back to overview
Naturhistorisches Museum, Landessammlung für Naturkunde Rheinland-Pfalz
Naturhistorisches Museum, Landessammlung für Naturkunde Rheinland-Pfalz
55116 Mainz
The Natural History Museum in Mainz emerged from the collections of the Rhenish Natural History Society of 1834. It was opened in 1910 in a former monastery church of the Poor Clares. The main focus of the scientific collections was on objects from the biological and earth sciences, including ice-age animals such as the hippopotamus, steppe mammoth, moose, wolf, Mosbach lion, European jaguar and sabre-toothed tiger, which lived in the Rhine-Main region around 500,000 years ago. Attractions in the display collection are the specimens of three South African steppe zebras (quaggas), of which only 23 specimens of these animals, which became extinct around 1900, still exist worldwide. The rich mineral collection provides information on the mineral resources of Rhineland-Palatinate. Another focus is the presentation of the local bird life.