Naturmuseum Augsburg

Current exhibitions

About the museum

The museum's roots lie with the Naturhistorischer Verein Augsburg (natural history society), founded in 1846, which displayed its collections from 1854 in Augsburg's first museum, later the Maximilianmuseum. In 1906 the natural history collection got its own building, the Stettenhaus on Obstmarkt, and soon ranked among the most important of its kind in Bavaria. However, the building burned out completely in the air raids of 1944.

After the war, the Naturforschende Gesellschaft (natural science society) showed rescued specimens, including hundreds of birds prepared by taxidermist Anton Fischer, in a makeshift museum in the water towers at the Rotes Tor from 1948. The City of Augsburg then took over the collection and from 1964 ran it as the Naturwissenschaftliches Museum in cramped rooms of a Fugger house on Maximilianstraße.

To create space for exhibitions, workshops, and storage, the city bought the former printing building of the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper on Ludwigstraße. The Naturmuseum opened there partially in 1991 and fully in 1996; it shares the building with the S-Planetarium of the Stadtsparkasse savings bank. On four floors, the range extends from Earth's history through minerals and gemstones to zoology and local habitats.

Unique in Germany is its focus on the Molasse, the sediments beneath the Alpine foreland: fossils from a once subtropical landscape are set alongside their living relatives. The star exhibit is the roughly 15-million-year-old “Augsburger Urelefant” (Augsburg primeval elephant), a nearly complete skeleton of a shovel-tusked elephant discovered in 2002.

Highlights

• Augsburger Urelefant: nearly complete skeleton of a 15-million-year-old shovel-tusked elephant
• Molasse exhibition on southern Germany's prehistoric past with the multimedia show “Digitale Urzeit”
• Large habitat dioramas from the Alps to the Wadden Sea
• Mineralogy with walk-in fluorescence chamber and touchable objects
• Vivarium with live reptiles and insects
• Monthly changing “Objekt des Monats” (object of the month) from the storerooms

Permanent exhibitions

• Molasse – Fossils from subtropical southern Germany millions of years ago, set alongside present-day animals – with the Augsburger Urelefant and a multimedia show.
• Ökologie und Zoologie – Lifelike dioramas of Central European habitats plus specimens of animals from around the world, from koala to condor.
• Erdgeschichte und Mineralogie – The development of life through all geological eras with a Carboniferous diorama, plus a systematic mineral collection with a fluorescence chamber.

Founded

1854

Operated by

Stadt Augsburg

Admission & discounts

On the first Sunday of the month, admission is €1. The S-Planetarium in the same building requires a separate ticket.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible: no information
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom: no information
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

An elevator serves the building (the S-Planetarium on the sixth floor can be reached step-free this way). The mineralogy section has touchable objects.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Activity booklet, scavenger hunt or kids’ audio guide
• Hands-on stations
• Baby changing facilities

Downloadable scavenger hunts and puzzles for children, live animals in the vivarium; on guided tours, selected specimens may be touched. Children under 6 only with a supervising adult.

Getting there & parking

Entrance on Ludwigstraße at the north end of the pedestrian zone, corner of Grottenau – shared entrance with the S-Planetarium and the Augusta-Garage.

Amenities & dining

• Museum shop
• Coat check
• Lockers

Picnic corner in the entrance area. Bags, backpacks, umbrellas, and wet clothing must be left in lockers or storage containers in the entrance area.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this – please ask the museum directly.

Plan your visit