This might have been particular good advice for the long Easter weekend, but better late than never. I’m not particularly into museums in general but the Senckenberg Natural History Museum was good even for me. Even if you are just interested in the architecture then this museum is still a good place to go.

Senckenberg was actually a German naturalist from a few hundred years ago and left an endowment after he died. The museum that bears his name was built in 1907 and, even without the collection it houses, is really very impressive. It is the second biggest natural history museum in Germany, but has biggest collection of large dinosaurs in Europe.

It’s also the only place in Europe with a cast of the famous “Lucy“. Unfortunately I completely forgot to photograph her after taking pictures of the various skulls around her. How I missed that I’ll never know :-)).

There is also a massive collection of stuffed birds (largest in the world again!).

My favourite room was the formaldehyde room I’m afraid. The sort of collection that would never be put together these days. It is a little gruesome with all the brains, eyes, foetuses etc. floating in little jars, many for more than 100 years. Some clever person at the museum has also disguised a round security camera by putting it in a jar among the eyes… you are being watch!

And if the weather is good, you’ll probably be able to get a seat on the roof terrace at the cafe. They normally have a nice selection of cakes for those with a sweet tooth :-).

The museum is located at the Messe near Westend but doesn’t have parking so either park and walk or just leave the car behind. The best value ticket is the family ticket at €19 for 2 adults, 2 children.

And if you are interested in seeing more they have a Flickr collection with lots of pictures and a fairly active Twitter account with all the latest news. Someone over there is doing a good job on the marketing ;-).