Hamburg's Evolutioneum: New natural history museum planned in the Elbtower!

Hamburg's Evolutioneum: New natural history museum planned in the Elbtower!

The “Evolutioneum” has its roots in the heart of Hamburg, in the up-and-coming Hafencity. The new natural history museum will be housed in the Elbtower, whose impressive building with a triangular floor plan rises up to 200 meters in height. The Elbtower is considered a link between the city and nature and will enhance the adjacent areas such as the Elbpark Entenwerder with its modern architecture. The construction of this visionary facility has now picked up speed again after the city of Hamburg set a purchase price of a whopping 595 million euros for the museum space, allowing construction work to continue and giving the project a new lease of life. As Welt reports, the work was initially stopped due to the bankruptcy of the original investor, but now there are signs of progress.

A highlight of the Evolutioneum will be the virtual and interactive presentation of a school of herring, which will captivate visitors under a glass, walk-in area. The animated fish react to the visitors' movements, creating an impressive experience that project manager Matthias Glaubrecht is convinced of. “The multimedia presentation is of central importance for conveying knowledge about evolution and biodiversity,” says Glaubrecht.

Unique collections and research work

The Evolutioneum will offer around 46,000 square meters of space for exhibitions, collections and research infrastructure. Part of the impressive LIB collection, which includes ten million objects, will be accessible here. The Director General of the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB), Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof, sees the new museum as a great opportunity to sustainably preserve important collections in Hamburg and expand them into a national resource for biodiversity research. Another important aspect is the planned reunification of the areas of zoology, paleontology, geology and mineralogy, which were previously distributed at different locations of the Museum der Natur Hamburg and will now be brought together under one roof.

The Hamburg Senate has decided against a new building in order to speed up the realization of the museum. With completion expected by 2029, the Evolutioneum will be built five years earlier and 230 million euros cheaper than a new building would have made possible. The First Mayor of Hamburg, Dr. Peter Tschentscher has already announced that important negotiations to continue the construction of the Elbtower are underway with a group of investors, so that everyone involved can be optimistic about the progress.

A place for education and inspiration

The museum will not only incorporate old elements of the original natural history museum, but will also create places to impart knowledge. Innovative formats for basic scientific education are planned, including special “classrooms” for different topics and virtual researchers in exhibited dioramas. One goal is to inspire around 500,000 visitors every year and to address the influence of humans on evolution.

The Evolutioneum, located in the pulsating heart of the city, promises not only to bring the beauty and diversity of nature closer, but also to focus on current challenges such as the death of insects and the influence of consumer behavior on biodiversity.