenger hunt from age 8, children's audio walk from age 9, and card sets for families and teenagers.
Göttingen Bahnhof/ZOB · 300 m
Directly next to Göttingen train station and central bus station (trains and city buses).
Parking available · 5-min walk to the entrance
Own parking lot still under construction; public parking garages Groner Tor (approx. 5 min. on foot) and Bahnhof P2 (approx. 7 min.), both open around the clock. Accessible parking spaces on the north side.
Museum café "Liesels X Forum Wissen" in the atrium beneath the sperm whale skeleton (Wed–Sun; according to the café page 10:30–17:30, according to the visitor page 11:00–17:00). Museum shop, coat check, and restrooms on the ground floor, free Wi-Fi throughout the building.
The museum café can be rented exclusively during and outside opening hours for corporate events, private parties or cultural events; inquiries to the café operator Liesels.
Inquiries & details| Guided tours | yes · approx. 60 min |
|---|---|
| Audio guide | yes |
| School programs | yes |
| Photography | Allowed for private purposes in the core exhibition and the café; press and other photography only by prior arrangement. |
| Good to know | Public tours and events according to the calendar, all free of charge; public tours last 60 to 90 minutes. Groups, school classes, and daycare groups register about a week in advance. Five themed audio walks in the Forum Wissen app, loan devices and headphones at the information desk. Exhibition texts in German and English. |
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