Natural History Museum of Denmark

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Natural History Museum of Denmark
Statens Naturhistoriske Museum
Statens Naturhistoriske Museum 2015.jpg
Natural History Museum, Geological Museum Building
Natural History Museum of Denmark
Established2004
Location Gothersgade 130, 1123 Copenhagen, Denmark
Coordinates 55°41′07″N12°34′22″E / 55.685327°N 12.572781°E / 55.685327; 12.572781
TypeNatural History Museum
DirectorPeter C. Kjærgaard
Website snm.ku.dk

The Natural History Museum of Denmark (Danish : Statens Naturhistoriske Museum) is a natural history museum located in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was created in 2004 through the merger of Copenhagen's Zoological Museum, Geological Museum, Botanical Museum and Central Library, and Botanical Gardens. [1] It is affiliated with the University of Copenhagen. While the Botanical Gardens and the buildings and exhibits of the Geological Museum (in the northeast corner of the Botanical Gardens) have been maintained, the old Zoological Museum closed in 2022 and will become part of the new combined Natural History Museum complex (also in the northeast corner of the Botanical Gardens) in 2025. [2]

Contents

History

The famous frontispiece from Ole Worm's book Museum Wormianum from 1655 1655 - Frontispiece of Museum Wormiani Historia.jpg
The famous frontispiece from Ole Worm's book Museum Wormianum from 1655

The Natural History Museum of Denmark was established on 1 January 2004 by the merging of four long-standing institutions: the Botanical Garden, the Botanical Museum & Central Library, the Geological Museum, and the Zoological Museum. [1] In 2020, the combined entity was officially renamed the Natural History Museum of Denmark, effectively becoming a single museum. [3] Whereas the locations of the Botanical Gardens and the adjacent Geological Museum have been maintained, the Zoological Museum was located separately in the Universitetsparken. This museum location closed in 2022 and will be relocated to the new and larger Natural History Museum in the northeast corner of the Botanical Gardens. The complex is expected to open in the Fall of 2025. [2] While the separate Zoological Museum has closed, its research and storage facilities at its old location have been maintained. [4]

The history of the individual departments, which now are part of the united Natural History Museum of Denmark, can be traced back to the 17th century. One historical figure in particular played a crucial role in the creation of the Danish national heritage, namely Ole Worm (1588–1654). His cabinet of natural curiosities, the Museum Wormianum, formed together with the Royal Danish Cabinet of Curiosities the nucleus of what later would become the Geological Museum and the Zoological Museum. In 1621 Ole Worm also became the director of the Botanical Garden, which at that time had been quite neglected. Here he introduced a large variety of medicinal plants and rare species from abroad. [3]

Today the Natural History Museum of Denmark is organized under the Faculty of Science at the University of Copenhagen.

Collections

A view of the Palm House across the lake Botanisk-Have-Kbh-190807.jpg
A view of the Palm House across the lake

The items in the Natural History Museum have been collected over four centuries. Although typically listed as containing about 14 million objects, [5] also in some recent publications, this is based on decade old inventory. In 2023, a review of natural history museums of the world, also involving scientists from the Natural History Museum of Denmark, placed the number at about 17 million, making it the largest scientific natural history collection in the Nordic countries and one of the largest in the world. [6] The collections include taxidermied specimens, skins and skeletons, specimens preserved in jars with ethanol, invertebrates on pins, eggs, DNA and tissue samples (a collection that has grown rapidly in recent decades as it contains Denmark's national natural history DNA and Tissue Repository), plants on herbarium sheets, fossils, minerals, meteorites and more, from all over the world. Among these are thousands of type specimens. Additionally, the living collections of the Botanical Garden number some 10,000 plant species such as orchids, cacti, carnivorous plants and trees. [7]

The collections form the foundations of the museum's research, teaching and outreach efforts, and for a wide range of international research. As well as being a research tool and outreach resource, the collections are also a link to our cultural heritage: many objects exemplify a preservation technique of a specific era, have inspired classic works of art or tell a story of the era in which they were collected. Hundreds of scientists from all over the world visit the collection each year and many specimens are sent to scientists elsewhere as loans for use in research. [7]

