Elbtower: option for new natural history museum in Hamburg
In the new natural history museum, important areas of research are to be brought to life for museum visitors. © Ralph Appelbaum Associates, 2022 Photo Trawler Pierre Gleizes_Greenpeace
The current discussion about the location for the planned new natural history museum in Hamburg is gathering pace. As confirmed by the Senate of the City of Hamburg, proposals for housing the ‘Evolutioneum’ in the new building on the Elbe bridges are being examined. The Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB), under whose roof the ‘Evolutioneum’ is being built, is in favour of this option.
‘We are very pleased about this positive news,’ explains Prof Dr Bernhard Misof, Director General of the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB). ‘In addition to the economic considerations, the decisive factor will be which of the options still to be examined guarantees the best possible accommodation for collections, research and exhibitions. The realisation of the new Natural History Museum in Hamburg will open up sustainable opportunities for us to preserve the globally important collections in Hamburg and develop them into a national resource for biodiversity research.’
Prof. Dr Matthias Glaubrecht, Scientific Project Manager of the ‘Evolutioneum’, emphasises: ‘With the “Evolutioneum” in the Elbtower, the planned natural history museum in Hamburg would have a “landmark” architecture and at the same time the central future topic of biodiversity – in addition to climate change – would finally gain more radiance and prominence in the Hanseatic city and beyond.’
As the First Mayor of the City of Hamburg, Dr Peter Tschentscher, recently announced, the insolvency administrator of the Elbtower is now negotiating exclusively with the investor group led by Dieter Becken about the further construction of the Elbtower. This is to be completed as planned. The Senate now wants to examine the consortium’s proposal to house the new natural history museum on the lower floors to see whether it can be realised.
As part of the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB), the ‘Evolutioneum’ will analyse changes in biodiversity worldwide and provide answers to the challenges of the biodiversity crisis. The global loss of biodiversity has accelerated dramatically in recent decades.
The ‘Evolutioneum’ project, which is important for science and the museum world, will provide space for research infrastructure such as laboratories and sufficient room to house the valuable scientific collections comprising ten million objects, as well as opportunities for exhibitions and events. The aim is to make important areas of research tangible for museum visitors in the new building and to link them to current topics such as insect extinction and our consumer behaviour. At the same time, it should become a place where visitors can get excited about the beauty and diversity of nature.
Parts of the collection can currently be visited at the three locations of the Museum der Natur Hamburg in the Grindel district. With the new natural history museum, the areas of zoology, palaeontology, geology and mineralogy will once again be united under one roof. The Museum der Natur Hamburg is a successor to the Natural History Museum, which was destroyed in the Second World War, and has been part of the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change since 2021. The Museum der Natur Hamburg is moving to the ‘Evolutioneum’.
