Station: [2] The Nuremberg Natural History Society

More than 220 years ago, three learned gentlemen of Nuremberg came together to initiate a scientific discussion that went beyond the limits of their own disciplines, and to set up a cabinet of natural curiosities – in other words, a natural history collection. That was in 1801, and it marked the launch of the Nuremberg Natural History Society.

The meetings of those early scholars took place in a private setting, but from the mid-19th century onwards, they decided to go public. The society’s members offered lectures in their special fields, assembled a collection of note and eventually decided to establish a museum, which was to include a library and a conference room.

In 1884, the society acquired a house called "Zur Blume" in the northern part of the old town, though it only provided two fairly small exhibition spaces. But a start had been made, and the Natural History Society still proudly displays the house sign of its first museum on the upper floor gallery.

The collections continued to grow, the number of visitors skyrocketed, and a separate building was erected. In 1913, the exhibition areas for anthropology, ethnology and zoology opened in the Luitpoldhaus, just a few metres from where we are now. Second World War bombing raids destroyed large parts of the collections as well as the museum building. It was rebuilt, but offered inadequate display space when the museum finally reopened in 1960. Since 2000, the Natural History Society has made its new home here, in the Norishalle.

With fifteen hundred members, the Naturhistorische Gesellschaft remains an active society in which experts and interested, knowledgeable laypeople work closely together and organise an extensive educational programme, all on a voluntary basis. Citizen Science under the motto: “Bei uns können Sie mitwirken“ – "A place where you can take part".