17 December 2015 - 26 January 2020
Between December 2015 and January 2020 Tristan Otto was on display at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin as part of the exhibition "TRISTAN - Berlin Bares Teeth". Tristan Otto is an approximately 65 million year old, deep black skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex. He was found 2010 in the Hell Creek Formation in Montana, USA. Its owners Niels Nielsen and Jens Peter Jensen acquired the T.rex in 2014, named it after their sons and finally made the skeleton available to research and public. A total of around 3 million visitors came to see the predatory dinosaur over the last four years. In addition, the farewell weekend at the end of January 2020 has shown the popularity of the T.rex. About 25,000 fans came to the museum to see Tristan Otto once again before its journey to Copenhagen.
A total of over 70 employees from the Museum für Naturkunde were involved in the exhibition project of Tristan Otto: These included workshops, research, collections, exhibition and education department as well as administration. With joint forces and bags of enthusiasm, it took just 10 months to create a totally new exhibition featuring the new attraction Tristan Otto. The exhibition took the visitor on a trip around several facts about Tyrannosaurus rex . The focus was "Tristan Otto" one of a few and best preserved original skeletons of a T. rex in Europe. With its twelve meters length, the predatory dinosaur was the highlight of the presentation. In addition, questions that researchers were dealing with in connection with their work on Tristan were also thematised. Among other things, they discussed the findings of the fossilized bones, which are more than 65 million years old. The exhibition showed what these bones tell us about the life of Tristan. Unusual media stations and original objects told exciting stories about the discovery and research of the famous predatory dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous period. The original skull, which is one of the best preserved T.rex skulls in the world, was displayed in a separate showcase that could be viewed by visitors at close range. The showcase was designed in such a way that the bones were also accessible to researchers and could be removed individually for research purposes.
The accompanying book "T. rex - MB.R.91216", which was awarded the Art Directors Club Design Prize Germany, was also published to accompany the exhibition.
From 23 August 2022 Tristan Otto will again be on display at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. But then within a new exhibition. Here you can find further information about that topic.
