Skip to content

A new natural history museum for Hamburg

Back

Hamburg is getting a new natural history museum. Firmly integrated into the cityscape, it is to become a place of knowledge and encounters, closing the gap left in Hamburg’s museum landscape by the destruction of the important Natural History Museum in 1943 during World War II. The futuristic Elbtower could become its new home.

“In times of global environmental crises, we need places that not merely preserve knowledge but also translate it into specific social action,” emphasises the LIB’s director general Prof Dr Dr hc Bernhard Misof. “This is exactly why Hamburg needs a new research museum at the moment. We are certain that it will become relevant not only for Hamburg but even far beyond the city.” The new museum is to become a vibrant hub for shaping the future, merging research, education, and public dialogue in one site that affords visitors an opportunity to marvel at the wonders of nature and learn about the vital importance of biodiversity research. Excellent research will provide impetus for politics, business, and society from here – with the goal of preserving nature in the long term.
The City of Hamburg committed to providing the LIB with a modern research and exhibition centre in a prominent location in a state treaty with the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in 2021. The plans made for it include modern research laboratories, an innovative, interactive exhibition, and new spaces for the important scientific collection.

"We urgently need to take steps to preserve this cultural treasure and improve research opportunities."

Prof Dr Dr hc Bernhard Misof

Using a building like the Elbtower for this would not only create future-oriented collection, research, and exhibition spaces but also improve access to the internationally significant collection to make knowledge accessible to the research community and the general public alike.
The collection with its more than ten million objects documents the diversity of life on Earth, offering a unique glimpse of the nature of the world and its changes. For example, researchers can investigate how animals have adapted to changing environmental conditions in the past. “However, current facilities are entirely inadequate for preserving and researching the collection, amongst other things in terms of ventilation, lighting, climate and pest control,” says Misof. “We urgently need to take steps to preserve this cultural treasure and improve research opportunities.”

Maryam Blumenthal
Senator for science, research, and equal opportunities

“We can only preserve nature as the basis of life if we understand it. To understand it, we need tangible and accessible science at the heart of our urban society. This is why it’s so very important to let research and knowledge combine in innovative formats, in particular in areas such as biodiversity and evolutionary research. This will ensure that information is not only theoretically conveyed but actually experienced, and that is exactly what the new integrated Natural History Museum in Hamburg represents. This is to become a meeting place for everyone – a place to marvel, learn, and discuss things. After all, the research conducted here concerns us all.”

The Djebeli family from Bavaria:
Morteza with Lilly and Lenny (both 6)

“We never visit Hamburg without dropping by the Museum of Nature. I consider it a place where my children can learn in a playful manner while we are having a great time together. A new, larger museum would lift this experience onto a completely new level that we are really looking forward to seeing."

Axel Jahn
Managing director of the Loki Schmidt Stiftung

“Our planet’s biodiversity is of immeasurable importance for our survival. Our food, our drinking water, the air we breathe, and healthy, fertile soils depend on its ecosystem services. Therefore, research, understanding, and preservation of this diversity is a top priority for humankind. That is what we at the Loki Schmidt Stiftung are committed to. For this, Hamburg needs a large, modern, and efficient natural history museum where these connections are researched and presented in a modern, accessible, and engaging exhibition.”

The Horch family from Hesse:
Mandy (39) & Patrick (43) with Valentin (12) and Zoë (9)

“Natural history museums are essential on every trip for us – and Hamburg is no exception there. We are greatly looking forward to a new museum that offers even more opportunities to discover nature together. It is important to us that our children not only learn about animals but also understand how we are connected to them and their environment. Interactive exhibits, where you can actively participate, make all the difference for us.”

Dr Peter Tschentscher
First Mayor of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg

“The Hamburg Parliament decided to establish a Natural History Museum back in 1843. The city had the building on Steintorwall erected in 1891. It was to become the most frequently visited natural history museum in all of Germany until it was destroyed in the bombing raids of World War II in 1943. Part of the collection was saved and transferred to the University of Hamburg. The new natural history and research museum called ‘Evolutioneum’ is going to serve as a central location to house and preserve the approximately ten million objects, offering the collection for further research into evolution and biodiversity development, and presenting it to the public."

Britta Heils
Principal, school on Bahrenfelder Straße

“Hamburg needs a new natural history museum that offers a hands-on experience, a place to experiment and research, to raise the curiosity of children and adolescents and to inspire them to interact with nature and science. It needs to mediate understanding of ecological relationships in a vivid manner, presenting ecological matters that are currently relevant, such as changing species, biodiversity, and climate change, in an accessible manner that makes clear how one’s own actions influence them. Children and adolescents should be empowered at the earliest possible time to think and act sustainably in order to develop skills for their future.”

Back

Overview

Contact

Leibniz Institute for the Analysis<br>of Biodiversity Change (LIB)

Leibniz Institute for the Analysis
of Biodiversity Change (LIB)

Adenauerallee 127
53113 Bonn

+49 228 9122 0kontakt@leibniz-lib.de
+ More pages
© Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change | Germany, 2026
Privacy Settings
This site uses cookies and third party elements to provide you with certain features and an optimal website experience. These include cookies that are strictly necessary for the operation of the site, cookies for anonymous statistical analysis/measurement, and the embedding of external services whose use you must consent to prior to use. You can find more information below in the notes on the individual functions and in detail in our privacy policy.
These cookies are necessary to enable the basic functions of our website.
This consent allows you to view external contents (via iframe).
This consent allows you to watch embedded videos.
Page views are recorded for anonymous statistical purposes using Matomo in order to constantly optimise our website. The visitor's IP address is anonymised.
Marketing cookies from Google/Meta are used to display personalised advertising. This is done by tracking visitors across websites.
Settings saved