The whale skeletons
Hung at full size above visitors.
Jabbi โ CC0 ยท Larissa Mรถckel โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Minderbinder โ CC BY 4.0 ยท Minderbinder โ CC BY 4.0
By 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 โ 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.
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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 โ 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 โ birds, mammals, fish, insects โ 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 โ rows of preserved specimens and skeletons under quiet lighting โ 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