Naturhistorisches Museum
From Freepedia
Image:Naturhistorisches Museum Vienna 2005.JPG
The Naturhistorisches Museum (Museum of Natural History) is a large museum located in Vienna, Austria. The museum opened in 1891 at the same time as the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The two museums have identical exteriors and face each other across Maria-Theresien-Platz. The Museum was built to house the huge collection of the Habsburgs.
Both buildings were buildt between 1872 and 1891 on the Ringstraße according to plans drawn up by Gottfried Semper and Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer.
The insect collections date from 1793 when Franz I of Austria purchased the scientific collections of Joseph Natterer. In 1806 the museum purchased a collection of European insects made by Johann Carl Megerle of Muehlfeld. Megerle became the first curator. He organised the purchase of the Gundian collection of European butterflies.These old collections were destroyed 1848 by a fire. Johann Natterer's journey to Brazil (1817 - 1835) led to an enormous enhancement of the collections- 60,000 insects were a part of the "Brazilian museum" in the "Harrach' house" and escaped the fire. In 1859 the frigate Novara returned from a world voyage the insects were incorporated in the Vienna collections. These were worked on by L. Redtenbacher (Coleopteren), F.M. Brauer (Neuropteren), H. de Saussure (Hymenopteren exkl. Formicidae), G. Mayr (Formicidae and Hemiptera), Ignaz Rudolph Schiner(Dipteren), C Felder, R. Felder and A. Rogenhofer (Lepidoptera).The present museum dates from 1876. The Entomologists Ganglbauer and Holdhaus (Coleoptera), Rogenhofer and Rebel (Lepidoptera), Kohl and Maidl (Hymenoptera), Brauer (Diptera and Neuroptera), Handlirsch (fossil insects) contributed substantially to the international reputation of the museum.
