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Staatliches Naturhistorisches Museum
Vivarium for Xingu River rays and plumed basilisks
© Staatliches Naturhistorisches Museum
The museum with its long-standing tradition dating back to the ducal “Kunst- und Naturalienkabinett” of the 18th century, only moved to its current location in 1937.
On four floors you can find exhibitions reflecting all collections of the museum. In the basement live amphibians, reptiles, and fish are featured in realistically designed terraria and aquaria.
Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) diorama
© Peter Sierigk
The historic dioramas on the first and second floor depict local animals in their natural habitat. The first floor also addresses the history of the museum and exhibits notable historical objects in the Treasury. It presents the variety of our specimens in the Showcase and invites visitors to try the interactive exhibitions in the Discovery Hall.
View of the permanent exhibition
© Marek Kruszewski
The paläon Forschungsmuseum uniquely combines the exciting experience of the Palaeolithic with cutting-edge archaeological research in an innovative exhibition concept. Visitors travel back about 300,000 years to the Palaeolithic and meet the first inhabitants of Lower Saxony. In exciting exhibits, they experience what a hunting expedition might have been like about 300,000 years ago. They can see the Schöningen spears in the immediate vicinity of where they were found, where they were left around 300,000 years ago and where they were discovered in 1994 - and where excavations are still ongoing today.
Schöningen Spears
© Volker Minkus, NLD
The Schöningen spears are among the most important archaeological finds worldwide. They are the oldest completely preserved wooden weapons in human history and revolutionised our picture of the first humans in Central Europe. For archaeology, they are an open book, providing a glimpse back into the world of the Paleolithic.
On January 1, 2025, the former Forschungsmuseum Schöningen, previously run by the Niedersächsisches Landesmat für Denkmalpflege (NLD; State Heritage Office of Lower Saxony State) in Hannover, was taken over by the 3Landesmuseen Braunschweig and connected to the Staatliches Naturhistorisches Museums (State Natural History Museum) as a branch. In the future, research, collections, exhibitions and education will be inseparably linked at the paläon Forschungsmuseum. This will anchor this museum in a unique location for research in Schöningen, in the long term the region and in the system of cultural institutions in south-eastern Lower Saxony, and it will cooperate closely with numerous other research partners.
