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Museum Koenig Bonn

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Understand Nature – Experience Research
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At Museum Koenig Bonn, visitors experience themselves as part of a fascinating natural world. They experience the diversity and vulnerability of the animal world and are encouraged to help shape the future in a sustainable way.

Permanent Exhibition

In the naturalistically staged habitats, visitors are immersed in the beauty and diversity of the animal world and at the same time recognise the fragility of ecosystems under the influence of us humans.

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Special Exhibitions

Always new perspectives: from visually stunning photo exhibitions to artistic positions and exhibitions on biodiversity - anyone looking for variety is very welcome at Museum Koenig Bonn!

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Educational Programmes

We offer a varied programme for visitors of different ages and interests.

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Digital Museum

We are also there for you with online offers! Online escape game, virtual tours and much more.

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Events

Our Research Areas

Behind the exhibition doors, our scientists are researching biodiversity and its changes, questioning our collections and engaging in dialogue about the causes and effects of biodiversity change.

About LIB researchTo our collections

News

  • Katharina Schmidt-Loske mit einem alten Buch in der Hand vor einem Bücherregal mit historischen Büchern und Dokumenten

    Face of the LIB: Katharina Schmidt-Loske

    News Research Museum Koenig Bonn Faces of the LIB

    27 May 2026

    Katharina Schmidt-Loske manages the Biohistoricum at the LIB, a library with numerous historical books and documents. As she talks about her work and shows the unique works, her whole face lights up.

  • Ein Rotkehlchen schaut in die BirdBuddy Kamera.

    Exploring garden biodiversity with COGS

    News Research Museum Koenig Bonn

    26 May 2026

    Who chirps in the cherry tree and who visits the pond at night? Private gardens in Germany cover an area as large as all nature reserves put together - yet there is still a lack of reliable data on their biodiversity.

  • Ringelblume mit Schmetterling

    Flower strips control pests just as well as insecticides

    News Research Museum Koenig Bonn

    21 May 2026

    Biodiversity is in a poor state in many agricultural landscapes. A new study with LIB involvement is investigating whether flower strips on sugar beet fields can replace insecticides.

  • Aphanogmus bispinatus sp. nov.

    Hidden diversity on our doorstep

    News Research Museum of Nature Hamburg Museum Koenig Bonn Collection

    21 May 2026

    Led by the LIB, a new study shows: even in regions that have been relatively well researched, such as Germany, the diversity of parasitoid wasps remains largely unknown.

  • Grünliche, stilisierte Libelle mit transparenten Flügeln und segmentiertem Körper in Seitenansicht

    YouTube series ‘LIBelle’ brings biodiversity research to life

    News Research Museum of Nature Hamburg Museum Koenig Bonn Knowledge exchange

    28 April 2026

    With its new YouTube playlist “LIBelle”, the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change is expanding its science communication to include a visual format specifically aimed at a younger audience.

  • Collage von Margarethe und Alexander Koenig mit verschiedenen Tieren

    "The rainforest and you" - young people discover global connections

    News Museum Koenig Bonn Knowledge exchange

    28 April 2026

    How are our consumption and biodiversity in rainforests connected? The new, participatively developed topic area "The rainforest and you" on the digital learning platform "Discovering Nature Online" (NEO) at Museum Koenig Bonn shows this.

  • Giant deer from the Museum Koenig Bonn exhibited in the Gasometer Oberhausen

    News Museum Koenig Bonn

    26 March 2026

    Old, huge, impressive - and successfully arrived: The famous giant deer skeleton from the foyer of the Museum Koenig Bonn has been welcoming visitors to the current "Mythos Wald" exhibition at the Gasometer Oberhausen since its opening on 19 March ...

  • Special exhibition "Between Moor and Maar": Museum Koenig Bonn shows nature photographs

    News Museum Koenig Bonn

    26 March 2026

    Sometimes seemingly barren - sometimes lush and green: the landscapes of the Venn and Eifel are as diverse as they are extraordinary. The beauty of these regions is shown in the photos taken by the photographers of the Eschmar nature photo club...

