Besuchende im Eingangsbereich der Sonderausstellung "ZUGvögel – Eine Sammlung in Bewegung" im Museum für Naturkunde Berlin

Insights into the Research Collection

ZUGvögel – Collection in Motion

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A Collection Takes Flight

The historic bird collection tells a story of war and transformation, but also of our current Museum Evolution. The special exhibition presents the collection as a process – between preservation, research, and societal dialogue.

You rarely get this close to birds: metallic shimmering hummingbirds, a proudly displaying great bustard, or an attentively watching owl.

There are around 11,000 bird species worldwide – our collection includes about 200,000 objects, representing roughly 80 percent of this diversity. A portion of these, around 11,500 historical mounted specimens, forms the focus of the special exhibition ZUGvögel – A Collection in Motion. They are part of the museum’s scientific bird collection, which also includes study skins, skeletons, nests, eggs, as well as alcohol-preserved and wing specimens.

These objects are witnesses of time: they were already in the museum when the building was hit by bombs, when the Berlin Wall was built and later dismantled. They tell of the relationship between humans and nature, of knowledge, power, and change.

What is a migratory bird?

As part of our Museum Evolution – including the museum’s comprehensive structural, digital, and societal transformation – the Historical Bird Hall is being restored in line with heritage requirements. For this purpose, the specimens had to be temporarily relocated.

On this occasion, we cleaned, photographed, and carefully packed each object into transport boxes. However, these boxes are not kept behind closed doors; instead, they themselves become part of the exhibition. In a metaphorical sense, the birds themselves thus become migratory birds – they are on the move, leaving their familiar place and returning after the renovation to an open collection hall. Historically planned as an exhibition hall, it will, for the first time, become part of our program as part of the ongoing Museum Evolution.

The exhibition connects this relocation with other stages of the Museum Evolution: digitize! and stacks of transport boxes throughout the exhibition also provide information about the structural renovation, collection development, and the transformation of the museum.

Exhibition Development Together with Visitors

This transformation also affects the development of the exhibition: more than 350 people have contributed their perspectives, questions, and stories. The result is an exhibition as diverse as the bird world itself – from the history of the collection to preparation and research, as well as biodiversity and conservation.

We developed these themes together and explore them in ZUGvögel:

  • History of a collection: Travel back to the origins of our bird collection – and discover how closely natural history and colonial history are intertwined.
  • Bird species and traits: Find out why the black kite is attracted to fire and how hummingbirds dive headfirst from heights of 40 meters.
  • Historical contexts: Our collection objects also tell stories of power, knowledge, and colonial structures – and how we are re-examining them today.
  • Preparation and conservation: What makes a specimen last for centuries – and why do some birds wear “make-up”?
  • Environmental protection and biodiversity: From vanished species to new success stories – discover why bird conservation concerns us all.
  • Research and collection: How old feathers provide new insights – and how DNA reveals the secrets of bird migration.
  • Humans and birds: What ravens have to do with intelligence, Mozart with a bird, and coincidence with industrial farming.

“We have already achieved a great deal, but we still have much ahead of us – and we are now sharing this with the public. In the coming years, everyone interested can follow our path and contribute.” – Stephan Junker, Managing Director of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin

On the Way to a 21st-Century Natural History Museum

During the ongoing construction phase, which also affects the Historical Bird Hall, we are creating new exhibition, teaching, and work spaces in the west wing of the main building, modernizing the technical infrastructure, and making the upper floors in this part of the building accessible.

This will, for the first time, establish the structural conditions needed to include previously inaccessible exhibition halls in our program. Among them is the listed Historical Bird Hall, to which the bird specimens will return once the work is completed.