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Museum for Natural History
The Natural History Museum in the west wing was opened in 1929. It was originally called the ”Natural History and Local History Museum”.
The principal exhibits are connected with the natural history of the Lower Rhine bay and the Lower Berg landscape. The changes in the course of the Rhine over the centuries, fishing in the Rhine, the moors, heaths, flora and fauna in the region, the trees in the palace park, and Neanderthal are just some of the subjects covered in the museum. Of particular interest are the Benrath bird clock with its dawn chorus of the birds in the palace park during an electronically simulated dawn and the chance to see a living colony of bees in a hive with a bee dancing clock. Moreover, the exhibition also offers a journey through the history of the earth and life on it from ”The Big Bang to Modern Man”. A small planetarium provides the chance to travel through the universe.
Another very popular part of the museum is the ”Das Grüne Klassenzimmer” (The Green Classroom), where young people are able to make use of all five senses while studying nature.
Since 2002 the museum has added a display to the collection on the subject of conservation and environmental protection in the region. The exhibition ”Rivers and their pastures with particular regard to the Rhine” shows the variety of this most abundant area for animal and plant species in central Europe.
On the first Sunday in the month at 11.00 am the museum conducts a guided tour.
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