Vom Fach

In the organizer's words:

In the 19th century, names such as Charles Darwin, Alfred Wallace and Alexander von Humboldt shaped the world of natural sciences. At the same time, volunteer researchers from Münster set out to explore the region's nature and secure objects and research findings - the foundation stones of today's natural science collections for Westphalia-Lippe with a total of over 2.3 million collection objects.

The special exhibition "Vom Fach" provides an exciting insight into the museum's collections in its central stacks with the help of countless exhibits and pictures on around 400 square meters.

As early as the 19th century, the collection principles of the Westphalian naturalists were considered progressive and reflected the latest state of science. At that time, the members of the newly founded botanical and zoological section of the Westphalian Provincial Association for Science and Art laid the foundation for this. From the very beginning, the natural science collections were primarily regionally oriented, but also represented global trends. In recent decades, aspects such as the worldwide extinction of species or climate change have become the focus of curation.

Natural history objects from all over the world have long complemented the collection. They appear in international research projects and exhibitions. There they vividly convey what the past, present and future could look like.

The origin of the diverse collection items varies greatly. The collectors are made up of private individuals, volunteers and professional scientists from the museum, which usually gives the objects exciting stories. New collections and collection items are still welcome at the LWL-Museum für Naturkunde. Together with the current collection, they make a significant contribution to the progress of regional and international science.

The exhibition focuses on the collectors and their collections.