Natural History Museum of Berlin, Berlin — Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

The Museum fur Naturkunde is one of the largest natural history museums in the world, housing over 30 million items in a grand 19th-century building in Berlin-Mitte.

The museum was founded in 1810 as part of the newly established Humboldt University, and the current building on Invalidenstrasse opened in 1889. It was designed by August Tiede in the neoclassical style.

The star attraction is the skeleton of Giraffatitan brancai (formerly classified as Brachiosaurus), the tallest mounted dinosaur skeleton in the world at 13.27 metres. It was excavated from Tendaguru Hill in what is now Tanzania between 1909 and 1913 by German paleontological expeditions.

Another highlight is the specimen of Archaeopteryx lithographica, one of the most important fossils ever discovered. This 150-million-year-old transitional fossil between dinosaurs and birds is often called the most valuable natural history specimen in existence.

The museum's wet collection is also remarkable: over 1 million specimens preserved in 276,000 jars of ethanol, displayed in a dramatic floor-to-ceiling glass wall installation.

The building suffered bomb damage during World War II, and the east wing was destroyed. Restoration has been ongoing for decades, with the most recent renovations modernizing the exhibition spaces while preserving the 19th-century architecture.

If you're on a Questo quest through Berlin, the Natural History Museum is a stop where a 13-metre dinosaur and a 150-million-year-old bird ancestor share a building that spans the history of life on Earth.