Museum Koenig Bonn: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Natural history museum in Bonn, Germany}}

| native_name = Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig

| established = 13 May 1934

| location = Adenauerallee 160<br />[[Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia]], Germany

| mapframe-zoom = 14

| director = Bernhard Misof

| website = {{URL|https://bonn.leibniz-lib.de/en}}

The '''Museum Koenig Bonn''', formerly '''Zoological Research Museum''' '''Alexander Koenig''' (German: ''Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig'', abbreviated ZFMK), is a [[natural history museum]] and [[Zoology|zoological]] research institution in [[Bonn]], Germany. The museum is named after [[Alexander Koenig]], who donated his collection of specimens to the institution. The museum was opened in 1934 and forms, since 2001, the ''Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change,'' abbreviated ''LIB,'' together with the ''Museum of Nature Hamburg''. The LIB is affiliated with the [[Leibniz Association]].

On 1 September 1948 the museum saw the opening of the [[Parlamentarischer Rat]], the organ to create the German constitution. The actual proceedings happened in the nearby Pädagogische Akademie, the later [[Bundeshaus (Bonn)|Bundeshaus]].

The museum was founded by the private scholar [[Alexander Koenig]] (1858–1940) as a private institute for zoological research and public education. Alexander Koenig, who was born in 1858 as the son of the wealthy merchant Leopold Koenig, began to collect birds and mammals as a boy. He later studied zoology and received a doctorate in natural history in 1884. In the following years he organized and funded several expeditions to the [[Arctic]] and Africa and greatly expanded his private collection of specimens.

After his father died in 1903, Alexander Koenig planned a natural history museum to present his private collection to the public. On3 September 1912, the foundation stone to the new Museum Alexander Koenig was laid. After the outbreak of [[World War I]] in 1914, the uncompleted building was confiscated and used as a military hospital and later, until 1923, as barracks by the French occupying forces. Alexander Koenig, who had lost most of his fortune in the aftermath of the war, donated the museum and his private collection to the German government in 1929. The museum finally opened its doors to the public on13 May 1934.<ref>[http://www.wegderdemokratie.de/tour/11_forschung_pop.htm Weg der Demokratie – Museum Koenig<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

After [[World War II]] the museum building, which was left largely intact by the war, was the only representative and large assembly hall available in Bonn, now capital of [[West Germany]]. This was the reason why the museum was used by the [[Parlamentarischer Rat]] (English: ''parliamentary council''), for its opening session on1 September 1948. At this time plans were made to use the museum building as the [[German Chancellery|Chancellor's Office]] (German: ''Bundeskanzleramt''), but it was eventually only used for two months by the new chancellor [[Konrad Adenauer]] in 1949.<ref>[http://www.wegderdemokratie.de/tour/11_koenig.htm Weg der Demokratie – Path of Democracy<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[http://www.zfmk.de/web/Ueberuns/Geschichte/index.en.html History<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927164401/http://www.zfmk.de/web/Ueberuns/Geschichte/index.en.html |date=2007-09-27 }}</ref>

On 1 July 2021, the museum was merged with the ''Museum of Nature Hamburg'', formerly ''Centre of Natural History'', abbreviated CeNaK, to form the ''Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change'', abbreviated LIB.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-06-05 |title=About the LIB – LIB |url=https://leibniz-lib.de/en/about-the-lib/ |access-date=2024-06-13 |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[File:Leonerasaurus.jpg|thumb|right|Restored skeleton of [[Leonerasaurus]], photographed at the Museum Koenig during the stay of the special exhibition "DINOSAURIER - Giganten Argentiniens" in 2009]] The museum defines its mission as "researching and explaining the diversity of species of Earth". The main exhibition is titled "Unser blauer Planet - Leben im Netzwerk" (Our blue planet - living in a network). It shows complex ecological systems through dioramas of the African Savannah, a tropical rain forests, the polar regions, deserts and Central Europe.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zfmk.de/web/Museum/Dauerausstellung/index.de.html |title=Dauerausstellung |access-date=2011-01-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101230070026/http://www.zfmk.de/web/Museum/Dauerausstellung/index.de.html |archive-date=2010-12-30 }} Dauerausstellung (part of the museum's home page, accessed Jan 27 2011</ref>

The main building of the Museum Koenig houses the public exhibition and features a large central hall crowned by a glass roof.

[[File:African savannah display in the central hall.jpg|thumb|African savannah animals in the central hall]]

The building was designed by Gustav Holland, who probably modeled the Museum Koenig after the [[Museum für Naturkunde|Museum of Natural History]] in Berlin. Construction began in 1912, but the museum was not opened until 1934 due to World War I.

The Villa is the oldest part of the Museum Koenig and houses the [[vertebrate]] department. The building was built in 1860. Leopold Koenig, father of Alexander Koenig purchased the building in 1873. He donated the house to his son in 1884 after Alexander Koenig received his doctoral degree and married Margarethe Westphal. Alexander Koenig used the Villa as his private residence and to house his bird collections. The building was largely destroyed in World War II and rebuilt in a simplified manner in 1949.

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