Museum am Schölerberg Osnabrück

"The museum is always a place where you can touch, grasp, and understand nature. This is especially important and valuable in our modern, computer/internet/digital world, and the admission price is also extremely reasonable. The special exhibition "Fossil meets Rock" is fascinating."

Ulrich Bombelka

"Anyone who remembers the Schölerberg Museum from their childhood will have to get used to the new concept, as it's truly quite different. But it's still very informative, and the special exhibitions are still there."

Tobias Schäffner

"Anyone interested in the history and biodiversity of the Osnabrück region will be in good hands at this natural history museum. I recommend combining a visit with a subsequent hike, starting from the "Piesberg Quarry Parking Lot" to the "Piesberg Viewing Platform." The museum at Schölerberg not only presents fossils from the aforementioned quarry. The primeval forest has been "recreated" based on the 306-million-year-old plant and animal fossils found there. For a brief moment, you truly have the impression of standing in this long-vanished rainforest. Looking through display cases, you see an extinct prehistoric cockroach scurrying three-dimensionally across a tree trunk model. Thanks to the staircase, you can gain a treetop perspective. Even in the coal forest, different plant and animal communities thrived at different "elevation levels." The Piesberg is definitely a special paleontological site for the Upper Carboniferous period. Our hard coal deposits around the world date back to this time – a fuel that fueled the Industrial Revolution in Germany from 1850 onwards, harnessing the solar energy harvested by plants over millions of years. When the forest plants were flooded and sealed airtight – thus protected from decomposition – they initially formed peat. As material was constantly deposited on top of the peat, heat and pressure increased. Over the course of millions of years, the peat thus transformed first into lignite and then into hard coal. Before this happened, they formed a species-rich habitat with predatory giant dragonflies and millipedes up to 2.5 meters long. Dinosaur footprints from Barkhausen can also be admired in the museum. These animals – bipedal predators and long-necked herbivores – roamed the soft mudflats 150 million years ago. At that time, in the region north of Münsterland, there was a chain of islands stretching into the Harz region, fostering a unique flora and fauna. Possibly as a result of the scarcity of food on the islands, long-necked dinosaurs like Europasaurus were comparatively "dwarfed" by dinosaur standards – only 6 meters long and weighing approximately 800 kilograms. In addition to these interesting excursions into geological and climatic history, the museum is dedicated to the present-day landscapes of the Osnabrück region – forests, meadows, cities, and bodies of water. Animals and plants are perfectly adapted to all these habitats and their challenges. In the city, for example, it is often up to 10 degrees warmer than in the surrounding areas. Noise, air pollution, sealed surfaces, and road traffic are fatal for many animals. Nevertheless, as is vividly demonstrated, there are many niches for pioneer species even in the city. Some seeds, for example, are more massive in the city and therefore travel less far – an important survival strategy to avoid landing on asphalt. Snail shells, which are usually lighter in color in cities, reflect sunlight and thus overheat less frequently. Our waste and garbage are an attractive food source for many animals. The museum displays mostly stuffed animals in recreated natural environments. This is quite fascinating, since on a normal walk, most species remain hidden and hidden from view. The vast majority of mammals are known to be nocturnal. They only come out when we humans have retreated into our homes. Cross-sections into the ground also reveal all kinds of subterranean systems of animals, for example, those of badgers and beavers – true master builders. We did not visit the planetarium, which is also housed in the building. A visit there is quite inconvenient, as you have to book online tickets many days in advance."

Jannik Gorewoda