  • Weihnachtskarte mit Neujahrsgruß und Zitat von Jane Goodall, darüber Logos vom LIB, Museum Koenig Bonn und Museum der Natur Hamburg, darunter eine Herde von Rentieren im Schnee.

    Season's greetings and all the best for the New Year

    Museum of Nature Hamburg Museum Koenig Bonn

    19 December 2025

    As the year draws to a close, the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB) wishes you happy holidays and a good start to the new year.

  • Museum Koenig Bonn shows special exhibition "Multifaceted insects"

    Museum Koenig Bonn Knowledge exchange

    27 November 2025

    Dazzling, beautiful, successful, useful - and endangered. Insects are a valuable part of nature. The travelling exhibition "Multifaceted insects: Diversity I Endangerment I Protection", which is now on display at the Museum...

  • Nature photography - Museum Koenig Bonn presents "Highlights"

    Museum Koenig Bonn Knowledge exchange

    27 November 2025

    Once again this year, the Museum Koenig Bonn is showing the winning photographs from the international photo competition "Highlights of Nature Photography". The fascinating range of nature photographs will be on display on the 2nd floor of the museum until 18 January ...

  • Schwarz- und weisskehlige Männchen aus dem Oenanthe hispanica-Komplex.

    Keeping pace with climate change: Genetic exchange enables rapid adaptation in songbirds

    Research Museum of Nature Hamburg Museum Koenig Bonn Press release

    17 October 2025

    Exchange of genetic diversity between species accelerates evolutionary adaptation.

  • Face of the LIB: Simone Rödder

    Museum of Nature Hamburg Museum Koenig Bonn Faces of the LIB

    08 October 2025

    How can science and communication help to overcome the biodiversity and climate crisis? How can the dialogue between science, politics and society be revitalised? These are the questions that the sociologist and ...

  • Insects of the night - how AI and art can help them

    Research Museum Koenig Bonn Knowledge exchange

    19 September 2025

    Using newly developed camera traps and artificial intelligence, researchers in the LEPMON project want to determine the population of moths in Germany. LIB researchers are also using other unusual approaches to study and protect nocturnal insects

  • Street art murals make biodiversity visible

    Museum of Nature Hamburg Museum Koenig Bonn Press release

    04 September 2025

    Two juniper thrushes are beautifully enthroned high up on a building façade for everyone to see - in the centre of Hamburg-Eimsbüttel. The street art duo Anna Taut & Pascal "KKade" Flühmann spent over a week working on the large-format mural...

  • Colourful and sophisticated - that's how diverse sea snails are!

    Research Museum Koenig Bonn

    28 August 2025

    Marine snails not only look fascinating - many can also defend themselves with toxins! An international team of researchers has now discovered two new species of so-called warty snails in North Sulawesi, Indonesia...

  • Face of the LIB: Thorsten Hermann

    Museum Koenig Bonn Faces of the LIB

    21 August 2025

    As deputy head of the IT department at LIB, he rarely fishes in the mud and finds solutions to our digital problems. In his spare time, Thorsten Hermann is drawn to the local lakes in the Bonn area to cast his line...

  • Warming seas scare away female angel sharks - with potentially dramatic consequences

    Research Museum Koenig Bonn Press release

    17 July 2025

    Angel sharks, a shark species threatened with extinction, change their mating behaviour in warmer oceans: If the water temperatures become too high, the females avoid their traditional breeding grounds - and rely on cooling instead.

  • New record - Over 20,500 guests at the Museum Mile Festival in the Museum Koenig Bonn

    Museum Koenig Bonn Knowledge exchange

    13 June 2025

    On May 31 and June 1, 2025, the Museum Koenig Bonn opened its doors, cabinets, chests, and museum park to young and old, as it does every year. The festival of Bonn's five major museums on the Museum Mile featured live music from the stage ...

  • How "supergenes" in fish help to develop new species

    Research Museum Koenig Bonn Press release Knowledge exchange

    12 June 2025

    One of the big questions in biology is how new species arise and how the incredible diversity of nature comes about. A new paper, which has now been published in the journal "Science" by an international team, provides us with...

