THE FUTURE MUSEUM

The vision of the Naturkundemuseum Bayern is a more understanding, balanced and sustainable relationship between humans and other living things. The Naturkundemuseum Bayern is therefore intended to be a place for all ages and educational levels, inspiring to see the world from the perspective of other organisms. It will be the first museum in the world to focus on behaviors, activities and processes. Thereby, we humans understand ourselves as part of the environment and feel responsible for our planet!

The Naturkundemuseum Bayern expands and transforms the popular Museum Mensch und Natur (Man and Nature), which was established in 1990 as a provisional facility in the north wing of Nymphenburg Palace and has long been unable to cope with the crowds of visitors in terms of space. In addition, it suffers from a poor museum infrastructure and cramped premises. The Naturkundemuseum Bayern enlarges the Museum Mensch und Natur, builds on its ideas and in doing so leads the classic natural history museum into the future with a new concept.

The exhibition concept is innovative as well: Visitors who enter the museum become researchers themselves in visitor labs and observatories and discover countless commonalities with other living beings on an interactive journey. Thus, the realization that everything is connected to everything else leads people to the most pressing questions of our time in a completely new way. The exhibition's goal is to awaken visitors' natural curiosity, generate empathy for life and the environment, and encourage them to take the initiative themselves.

The new museum building is being constructed on the north wing of Nymphenburg Palace, next to the existing Museum Mensch und Natur. The site is still occupied by a former institute building of the LMU: a plain building from the 1960s that is not suitable for museum use and is not a classified historical monument. The design by the renowned Berlin firm Staab Architekten blends in carefully with the surroundings and was completed with the intensive involvement of the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments. The location is ideally suited to establish an attractive nature-culture quarter that uses the enormous biodiversity of the neighborhood as a connecting point for natural history education.

Image left: Visualization of the new building © Staab Architekten

The Naturkundemuseum Bayern will strengthen the region in terms of educational policy: The development of a Bavarian-wide network of natural history and environmental educational institutions is a central goal of the new museum. The Naturkundemuseum Bayern builds on the existing Bavarian Nature Education Network and will also bring together research institutions, schools, visitor and national park centers, environmental stations, botanical gardens, zoos and other institutions throughout Bavaria, which will be supported in PR and marketing, with mobile programs, traveling exhibitions and through the development of joint projects.

Bavaria's nature is incredibly diverse! Museums, botanical gardens, environmental, adventure and national park centers invite you to experience, explore, understand and protect Bavaria's nature. The Naturkundemuseum Bayern will establish a network with 10-15 network nodes throughout Bavaria in the next few years. Already now, interested people can inform themselves in the BIOTOPIA Lab and on the webiste about different institutions all over Bavaria and get inspired by their offers.

The Naturkundemuseum Bayern will transform the popular Museum Mensch und Natur in Munich Nymphenburg into a 21st century museum in the coming years. The design planning for the new museum of life sciences and environmental sciences has been completed - the planning status for architecture, exhibition and concept was presented for the first time on 14.6.2021. All info on building, historic preservation, sustainability, traffic, costs and more in the video. [Status 2021, in German]