It is famous for two exhibits: the largest mounted dinosaur in the world (a Giraffatitan skeleton), and a well-preserved specimen of the earliest known bird, Archaeopteryx.

Expeditions to fossil beds in Tendaguru in former Deutsch Ostafrika (today Tanzania) unearthed rich paleontological treasures.

Additional exhibits include a mineral collection representing 75% of the minerals in the world, a large meteor collection, the largest piece of amber in the world; exhibits of the now-extinct quagga, huia, and tasmanian tiger, and "Bobby" the gorilla, a Berlin Zoo celebrity from the 1920s and 1930s.

Since the museum renovation in 2007, a large hall explains biodiversity and the processes of evolution, while several rooms feature regularly changing special exhibitions.

The specimen of Giraffatitan brancai[3] in the central exhibit hall is the largest mounted dinosaur skeleton in the world.

It is composed of fossilized bones recovered by the German paleontologist Werner Janensch from the fossil-rich Tendaguru beds of Tanzania between 1909 and 1913.

In 2007 it was remounted according to new scientific evidence, reaching a height of 13.27 m. When living, the long-tailed, long-necked herbivore probably weighed 50 t (55 tons).

While the Diplodocus carnegiei mounted next to it (a copy of an original from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, United States) actually exceeds it in length (27 m, or 90 ft), the Berlin specimen is taller, and far more massive.

The dinosaur-like body with an attached tooth-filled head, wings, claws, long lizard-like tail, and the clear impression of feathers in the surrounding stone is strong evidence of the link between reptiles and birds.

[6] The glass-walled Wet Collection Wing with 12.6 km of shelf space displays one million specimens preserved in an ethanol solution and held in 276,000 jars.

Around 1880, the constantly growing collections based on donations, purchases and expedition finds took up around two thirds of the space in the main building, Unter den Linden, and “formed an oppressive burden”.

[12] During World War II, the east wing of the museum building was heavily damaged in a daytime raid by the United States Army Air Forces on February 3, 1945.

[11] In 2005, the dinosaur skeletons on display were temporarily dismantled to make room for the upcoming renovation of the roof and the entire large exhibition hall, which was financed with funds from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the State of Berlin and the German Class Lotterie Berlin Foundation.

Due to its supra-regional importance, the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin was granted the status of a foundation under public law on January 1, 2009 and was accepted as a member of the Leibniz Association.

[14] Overview As a result of the continuously growing natural science collections, a complex new exhibition building was planned on the site of the former Royal Iron Foundry on Invalidenstrasse, in which the three museums mentioned above would be combined.

The new building ensemble was given the name Museum für Naturkunde during the planning phase, consisting of the corresponding central collection and the parts of the Prussian Geological State Institute with the Mining Academy (Geological State Institute and Mining Academy) and the Berlin Agricultural University.

The university management, together with the Berlin magistrate, announced an architectural competition, which August Tiede won with his multi-wing project proposal.

Individual solutions had to be created for the furnishings (cupboards, drawers, consoles, cross beams, glass panels) and equipment as well as the entire color scheme.

The top floor is decorated with Corinthian double columns, two statues and three relief portraits of famous scientists: Johannes Müller and Leopold von Buch, as well as Chr.

On the two gable ends of the main building there are large staircases in iron constructions and work rooms for supervisory officers of the individual departments of the museum.

[8] In the basement of the eastern wing, a drying chamber and degreasing and maceration systems were installed, which were supplied by the Berlin company E. A. Lentz.

Post-war work and modernizations At the end of the Second World War, the museum ensemble was severely damaged by a bombing raid (as shown under History) and in later street fighting.

The ruins of the Natural History Museum were then briefly rebuilt and could continue to be used, but the east wing remained empty for the time being.

From mid-November 2006, after ten years of planning, the reconstruction of the east wing of the Natural History Museum, estimated at 29.6 million euros, began as a modern concrete building with historical facade reliefs.

After four years of construction, the part of the building was opened to the public in September 2010 in time for the Natural History Museum's 200th birthday.

Just twelve years later, in November 2018, the state of Berlin and the federal government decided to expand and renovate the house for over 600 million euros.