  • 20.05.2025, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof mit Dr. Katrin Vohland

    Museum on the Move: Ein Interview mit Katrin Vohland und Bernhard Misof

    Museum of Nature Hamburg Museum Koenig Bonn LIB Magazine

    20 May 2025

    The institution of the Natural History Museum is undergoing radical change. Collecting, preserving, researching, exhibiting - all that remains. However, the perspective, the methods, the discourse, the management are changing. At the interface between scientific ...

  • Treasure of the month: Eggs and nests at Museum Koenig Bonn

    Research Museum of Nature Hamburg Museum Koenig Bonn Treasure of the LIB

    17 April 2025

    We are in the starting blocks for the egg hunt: it's only a matter of hours until the Easter bunny fills his hiding places. The search for real eggs - that aren't made of delicious chocolate - is a real passion for researchers too...

  • Face of the LIB: Alexandra Hostert

    Museum Koenig Bonn Faces of the LIB

    04 April 2025

    Here at the LIB, Alexandra Hostert wants to inspire people about nature and show how socially relevant our research is. When she's not scrambling up mountains, she goes to concerts or enjoys the proximity to Bonn's lifeline: the Rhine.

  • Illegal trade in Galapagos iguanas - study uncovers international network

    Research Museum Koenig Bonn

    02 April 2025

    A study involving the LIB now shows how an international network illegally trades in iguanas that are only found on this archipelago.

  • Digitising museums faster with a smartphone

    Research Museum of Nature Hamburg Museum Koenig Bonn Press release Collection

    27 March 2025

    A team from the LIB has published tutorials that can be used to quickly and cost-effectively read out collection data from natural history museums using a smartphone.

  • The LIB Magazine: an inspiring journey into the world of biodiversity

    Museum of Nature Hamburg Museum Koenig Bonn Knowledge exchange LIB Magazine

    06 March 2025

    With our LIB magazine, we address the core topics of our research museum and show how relevant science is to our everyday lives.

  • Museum Koenig Bonn opens special exhibition ‘Meadow habitat’

    Museum Koenig Bonn Press release

    06 February 2025

    The Museum Koenig Bonn is presenting her impressive photographs in the special exhibition ‘Habitat Meadow’, which opens on 19 February.

  • Porträt der Bronzeplastik der weiblichen, sitzenden „Bundesgiraffe” aus den 30er Jahren

    Bronze of the "Bundesgiraffe" on board the MS Wissenschaft

    Museum Koenig Bonn Knowledge exchange

    30 July 2024

    "Freedom" is the motto of the Science Year 2024, which the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has proclaimed to mark the 75th anniversary of the Federal Republic of Germany. With a wide range of activities to take part in, a swimming

  • Jemand bemalt mit langer Rolle eine Mauer

    Science meets street art

    Museum of Nature Hamburg Museum Koenig Bonn Press release Knowledge exchange

    09 July 2024

    InUrFaCE (Initiative of Urban Facades Creature Exposition) aims to create facade artworks on biodiversity that "jump out at you". Internationally renowned street artists create the so-called murals together with

  • Blick in den Museumspark – Museumsmeilenfest 2024

    Over 10,000 visitors at the Museum Mile Festival at Museum Koenig Bonn

    Museum Koenig Bonn Knowledge exchange

    27 June 2024

    For two days from 22 to 23 June 2024, Museum Koenig Bonn opened its doors as well as the Museum Park to young and old at the legendary Museum Mile Festival of the five major museums on the Museum Mile. In addition to live music from Klassik

  • Maler Markus Lüpertz vor Gemälde

    Painted democracy: 75 years of the Basic Law in pictures by Markus Lüpertz

    Museum Koenig Bonn Press release Knowledge exchange

    03 May 2024

    To mark the 75th anniversary, the Museum Koenig Bonn is showing the exhibition "Painted Democracy - 75 Years of the Basic Law in Paintings by Markus Lüpertz."

