The Palatinate Museum of Natural History () is a

natural history museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

in the

Anterior Palatinate The Palatinate (; ; Palatine German: ''Palz''), or the Rhenish Palatinate (''Rheinpfalz''), is a historical region of Germany. The Palatinate occupies most of the southern quarter of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate (''Rheinla ...

county town of

Bad Dürkheim Bad Dürkheim () is a spa town in the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration. It is the seat of the Bad Dürkheim (district), Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, and the site of the discovery of the element caesium, in 1860. Geogra ...

in the German state of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

. There is also a branch of the Palatinate museum, the GEOSCOPE Prehistoric Museum (GEOSKOP Urweltmuseum) at Lichtenberg Castle near the West Palatine county town of

Kusel Kusel (; written ''Cusel'' until 1865) is a town in the Kusel (district), Kusel Districts of Germany, district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the Kusel-Altenglan ''Verbandsgemeinde'' and is also the district seat. The well-kno ...

. Both establishments are run by the Palatinate District Association (''Bezirksverband Pfalz''), the town of Bad Dürkheim and the counties of

and

Geography

The Palatinate Museum is located in a former mill, the ''Herzogmühle'' on the Herzogweiher, a reservoir on the River

Isenach The Isenach is a left tributary of the Rhine in the northeastern Palatine region of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is nearly long. Course The Isenach rises in the northern Palatinate Forest, southwest of Carlsberg Hertlingshausen. Its source i ...

in the Bad Dürkheim ward of Grethen.

Exhibitions and education

Since 1981 the museum has exhibited the natural science collection of the

Pollichia ''Pollichia campestris'', commonly known as waxberry or barley sugar bush, is a herbaceous plant in the family Caryophyllaceae and the only species in the monotypic genus ''Pollichia''. It is found in southern and eastern Africa and in the Arabia ...

nature conservation society as well as a permanent exhibition and changing exhibitions with scientific themes. In 2008 there was an expansion: after the renovation of the former mill restaurant and the erection of an extension to the building the new entrance area and rooms for special exhibitions were officially opened on 8 November 2008. The fields of science covered include

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

herpetology Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

(reptiles),

ornithology Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

and

mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...

. There is a comprehensive range of educational packages for visiting groups and school classes. Next to the museum shop there is a

palaeontological Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

workshop and geological reference library. Amongst its best known exhibits is the Krähenberg

meteorite A meteorite is a rock (geology), rock that originated in outer space and has fallen to the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical ...

which impacted on the Sickingen Heights in 1869.

Prehistoric museum

In 1998 the GEOSCOPE Prehistoric Museum was opened at Lichtenberg Castle near Kusel. With a floor area of 400 square metres, the museum offers an insight into the

Rotliegendes The Rotliegend, Rotliegend Group or Rotliegendes () is a lithostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) of latest Carboniferous to Guadalupian (middle Permian) age that is found in the subsurface of large areas in western and central Europe. T ...

period about 290 million years ago. At that time the southern and northern continental plates collided in this region, producing the Variscan mountains, and a moist-warm

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

climate prevailed. Another major subject in the exhibition area is

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

in the

North Palatine Uplands The North Palatine Uplands (, ), sometimes shortened to Palatine Uplands (''Pfälzer Bergland''), is a low mountain range and landscape unit in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and belongs mainly to the Palatinate region. It is part of ...

with special coverage of the living and working conditions of the miners. Mineral deposits, including

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

and mercury-bearing ores, have been mined here from

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

and

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman civilisation from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingd ...

right up to the start of the 20th century.

External links

Website of the Museum of Natural History

Website of the Prehistoric Museum
{{authority control Natural history museums in Germany Culture of the Palatinate (region) Museums in Rhineland-Palatinate Buildings and structures in Bad Dürkheim (district)