Permanent exhibition - Museum Koenig Bonn

The Living Network

What does it feel like in the dense tropical rainforest, what does it look like in the African savannah and which animals can be discovered in the hot and cold deserts of the earth? What diverse adaptations are required, how do the different species interact, what influence do humans have and what role do ecosystems play in the global network of our planet?

Answers to these and other questions are provided by the permanent exhibition "Our Blue Planet - The Living Network", which presents the most important ecosystems on Earth. The detailed and naturalistic habitat presentations using original material are unique and provide a direct insight into the fascinating diversity of the Earth.

Our landscape areas

Further exhibition areas

Savannah – Ever-changing Paradise

Where do savannahs form? Why are bushfires important for the preservation of the ecosystem? And how do its inhabitants adapt to the different living conditions in the rainy and dry seasons?

Rainforest – Treasury of Life

How rich in species is the tropical rainforest? How does life in the undergrowth differ from life in the canopy? Why are tropical rainforests essential for human survival?

Arctic & Antarctic – Survival in Ice

Why is it so cold at the poles? Who lives in the Arctic and who lives in the Antarctic? How much life is there above, below or even in the ice?

Desert – World of Extremes

Is desert the same as desert? How is life possible on and in the desert sand? And how do desert dwellers survive for months without water?

Central Europe – Discovering Homeland

How are animal species communities changing, from forests to fields and meadows to cities? How are we shaping biodiversity on our doorstep? Which species are on the Red List in Germany?

Water – Life in Flow

What is the proportion of fresh water on earth? What do tropical and Central European rivers have in common and how do they differ? What adaptations have animals developed for life in and around water?

Biodiversity Research

What methods are used to discover new species? How do we work in the molecular genetics laboratory? Why does bioinformatics play a decisive role in the reconstruction of phylogenetic trees? How can biodiversity in complex habitats, for example, be automatically recorded? And what is the "German Barcode of Life"?

Historical Dioramas

For his Foam Museum, which opened in 1934, museum founder Alexander Koenig had a total of nine habitat dioramas installed as permanent fixtures, modelled on the natural history museums in Sweden and the USA. Spread over three floors, eight of them are on display in the publicly accessible exhibition area.