The „Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN) - Institut for Evolution and Biodiversity Science“ is a research museum of the Leibniz Association. It is one of the world's most important research institutions in the field of evolution and biodiversity research.
With over 30 million objects, the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin houses the largest natural history collection in Germany. As a central research infrastructure, the collection includes objects from the time of the origin of the solar system more than 4.5 billion years ago to the present day. It also contains a large number of first descriptions of species, so-called type specimens. The objects have been collected since the early 18th century, in the beginning often as part of expeditions by important scientists such as Alexander von Humboldt, Charles Darwin or Adalbert von Chamisso. Consequently, some of the historical objects originate from colonial contexts. During the period of colonial expansion of the German Reich, the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin functioned as the central institution for collecting zoological objects from the German colonies for scientific research.
At the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, an intensive and critical examination of the history of the institution and the collection is taking place within the framework of the Science Programme Collection Future and the project collection disclosure and development. The current focus is on the collection items from colonial contexts.
The collection at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin includes skins, antlers, skeletons, eggs, nests, insects, plants, animal voices, tissue and DNA samples, alcohol-preserved objects, meteorites, minerals and rocks, fossil animals and plants. They are recorded and stored in systematic order. In addition, there are research literature, reports, correspondence and field diaries, as well as photographs and drawings. Due to centuries of intensive research work, the objects have great historical, scientific and cultural value. The Museum für Naturkunde Berlin is exploring and reflecting on the diverse perspectives on the museum collections in an interdisciplinary and cooperative research mode in initial case studies with actors in regions of origin. The museum is making the collection accessible as a global, connected knowledge resource to a variety of interested user groups and re-use scenarios: https://portal.museumfuernaturkunde.berlin/