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Special exhibition: Molassic Park - An expedition to Bavaria's great apes, primal elephants and subtropical forests

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Category
Events
Date
2021-07-02 00:00 - 2021-09-05 00:00

 

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Molassic Park - An expedition to Bavaria's great apes, primeval elephants and subtropical forests

Special exhibition in the winter hall of the Botanical Garden.
July 2 - September 5, 2021

MOLASSIC PARK FLYER (PDF)

molassic park andreas hedergott 2 biotopiaThe exhibition invites you to an expedition into the Bavarian past and provides insights into how researchers extract the secrets from the traces of this time.

The exhibition is complemented by a thematic trail in the open air of the Botanical Garden. To accompany this, the Botanic Garden, BIOTOPIA and the Museumspädagogisches Zentrum (MPZ) have jointly developed a leporello that relates the plant fossils to their closest living relatives. It will be handed out at the entrance to the Botanical Garden. Guided tours for school classes can also be booked, such as "Pollen - what it tells us", "Getting to the root of the matter" and "Bavaria's flora before the ice ages - the theme trail in the Botanic Garden". On weekends, the BIOTOPIA Lab offers an open program in cooperation with the Munich State Zoological Collection, based on the Molassic Park exhibition.

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This unique special exhibition is a joint exhibition of the Museum Mensch und Natur and the Botanical Garden Munich-Nymphenburg in cooperation with BIOTOPIA - Naturkundemuseum Bayern, the Bavarian State Collection of Paleontology and Geology and the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen.

It was an alien world whose remains lie buried today beneath Munich and the Alpine foothills: the landscape of the Upper Freshwater Molasse, a water-rich alluvial area 17 to 5 million years before our time. Where today there is urban hustle and bustle or cows grazing, long before the ice ages there existed a wild, exotic world with cinnamon trees and bald cypresses, through which four-meter-high tusked elephants and saber-toothed cats roamed. Small herds of Munich forest antelope leapt over the gravel of vast riverine landscapes with liana-rich floodplain forests, hunted by a fearsome predator, the dog bear.

Panda bears loll in the sun on overhanging oak branches. Flying squirrels, as large as bed rugs, glided silently from tree to tree. This sunken world received current attention in 2019 through a very special discovery: the discovery of an 11.6-million-year-old unknown ape species in a clay pit near Pforzen in the Allgäu region. The find, scientifically described as Danuvius guggenmosi, sent scientists and the press around the world into a frenzy because anatomical details indicate that these apes moved upright.

molassic park andreas hedergott 3 biotopiaFrom a male animal, called "Udo", essential parts of the skeleton could be reconstructed. In addition to "Udo" and other finds from the Hammerschmiede clay pit, numerous fossils from various sites in Bavaria bring to life the animal and plant world of the Freshwater Molasse and bring it to life in large-scale landscape reconstructions by the well-known Spanish paleo-artist Mauricio Antón. In addition to the great ape "Udo", the "Mühldorfer Urelefant" found exactly 50 years ago is a very special highlight. The exhibition is complemented by a theme trail through the Botanical Garden, where visitors can learn about plants whose close relatives once lived in the "Molassic Park".

molassic park andreas hedergott 1 biotopiaThe exhibition also shows how researchers are uncovering the secrets of this long-submerged world. For example, you can microscope fossilized pollen, compare fossils with today's plants or examine the differences in the physique of humans and apes. All in all, a real expedition for old and young and the whole family. This unique exhibition was made possible by the cooperation of the Museum Mensch und Natur, the Botanical Garden Munich-Nymphenburg, the Bavarian State Collection for Paleontology and Geology, BIOTOPIA - Naturkundemuseum bayern and the research group of Prof. Dr. Madelaine Böhme at the University of Tübingen.

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Minister of Science and the Arts Bernd Sibler on the joint exhibition "Molassic Park - An Expedition to Bavaria's Apes, Primeval Elephants and Subtropical Forests" by the Museum Mensch und Natur and the Munich-Nymphenburg Botanical Garden in cooperation with BIOTOPIA - Naturkundemuseum Bayern, the Bavarian State Collection of Paleontology and Geology and the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen:

"Exciting, enlightening and entertaining: that's how I imagine a successful exhibition. The large joint exhibition "Molassic Park" is a veritable cornucopia of information, insights and very concrete impressions - and thus a prime example of successful cooperation across disciplines and institutional boundaries. As Minister for Science and the Arts, it is also very important to me that culture takes place in all regions of Bavaria. That is why I am very pleased that, thanks to the conception as a traveling exhibition, people all over Bavaria will be able to enjoy this impressive expedition into our Bavarian past a good 10 million years ago. I would like to sincerely thank all those involved for their excellent and purposeful cooperation. Only spread over many shoulders can such a great project as this traveling exhibition succeed."

Visitor Information:
Entrance via the Botanical Garden Munich-Nymphenburg
Main Entrance Menzinger Straße 65 
80638 München | Telephone: 0 89 - 17861-321
E-Mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
www.botmuc.de

Opening hours: 10 - 18 h
Admission prices special exhibition (incl. admission Botanical Garden)
Regular: 6,50 € + 1,72 € VVK fee
Reduced: 4,50 € + 1,56 € VVK fee
Children and teenagers under 18 years: 0 € + 0,70 € VVK fee

Advance ticket sales via www.muenchenticket.de
Remaining tickets at the box office (without advance booking fee)

 
 

Naturkundemuseum Bayern
Botanisches Institut
Menzinger Str. 67
80638 München, Germany

BIOTOPIA Lab:

Phone: +49 (0)89 178 61-411
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Pressekontakt:

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Sonstige Anfragen:

Phone: +49 (0)89 178 61-422
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