The geoscience collections consist mainly of rocks, minerals and fossils that originate from the collection of the naturalist Jacob Theodor Klein, originally from Gdańsk, at Bayreuther Hof. After the margrave’s death in 1763, his collection was given to the University. After being moved several times, the collection was transferred to the former museum building at the University’s new institute of mineralogy in 1896. The artefacts were kept here in the museum of the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy until 1990. Today the various parts of the collection are split between the subjects of geology, mineralogy and palaeontology. Part of the Geological Collection was given to the Society of Natural History in Nuremberg on permanent loan.

The Palaeontological Collection has been expanded with donations and finds from digs by members of the University. The collection focuses on fossil material from southern Germany, including objects from sites which can no longer be accessed today. It has around 90,000 objects, the majority of which are fossils from the Jurassic period and fossils of vertebrates from Franconian caves dating from the Pleistocene epoch. The collection has been digitised and incorporated into an international database.

Websites:

• Palaeontological Collection
• Geological Collection

Palaeontological Collection

Address

Lehrstuhl für Paläoumwelt
Loewenichstr. 28
91054 Erlangen

Contact

Geological Collection

Address

Naturhistorische Gesellschaft
Marientorgraben 8
90402 Nürnberg

Contact

Jürgen Höflinger
juergen.hoeflinger@o2online.de

Visits can be arranged for research purposes.