The collections are the essential core of the museum: Collected over four centuries, the 14 million objects include skins and hides, skeletons, animals in jars with alcohol, insects on pins, plants on herbarium sheets, fossils, minerals, meteorites and more, from all over the world. Additionally, the living collections of the Botanical Garden number some 10,000 plant species such as orchids, cacti, carnivorous plants and exotic trees.

The collections form the foundations of the museum’s research, teaching and outreach efforts, and for a wide range of international research. As well as being a research tool and outreach resource, the collections are also a link to our cultural heritage: many objects exemplify a preservation technique of a specific era, have inspired classic works of art or tell a story of the era in which they were collected. Read more