  • Camilla B. Di Nizo

    Face of the LIB: Camilla Bruno Di Nizo

    Museum Koenig Bonn Faces of the LIB

    22 January 2024

    For Camilla B. Di Nizo, scientific work holds new surprises every day. As head of the cell culture laboratory in the LIB biobank, she has preserved viable material from more than 100 species.

  • Tuschezeichnung Tapirschädel

    Biomorphic worlds: Where art and science merge

    Museum Koenig Bonn Press release Knowledge exchange

    09 January 2024

    Exciting and flowing at the same time, close to nature and abstract: Bielefeld artist Henning Bock interprets specimens from the mammal collection at Museum Koenig Bonn, combining art and science. From 25 January to 3 March 20

  • Umilaela Arifin in der Herpetologischen Sammlung am Museum der Natur Hamburg

    Women in Herpetology - 50 stories from around the world

    Research Museum of Nature Hamburg Museum Koenig Bonn

    22 November 2023

    Umilaela Arifin works as a herpetologist at the Museum der Natur Hamburg and has already experienced a great deal in her career as a researcher. Now she has teamed up with 49 other female experts from the world of science to publish the book "Women in ...

  • Spiel auf Laptop Bildschirm

    Solve puzzles from the world of pollinators in our new escape game

    Museum Koenig Bonn Press release Knowledge exchange

    25 October 2023

    Make an entire city liveable again for insects: Players can now immerse themselves in the fascinating and colourful world of "PROJECT POLLINATION: A BUZZING RESCUE". The educational escape game raises awareness in a playful way.

  • Dennis Rödder

    Face of the LIB: Dennis Rödder

    Museum Koenig Bonn Faces of the LIB

    24 October 2023

    As curator of herpetology at the Museum Koenig Bonn, he is particularly fascinated by reptiles and amphibians. As a researcher, he has an eye for the big picture - which is why he is particularly interested in the complex interrelationships in ...

  • Riesenalk.jpg

    Our treasure of the month: A penguin from the north?

    Museum Koenig Bonn Treasure of the LIB

    20 September 2023

    It can't fly, but it can swim beautifully and looks like a penguin - but it's not a penguin at all. Our treasure of the month comes from the north and is the last giant auk - because it can no longer be found in the wild, only in

  • Marder von unten

    Highlights of nature photography 2023

    Museum Koenig Bonn Press release Knowledge exchange

    12 September 2023

    The "Highlights of Nature Photography" were sought for the 25th time.

  • Personen des politischen Lebens

    75 years of the Parliamentary Council: Ceremony at Museum Koenig Bonn

    Museum Koenig Bonn Press release

    01 September 2023

    75 years ago, Museum Koenig Bonn wrote a piece of German democratic and parliamentary history. On 1 September 1948, the Parliamentary Council met here in the atrium for its constituent session. Today, the German Bundestag is celebrating this

  • Face of the LIB: Alexander Suh

    Research Museum Koenig Bonn Faces of the LIB

    29 August 2023

    Curious, eager to experiment, connecting: these are the signs with which Alexander Suh took over the management of the Centre for Molecular Biodiversity Research (zmb) at the LIB in April 2023.

  • Thomas Wesener

    Face of the LIB: Thomas Wesener

    Museum Koenig Bonn Faces of the LIB

    30 May 2023

    His favourite thing to do is discover the unknown: As head of the Myriapoda section and curator of the associated collection at the Museum Koenig Bonn, Thomas Wesener is scientifically very familiar with millipedes.

  • Schwarzer Nilwaran

    Our treasure of the month discovered in Africa for the first time: black Nile monitor lizard

    Research Museum Koenig Bonn Treasure of the LIB

    19 April 2023

    The largest lizards on earth, the monitor lizards, inhabit various habitats in tropical and subtropical areas of Africa, Asia and Australia. The species have extremely different colours and colour patterns. For example, there is the brightly coloured

  • Karsten Stehr

    Face of the LIB: Karsten Stehr

    Museum Koenig Bonn Faces of the LIB

    21 March 2023

    Karsten Stehr has a mission: he wants to inspire young people to learn about species. This way, they can help to protect nature. In the Museum Koenig Bonn's educational programme, the biologist uses his knowledge of the interrelationships between the ...