Exhibitions

The Agpalilik meteorite outside the Geological Museum Agpalilik meteorite.jpg
The Agpalilik meteorite outside the Geological Museum

Today, all exhibitions and public engagement programs are located at the Natural History Museum of Denmark (the former Geological Museum) and in the adjacent Botanical Gardens. Since the merger, the Botanical Gardens and its greenhouses/glasshouses have remained open, and the mineral collection, along with temporary exhibits, are still on display in the buildings of the former Geological Museum. [8]

The Zoological Museum that was located separately was closed in October 2022 as a part of the preparations for a new and larger Natural History Museum in the Botanical Garden. The Botanical Garden, as well as the current premises of the Natural History Museum of Denmark, will be part of the new Natural History Museum that is expected to open in the Fall of 2025. [2]

Directors

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Copenhagen Faculty of Science</span>

The Faculty of Science at the University of Copenhagen houses 12 departments, including the Natural History Museum of Denmark. The faculty also encompasses several national and international research centres, and has a number of field stations in Denmark and Greenland, among them the university's Arctic Station in central West Greenland. The faculty's administration is housed at the university's Frederiksberg Campus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herbarium</span> Scientific collection of dried plants

A herbarium is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Museum of Natural History, France</span> Natural history museum in Paris, France

The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, is the national natural history museum of France and a grand établissement of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in Paris, France, within the Jardin des Plantes on the left bank of the River Seine. It was formally founded in 1793, during the French Revolution, but was begun even earlier in 1635 as the royal garden of medicinal plants. The museum now has 14 sites throughout France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Type (biology)</span> Specimen(s) to which a scientific name is formally attached

In biology, a type is a particular specimen of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the defining features of that particular taxon. In older usage, a type was a taxon rather than a specimen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University Botanical Garden (Oslo)</span>

The University Botanical Garden is Norway's oldest botanical garden. It was first established in 1814 and is administered by the University of Oslo. It is situated in the neighborhood of Tøyen in Oslo, Norway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nathaniel Wallich</span> Surgeon and botanist of Danish origin who worked in India (1786-1854)

Nathaniel Wolff Wallich was a surgeon and botanist of Danish origin who worked in India, initially in the Danish settlement near Calcutta and later for the Danish East India Company and the British East India Company. He was involved in the early development of the Calcutta Botanical Garden, describing many new plant species and developing a large herbarium collection which was distributed to collections in Europe. Several of the plants that he collected were named after him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cabinet of curiosities</span> Collection of notable objects

Cabinets of curiosities, also known as wonder-rooms, were encyclopedic collections of objects whose categorical boundaries were, in Renaissance Europe, yet to be defined. Although more rudimentary collections had preceded them, the classic cabinets of curiosities emerged in the sixteenth century. The term cabinet originally described a room rather than a piece of furniture. Modern terminology would categorize the objects included as belonging to natural history, geology, ethnography, archaeology, religious or historical relics, works of art, and antiquities. In addition to the most famous and best documented cabinets of rulers and aristocrats, members of the merchant class and early practitioners of science in Europe formed collections that were precursors to museums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Museum of Ireland – Natural History</span> Specialised museum in Dublin, Ireland

The National Museum of Ireland – Natural History, sometimes called the Dead Zoo, a branch of the National Museum of Ireland, is housed on Merrion Street in Dublin, Ireland. The museum was built in 1856 for parts of the collection of the Royal Dublin Society and the building and collection were later passed to the State.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Copenhagen Botanical Garden</span> Botanical garden in the centre of Copenhagen, Denmark

The University of Copenhagen Botanical Garden, usually referred to simply as Copenhagen Botanical Garden, is a botanical garden located in the centre of Copenhagen, Denmark. It covers an area of 10 hectares and is particularly noted for its extensive complex of historical glasshouses dating from 1874.

The Centennial Museum and Chihuahuan Desert Gardens is a cultural history and natural history museum on the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso in El Paso, Texas, United States.The museum was built in 1936 to commemorate the centenary of Texas independence, making it the oldest museum in El Paso.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finnish Museum of Natural History</span>

The Finnish Museum of Natural History, established in 1988, is a research institution under the University of Helsinki in Finland, based in Helsinki, Finland. It is a natural history museum responsible for the national botanical, zoological, geological and paleontological collections, which consist of samples from around the world. The collections serve scientific, public informational and educational purposes.

