After the Jesuit school was abolished, the natural history cabinet was refounded in 1803. Dionysius Lindner (1762 to 1838) was in charge of this. In 1822 he added the pomological holdings of Banz Monastery to the museum, as well as numerous exhibits by Julius von Mintoli. He had collected numerous exotic souvenirs on his many trips abroad.
The Bird Hall
The highlight of the Natural History Museum is the Bird Hall. This is a museum showroom from the 19th century and originally served as a teaching hall for professors and students. Even today the hall is almost in its original condition. This can probably be traced back to Lindner, who was interested above all in the preservation of his collection of fruit studies which he had built up himself since 1790.
It was not until 1970 that the Vogelsaal was renovated for the first time. Among other things, the frames of the showcases were given a new coat of paint. In 2010 the old showcases were finally returned to their original colours, white on the outside and blue on the inside.
The collection today
Today, the museum is owned by the Lyzeumsstiftung Bamberg (the Lyceum Foundation of Bamberg) and a part by the Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns (Bavarian State Scientific Collections). The collection in the today’s Natural History Museum covers over 200,000 exhibition pieces. These come from, among others, geology, mineralogy, paleontology, zoology and botany. Particularly noteworthy are the collections of exotic birds, ammonites, insects and the many wax models of native fruit varieties, many of which are already extinct today.
