3 Alexander Melchers - 3 years ago
Small yet worthwhile geological museum with a somewhat limited collection of rocks, minerals and fossils, as well as sections on human evolution, applied earth sciences, and the history of the disciplines of geology and palaeontology (in particular in and around Heidelberg). Seeing as the museum's holdings can't quite match the collections of other museums in the state, and the exhibit was moreover refurbished not all that long ago, it's a pity, however, that the presentation lacks both clear thematic partitioning and a central guiding line through the exhibit. Instead, the museum's structure seems most suited to those with an existing background in the earth sciences, something emphasised by the sparing information supplied with specimens, as well as the "characterization sheets" that define the various geological eras being presented. For, though the latter provides a wonderful source of information for the educated or specialist visitor, it holds very little value to the novice.
Of course one should not look a gift horse in the mouth, even if the exhibit seems primarily directed to local students. For one, it's a nice museum to visit if you live nearby or haven't visited too many of the state's great museums of natural history yet: their visual explanation of human evolution is very easy to grasp, and there's a stereo-microscope with which the small shells in a petri dish of sand can be made visible - a fun activity suited for even the youngest of children. The museum also sports a great collection of Triasic fossils from Germany, including vertebrate remains, foot-casts and ceratides - a lesser known and not frequently exhibited relative of the Jurassic/Cretaceous ammonites that, notwithstanding, hold the same biostrategrapgical value. In all, most will find some value in the museum - be they novice or specialist - though there is limited interactive elements and few awe-factors that make this place less suited to the absolute youngest of visitors.