  • Bernhard Misof im Museum der Natur Hamburg

    "Nature can still be saved" - Bernhard Misof on the World Nature Conference

    Museum of Nature Hamburg Museum Koenig Bonn

    06 December 2022

    The aim is to save the planet and turn the tide of the biodiversity crisis. From 7 December, government representatives from almost 200 countries will meet in Montreal, Canada, with the aim of forging a pact to protect nature. LIB Director General

  • Panoramablick Natur

    Frankfurt Declaration: Working together for biodiversity

    Research Museum of Nature Hamburg Museum Koenig Bonn

    02 December 2022

    One week before the start of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15) in Montreal, an alliance of German scientific and non-governmental organisations calls in its "FRANKFURT DECLARATION", published today, for the protection of biodiversity in the ...

  • Heike Wägele

    Face of the LIB: Heike Wägele

    Museum Koenig Bonn Faces of the LIB

    24 November 2022

    "Imagine you're naked, without any protection. How can you protect yourself from a Tyrannosaurus? Run away, become poisonous or burn like a candle as soon as you are touched?" This is how Heike Wägele would explain to an eleven-year-old child what ...

  • Benjamin Wipfler

    Face of the LIB: Benjamin Wipfler

    Museum Koenig Bonn Faces of the LIB

    29 September 2022

    Although he actually wanted to become a marine biologist, he ended up in his dream job. As head of the morphology laboratory in Bonn, he is involved in the planning and evaluation of a wide range of projects. Methods can be an important interface ...

  • Karen Meusemann

    Face of the LIB: Karen Meusemann

    Museum Koenig Bonn Faces of the LIB

    26 July 2022

    As a research officer, she is currently an interface between the various areas at the LIB. She wants to use her work to network people and advance projects. If her path hadn't led her into biology and research, she might be on tour as a musician ...

  • Katja Waskow

    Face of the LIB: Katja Waskow

    Museum Koenig Bonn Faces of the LIB

    30 May 2022

    She wants to get people excited about nature and species knowledge: Katja Waskow is the coordinator of the FörTax project - promoting taxonomic knowledge as a basis for nature conservation at the LIB.

  • Panoramablick Natur

    Berlin Declaration: For the future of humanity

    Research Museum of Nature Hamburg Museum Koenig Bonn Press release Collection

    20 May 2022

    Thirty years after the first World Summit on Nature in Rio de Janeiro, the loss of biodiversity and global climate change are the greatest and most pressing challenges of the future. Nothing less than our very existence is at stake. U

  • Albia Consul

    Face of the LIB: Albia Consul

    Museum Koenig Bonn Faces of the LIB

    29 March 2022

    Albia Consul wants to curb the wildlife trade and at the same time inspire young people biologically through knowledge transfer: She manages the balancing act at the LIB by coordinating a special project to prevent illegal wildlife trade in Europe.

  • Face of the LIB: Christoph Scherber

    Research Museum Koenig Bonn Faces of the LIB

    30 November 2021

    When Christoph Scherber explains his work, he sometimes reaches into the chocolate bag. After all, the quality of the dark delicacy depends very much on the variety of pollinating insects.

  • Oriana Wojewski–Yelle

    Face of the LIB: Oriana Wojewski-Yelle

    Museum Koenig Bonn Faces of the LIB

    13 September 2021

    Oriana Wojewski-Yelle is learning how to communicate innovative research with exciting events at Museum Koenig. She is training as an event organiser at the LIB site in Bonn. Here she supports the "Press and Communication" team ...

  • Face of the LIB: Bernhard Misof

    Research Museum Koenig Bonn Faces of the LIB

    01 July 2021

    As Director General, he now holds the highest management position at the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB): Prof Dr Bernhard Misof kicks off our "Faces of the LIB" series.

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