Naturwissenschaftliches Museum Flensburg

About the museum

The museum's foundation was the geological collection of Flensburg teacher Hans Philippsen, which the city acquired in 1913 and initially showed in the Waldschule. Through further purchases and donations – shells, insects, bird specimens and prehistoric finds – the holdings grew; in 1924 they were opened as a local history collection and a year later renamed Naturwissenschaftliches Heimatmuseum.

Eventful decades followed: during the Nazi era the collections were moved into the expropriated lodge house of the Freemasons, during the war the museum closed, and after 1945 parts of the holdings were stored provisionally. In 1962 the museum reopened in rooms of the new city library building, where it remained until 2001.

Since November 2001, the museum has been located on the first floor of the Heinrich-Sauermann-Haus on the Museumsberg. In six rooms, the permanent exhibition presents typical landscapes of the region – fjord and Baltic Sea, inland waters, city, forest, farmland and moor – and explains the Ice Age origin of the land. The geological collections have been on view since 2002 in the Eiszeit-Haus (Ice Age House) in the Christiansenpark.

Together with the Museumsberg and the Schifffahrtsmuseum, the museum is part of the Städtische Museen Flensburg. Its collections of insects, birds, herbarium specimens, fossils and archaeological finds document above all the nature of northern Schleswig-Holstein and southern Denmark.

Highlights

• Six exhibition rooms on the habitats of the region from the fjord to the moor
• Ice Age room on the origin of the landscape
• Exhibition texts in German and Danish
• Children's birthday parties with fossils, amber or tracking
• Tactile tour "Museum zum Anfassen" (museum to touch) for blind and visually impaired people

Permanent exhibitions

• Lebensraum Förde und Ostsee – Shows animals and plants of the Flensburg Fjord, which formed as the channel of an Ice Age glacier tongue and today marks the border with Denmark.
• Eiszeit – From glaciers to mammoth to elk: the room explains how the Ice Age and the post-glacial period shaped northern Schleswig-Holstein.
• Lebensraum Moor – Presents moors as special landscapes with many functions and their highly specialized inhabitants.

Operated by

Stadt Flensburg (Städtische Museen Flensburg)

Director

Kerstin Meise

Admission & discounts

Free admission also with the Sozialpass; concessions only with proof. No annual pass – members of the friends' association have free admission. Tickets also available in the online shop of the Städtische Museen. Further rates according to the fee schedule.

Accessibility

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

Exhibition accessible without barriers, elevator and handrails on the stairs. Accessible parking space directly in front of the Heinrich-Sauermann-Haus and in the museum parking lot. Wheelchair loan, exhibition guide in Easy Language at the ticket desk, plenty of seating and folding stools. Assistance dogs allowed. Tactile tour "Museum zum Anfassen" for blind and visually impaired people.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Activity booklet, scavenger hunt or kids’ audio guide
• Kids’ birthday parties

Children's birthday parties on topics such as fossils, gemstones, amber or tracking (depending on the program, from ages 5, 7 or 10), holiday programs and museum rallies with a questionnaire from age 6. Children aged 14 and older may visit the exhibition on their own.

Getting there & parking

By car via the A7, exit Flensburg, toward the center.

Amenities & dining

• Café
• Museum shop
• Lockers
• Wi-Fi

No café of its own; the Café Wolff of the Museumsberg is on the same grounds. Small museum shop in the foyer (nature themes, rocks, fossils, identification guides), also accessible without visiting the exhibition. Bags larger than A4 must go in lockers; no luggage storage. Free Wi-Fi.

Events & venue rental

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

Plan your visit