FRANKFURT/DRESDEN/GÖRLITZ: Palaeontological collections of the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung

Three out of seven institutes belonging to the Senckenberg Gesellschaft fur Naturforschung (SGN) house considerable palaeontological collections: The Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum in Frankfurt on the Main including the Research Station on Quaternary Palaeontology in Weimar, the Senckenberg Naturhistorische Sammlungen Dresden and the Senckenberg Museum fur Naturkunde in Gorlitz. The palaeontological collections of the SGN comprise a total of more than two million specimens and series. Traditionally the different institutes have different stratigraphic and regional focal points, due to the long history of most collections. Frankfurt has a focus on the Palaeozoic (especially Devonian) of the Rhenish slate mountains and the Eocene of the Messel fossil pit (an UNESCO world-heritage site since 1995), Dresden has a focus on the Cretaceous of Saxony and the Tertiary of Central Germany, whereas the smaller collections in Gorlitz have a focus on Eastern Saxony and the Lausitz.