Senckenberg Naturmuseum

The Senckenberg Naturmuseum at Senckenberganlage 25, on the border of the Westend and Bockenheim districts of Frankfurt am Main, is the largest natural history museum in Germany and one of the most visited in the country. It grew from a society of Frankfurt citizens founded in the early nineteenth century to promote the study of nature, and the museum remains part of the Senckenberg research network. Its best-known displays are the dinosaur halls, where large skeletons of Diplodocus and Tyrannosaurus rex tower over visitors, and the collection of fossils from the Messel Pit, a UNESCO World Heritage site near Darmstadt in Hesse that has preserved remarkably complete early mammals, birds and insects. Other galleries cover whales and marine life, birds, mammals, human evolution and the minerals of the Earth. The building is arranged over several floors, with the dinosaurs and fossils drawing the most attention, and a visit typically lasts two to three hours. Families with children are the main audience, so weekends, school holidays and rainy days are the busiest, and the dinosaur halls can become crowded in the afternoon. Weekday mornings, shortly after opening, are calmer and make the best time for photography of the large skeletons, which are best viewed from the upper galleries for a full-length frame. Because opening hours and ticket prices can change, visitors should confirm the current schedule at museumfrankfurt.senckenberg.de, where family and reduced tickets are also listed. A museum café is on site. The museum is a 3-minute walk from Bockenheimer Warte on the U6 and U7 lines and neighbours the Palmengarten and the university campus, so it combines easily with a half-day in the Westend.