Open to the public:
The Mineralogical Museum

XXXX Based on the old mineral collection, which dates back to the end of the 18th century and reviving the Beckenkamp tradition, a new Mineralogical Museum was opened in 1978 in the new mineralogy building of the Hubland Campus. In the following years, this museum was gradually extended to the present size of 550 m².

The five exhibition rooms are devoted to different topics: 1. The earth as a part of the solar system - the earth's interior - the dynamic earth: meteorites; mantle rocks; high-pressure rocks as result of subduction and collision processes; rocks of the oceanic crust.

2. Introduction to geochemistry, mineralogy, crystallography and petrology: illustrating basic undergraduate lectures. Mineral occurrences in northern Bavaria.

3. Economic geology: ore and mineral deposits of economic relevance - gem minerals.

4. Classical ore deposits of central Europe: Harz, Schwarzwald, Erzgebirge, Bohemia, Siebenbürgen (Romania).

5. Technical mineralogy: raw materials and technical products.

The museum is open to the public on sunday afternoons at free admission and is visited by 3000 to 4000 people annulary. In a small museum shop, minerals can be purchased at reasonable prices. The surplus of this trade is used for the aquisition of new exhibits. Advice and help is offered to mineral collectors. A working place equipped with a modern binocular microscope is available to study the micromount collection of the museum. The Würzburg section of the association "Freunde der Mineralogie und Geologie" holds their monthly meetings in the Mineralogical Institute, with lectures on interesting topics.

Visit the Würzburg Mineralogical Museum Mineral Specimen Image Gallery

Read about museums history:

Kelber, K.-P. & Okrusch, M. (2006): Die geologische Erforschung und Kartierung des Würzburger Stadtgebietes von den Anfängen bis 1925.- Mainfränkische Hefte, 105: 71-115; Würzburg (in German).

A donation of minerals - the Schröder collection (in German).

Institut für Mineralogie, Bayerische Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Leistungsbilanz 1982 - 2000: Go to chapter 9, document page 20 (or page 23, Acrobat pages), "Mineralogisches museum" (PDF file, in German), or navigate from here.

Heimkehr der verschollenen Steine. The homecoming of to be missed minerals (PDF file, in German).

A piece from the red planet in the Mineralogical Museum Würzburg (in German).

Mineralienatlas.de: Some images.

Wikipedia: Mineralogisches Museum Würzburg.