The origins of today’s natural history collections of the Natural History Museum Bamberg date back to the end of the 18th century. In the course of the foundation of the natural history cabinet in 1791, Prince-Bishop Franz Ludwig von Erthal ordered the purchase of various collections. At that time, these were mainly mineral specimens and ores from the Franconian Forest and the Fichtel Mountains, as well as collections of various animal specimens. Hardly anything of these early acquisitions is left today, as much was lost in the turmoil of the Revolutionary Wars.

The first major additions to the collection came after the secularization in 1803, when the ex-Benedictine priest Dionysius Linder (1762-1838) transferred the holdings of the Kloster Banz Naturalia Cabinet, which he headed until the abolition of the monastery, to the still unfinished Bamberg Naturalia Cabinet. In the first place, these holdings included numerous animal specimens, a part of the “Pomological Cabinet” as well as an undetermined number of the “Würzburg Lying Stones”, which were already famous at that time. During his further period of activity until his death in 1838, Linder developed as the second founder of the Bamberg Natural History Cabinet and expanded the collections to a great extent. His successor in the position of the head of the cabinet, the clergyman Dr. Andreas Haupt (1813-1893), also expanded the collections by several thousand objects from all fields of natural history.

Haupt’s successor was the clergyman Dr. Georg Fischer, who directed the museum from 1885-1912. He was given the task of inventorying and cataloging the accumulated holdings. Fischer filled 11 inventory folios and 44 catalogs with object data.

While the efforts to expand the collection had until then been guided by the idea of representing global biodiversity, this changed with the work of the clergyman Dr. Theodor Schneid (museum director 1917-1945). From now on, the focus was on documenting regional exhibits. Schneid collected and researched the ammonite fauna of the native Jurassic strata, prepared native bird species into exhibits worthy of display and established a systematic collection of native insects. The latter especially gave the Bamberg Museum a scientifically valuable collection of native insects, which is still considered one of the most important entomological regional collections in Bavaria.

During the subsequent period of Prof. Dr. Anton Kolb’s activity, numerous further exhibits were acquired, which served above all to expand the zoological holdings with regard to global biodiversity. During the tenure of the last museum director, Dr. Matthias Mäuser (1988-2021), the focus was again on the documentation of regional specimens. Since 2004, the collection activities concentrated on fossils of the “Wattendorfer Plattenkalke”.

In the future, the Bamberg Natural History Museum will continue to make an important contribution to documenting, researching and communicating our regional natural heritage.

The paleontological collections today house an estimated 30,000 objects from Germany and from abroad. The objects include finds from all geological eras, but have a clear focus on regional sites from the Jurassic period. In the last two decades, the collection has been considerably expanded by the museum’s own excavations in the Upper Jurassic plate limestones of Wattendorf/Upper Franconia.

The historical part of the collection from the 19th century was partly collected by the respective curators themselves, partly also purchased from the company Dr. Krantz/Bonn. From the first half of the 20th century on, the collecting activity was mainly concentrated on the Franconian Jura. The ammonite collection of Theodor Schneid with about 1300 single objects, among them extensive type material, has to be emphasized. Scientifically valuable are also the collection of A. Müller with 700 plant fossils from the lowest Lias of Großbellhofen near Schnaittach/Mittelfranken, collections of Oskar Kuhn from the Lias and Dogger of Franconia (about 2000 objects) and the collections Schattenberg and Schrüfer with fossils from the Malm of Franconia. Already since 1989 extensive collections from all layers of the Franconian Jurassic have been made by the geoscientific preparator of the museum, Thomas Bechmann.

The Mineralogical Collection contains about 10,000 objects. Its oldest parts date back to the first half of the 19th century. Especially curator Andreas Haupt extended the collection in the middle of the 19th century by purchase and exchange (e.g. Krantz/Bonn) or by gifts (e.g. Schönlein/Zurich, Berlin). In 1858 he bought part of the collection of the ducal chancellery Hardt with private funds. Haupt donated the extensive collection to the naturalia cabinet under the name “Dr. Haupts Sammlung ”. Especially among these pieces are many specimens of deposits of the East Bavarian Bohemian bedrock, including several specimens from sites that are no longer accessible today (e.g. Kupferberg).

A collection of deposits with evidence from abandoned mines and sites in northeastern Bavaria was acquired in 1990. It contains about 2000 individual objects from 55 localities.

The “Pomological Cabinet” is a collection of models of fruit varieties. Such collections were made from the 18th to the 20th century to document the appearance of particular varieties. Models of fruits were made by different vendors in many countries of Europe and also in the New World, using a wide variety of techniques and materials (examples: ” Arnoldi`s Obstkabinett” with 432 plaster models, made 1856-1897 in Gotha; “Wächserne Obstsammlung” of Father Constantin Keller with 245 preserved specimens in the Abbey of Admont/Austria, made 1815-1840; “Obstsortiment für Steiermark in plastischer Nachbildung” with 406 papier-mâché-wax models, probably 1880-1890).

The Pomological Cabinet of the Bamberg Natural History Museum originated from the production of the “Landes-Industrie-Comptoir” of the Weimar publisher Friedrich Justin Bertuch (1747-1822). There, the magazine “Der teutsche Obstgärtner” was published from 1794 to 1804, which was then replaced by the “Allgemeine teutsche Gartenmagazin” from 1804 to 1824. In these series, recommended fruit varieties were described in words and pictures, among other things. Responsible for the content was the then well-known Thuringian pomologist Pastor Johann Volkmar Sickler (1742-1820). In addition, the publisher had models of a total of 298 different fruit varieties, distributed among apples, pears, plums and damsons, cherries, apricots, peaches, as well as a nut and a medlar. The models were made by Ernst Heinrich Gebhardt. They were sold in 26 successive deliveries between 1795 and 1813.

The models are made of beeswax with a small admixture of Kremser white. The objects are hollow, with a wall thickness of about 1.5 – 2.5 mm. The fruit stalks are made of twisted and strengthened twine and overmolded with wax depending on the variety. The surface is painted with glazing colors true to nature.

Undoubtedly, the model series from the house of Bertuch is the most beautiful and lifelike fruit variety series that was available for purchase in the heyday of pomology at that time. Due to the extreme fragility of the hollow bodies, only a few collections have survived to this day. The Bamberg collection, with a total of 193 models, is one of the most extensive. In detail: 71 pears, 66 apples, 24 plums and damsons, 23 cherries, 6 peaches and 3 apricots. In addition to their cultural-historical value, the models are used to identify old varieties that have been forgotten. They also provide insight into the important and common fruit varieties of the time.

Literature: Mäuser, M. (1998): Das Pomologische Kabinett von F. J. Bertuch aus Weimar im Naturkunde-Museum Bamberg.- LXXII. Bericht Naturf. Ges. Bamberg: 49-78. Bamberg.