1 - Patriotic Collection in an Estate Society
Summary
In 1825, the natural history collection of a young Frankfurt society, procured by donations and subscriptions alone, filled the visiting nature philosopher Lorenz Oken with awe. In less than a decade, the institution was to rank fifth among the natural history museums in Europe:
The building resembles a large square of three stories. The stores are piled up on the ground [floor], one flight up are the mammals in the hall and the minerals and fossils in adjoining rooms; the newly arrived skeletons are in the foyer, in particular colossal one[s] of the hippopotamus and of the crocodile, with several enormous skins of the first; next door is a room for taxidermy. Two flights up are the birds, illuminated from the sides and from above. They are mounted tastefully and conveniently in completely transparent glass cases…
It gives a splendid impression and must induce a distinct feeling of satisfaction in every Frankfurter, since he can say to himself: this is the adornment of your city, to which you have contributed your share, which spreads the fame of the state in the [whole] world and transmits its name to posterity!
The Senckenberg Society for the Study of Nature (Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft), Frankfurt's first institution for natural history, was founded on 22 November 1817 at the close of a major socio-political transformation.
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- Science and Societies in Frankfurt am Main , pp. 15 - 44Publisher: Pickering & ChattoFirst published in: 2014