The Georgia Museum of Natural History is the U.S. state of Georgia's museum of natural history located in Athens, Georgia. The museum has eleven different collections in Anthropology, Arthropods, Botany, Geology, Herpetology, Ichthyology, Invertebrate, Mammalogy, Mycology, Ornithology, and Zooarchaeology. In addition, there are exhibitions, archives, and entertainment for children. The Exhibit Gallery is free and open to the public during scheduled hours. People can schedule a tour to visit the collections by appointment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Copenhagen Zoological Museum</span> Natural history museum in Copenhagen, Denmark

The Copenhagen Zoological Museum was a separate zoological museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is now a part of the Natural History Museum of Denmark, which is affiliated with the University of Copenhagen. The separate museum location closed in 2022, but will reopen in 2025 in new and considerably larger buildings in the northeastern corner of the Copenhagen Botanical Garden. Although the museum will be relocated, the research and storage facilities at its old location have been maintained.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">City Campus (University of Copenhagen)</span>

The City Campus is one of the University of Copenhagen's four campuses in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is home to the Faculty of Social Sciences and parts of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences and the Faculty of Science. The main campus area, the Center for Health and Society, is situated on Øster Farimagsgade, across the street from the University's Botanical Garden, which is also part of the campus area. The City Campus also comprises a building on Øster Voldgade and the university headquarters on Frue Plads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scientific collection</span> Systematic scientific collection of objects for the study of nature or of the human history

A scientific collection is a collection of items that are preserved, catalogued, and managed for the purpose of scientific study.

Science Museums, Aarhus, founded 1 January 2008, is an umbrella organization comprising the Steno Museum, the greenhouses at Aarhus Botanical Gardens, the Ole Rømer Observatory and a herbarium in Aarhus, Denmark. The Science Museums works as an independent institution under the Science and Technology department of Aarhus University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Copenhagen Geological Museum</span> Natural History Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark

The Geological Museum was a separate geology museum at the northeast corner of the Copenhagen Botanical Garden, in Copenhagen, Denmark. Although its location remains the same and the main exhibits have been maintained, it is now part of the Natural History Museum of Denmark rather than a separate museum. In addition to housing exhibits, it also facilitates research and study as part of the University of Copenhagen, with some of the museum staff actively partaking in research worldwide.

The UCPH Department of Biology is a department under the Faculty of Science at University of Copenhagen (UCPH). It is organized in 10 sections and is also involved in a number of research centres. The department offer three BSc and four MSc degree programmes. With 400 employees and 1,800 students, it is the largest department at the faculty. It also operates the Øresund Aquarium in Helsingør.

<i>Curiosity Cabinet of Ole Worm</i> 1655 engraving by Ole Worm

This frontispiece by Ole Worm titled Ole Worm’s Cabinet of Wonder: Natural Specimens and Wondrous Monsters is an engraving depicting various animal taxidermy, shells, and many other oddities. The piece was finished in 1655 and printed by G Wingendrop.

References

  1. 1 2 "University of Copenhagen to become a campus university". University of Copenhagen. 27 April 2006. Archived from the original on 29 July 2007. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 "Pænt glad: Naturhistorisk Museum har vendt skuden efter millionunderskud". Uniavisen. 13 March 2023. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  3. 1 2 "Museets historie". University of Copenhagen. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  4. "Zoologisk Museum lukker og skal pakkes ned. Men hvordan flytter man en dinosaur?". Kristeligt Dagblad. 20 October 2022. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  5. "Naturnørdernes hvalstore paradis". Magazinet KBH. 1 June 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  6. Johnson, K.R.; et al. (2023). "A global approach for natural history museum collections". Science . 379 (6638): 1192–1194. doi:10.1126/science.adf6434. hdl: 10261/328263 . PMID   36952410. S2CID   257696099.
  7. 1 2 "About the collections". samlinger.snm.ku.dk. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  8. "Exhibitions". snm.ku.dk. Retrieved 2 July 2023.

55°41′15″N12°34′32″E / 55.687506°N 12.575459°E / 55.687506; 12.575459