The whale skeletons
Hung at full size above visitors.
Jabbi — CC0 · Larissa Möckel — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Minderbinder — CC BY 4.0 · Minderbinder — CC BY 4.0
The Zoological Museum is part of the University of Hamburg's Museum of Nature, and its collection is among the largest zoological holdings in Germany, with over ten million specimens — most for scientific research, a small part on public display. Its best-known exhibit is a complete sperm whale skeleton suspended in the main hall, alongside other whale skeletons, elephants and giraffes. The halls are arranged by traditional zoological classification — birds, mammals, fish, insects — in a classical display style of wooden cases that gives the place the character of a nineteenth-century museum rather than a modern interactive one. That classical character is both its strength and its weakness: anyone looking for screens and interactivity will find it dated, while anyone who likes museums in the traditional sense — rows of preserved specimens and skeletons under quiet lighting — will enjoy it. It sits in the university quarter near Dammtor, and the ticket is cheap.
Hung at full size above visitors.
A classical 19th-century display style.
Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, 20146 Hamburg
The Mineralogical Museum, HamburgThe mineralogical museum of the University of Hamburg, one of three departments 4 minutes walk4.8
Planten un BlomenPlanten un Blomen is a large park in central Hamburg; the name is Low German for10 minutes walk4.9
The St Pauli Bunker and its Rooftop GardenThis building is among the largest things the Second World War left standing in 16 minutes walk4.4
The ColonnadenA pedestrian street in central Hamburg with a continuous arcade running along on18 minutes walk4.3
The FC St. Pauli MuseumThe FC St. Pauli museum is inside the Millerntor stadium itself, and the story o19 minutes walk4.6By spectacle, Berlin's and Vienna's are far larger and much more modern in presentation. This museum's value is that it is cheap, central, quiet and does not need half a day — an hour covers it. If you are in Hamburg with children who like skeletons it is a good low-cost option, not a destination to travel for.