1889 is regarded the founding year of the Museum der Stadt Bielefeld. In 1906, this museum became the Städtisches Museum, containing both a history and natural history department. In 1930, an independent Natural History Museum was opened in the Kaselowsky villa. After World War II, from 1946 to 1964, the museum had no permanent home, but in 1964, temporary exhibition spaces were established at the Stapenhorststraße 1. Martin Büchner, mineralogist and long-term director of the museum, and other members of the Naturwissenschaftlicher Verein für Bielefeld und Umgegend essentially contributed to the establishment of the new natural history museum and implemented numerous special exhibitions. In 1977, the museum received additional temporary premises at the Kreuzstrasse 38. Finally, in 1986, the museum moved to the Spiegelshof, which since serves as the exhibition building. In 1994, the „Förderverein Naturkunde-Museum der Stadt Bielefeld“ was founded. Isolde Wrazidlo became director of the museum in 1999, after the retirement of Martin Büchner. In 2003, the museum received a new logo and the additional name namu, an acronym standing for the German words Natur, Mensch, and Umwelt. Subsequent events include the renovation and conversion of the Spiegelsche Hof, the museums 100-year-celebration combined with the implementation of the "Naturhistorischen Zeitreise mit der StadtBahn", the opening of the new permanent exhibition "ausSterben – überLeben", the acquisition and renovation of the museum's external venue "Grünes Haus" at the Sparrenburg castle and the expansion of the educational service. In 2014, the basement of the museum was converted into the "Geostollen", a permanent geological exhibition resembling a mining tunnel.
Collections
The collections of the Bielefeld Natural History Museum are divided into three parts: the biological, geological and archaeological collection. The biological collection includes about 260.000 objects.
The snail and shell collection encompasses 5000 specimens including 657 separate species, giving an overview of the biodiversity of the European shores.
The extensive insect collection with beetles, butterflies, bugs, bees and wasps encompasses more than 250.000 specimens. The majority of the objects are native species, among them 50.000 butterflies from Westphalia. The largest part of the insect collection is formed by beetles, with more than 180.000 objects.
The geological collection comprises 50.000 objects of different disciplines.
The geological and palaeontological parts comprise 30.000 objects. These are largely fossils and rocks from Mesozoic outcrops of the Bielefeld area, including important fossils such as the holotype specimens of the temnospondyl amphibian
Cyclotosaurus buechneri and the plesiosaurArminisaurus schuberti'', which were both found within the city limits of Bielefeld. The palaeontological collection is supplemented by fossils of Pleistocene mammals such as a nearly complete skeleton of a Woolly rhinoceros, found in the area.
The mineralogical-petrographical collection encompasses ca. 20.000 specimens from Westphalia and the adjacent areas of the Netherlands.
The archaeological collection includes about 100.000 objects.
The museum owns arrowheads, spearheads, neolithic daggers, sickles, chisels, stone axes with drilling, blades and other objects.
Focus of the archaeological collection are local early, middle and late neolithic finds from the wider Bielefeld area. Further neolithic artifacts are from Hesse, the Baltic Sea area and from North America. This collection is supplemented by modern objects from Papua New Guinea.
Exhibition
Permanent exhibition The present permanent exhibition "ausSterben – überLeben" was opened in 2007. The visitor first enters a room that is designed as an imaginary museum of the year 2525, informing about the extinction of species and nature conservation in the early 21st century. Other rooms explain present day problems from the future perspective. The third part of the permanent exhibition provides an introduction into earth history and explains the importance of fossils in understanding today's imminent mass extinction of species. Another room is dedicated to museum education, allowing kids to playfully approach the topics of the exhibitions. The Geostollen in the basement supplements the exhibition by showing earth science objects and topics in a recreated mining tunnel. Showcases in the city Under the heading "Verdammt lang her …", the museum shows casts of centerpiece objects in underground stations of the Bielefeld Stadtbahn. The installation was realised in 2006 when the museum celebrated its 100-year anniversary. Showcases in the floor of the stations show casts of fossils such as the temnospondyl Cyclotosaurus buechneri, the ichthyosaurTemnodontosaurus or the Woolly rhinoceros. Large size banners supplement the installation. A drilling core from the time when the subway tunnel was built is shown next to an elevator in one underground station and illustrates the strata of 220 million years of earth history in Bielefeld. Special exhibitions Various special exhibitions about different topics regularly supplement the permanent exhibition.
Education
The educational work focuses on sustainability in thinking and acting. Its guideline is "We can only protect what we know".
Friend's association
The "Förderverein Naturkundemuseum der Stadt Bielefeld" was founded in 1994. The association financially supports the educational service, the collections, exhibitions and implements an annual lecture series in cooperation with the adult education center. In 2008, the friends association received the environment award of the city of Bielefeld.
