Haus der Natur

On 7.000 m2 of exhibition area, the Haus der Natur with its Science Center displays nature at its most exciting: from dinosaurs to underwater worlds, moonscapes to the human body, there is lots to explore.

The house is located in the Linke Altstadt and is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Historic Center of the City of Salzburg.

The Haus der Natur was created as a “museum for representative and applied natural history” on a private initiative in 1924 by biologist Eduard Paul Tratz (1888-1977).Tratz was in charge of the house from its inception in 1924 until 1945, and again from 1949 to 1976. After then, Eberhard Stüber ran the home for 33 years.Norbert Winding takes over as CEO on July 1, 2009.The Haus der Natur – Museum for Nature and Technology is still in charge of the museum.

Following World War I, the House of Nature was relocated to the Hofstallungen, where the Great Festival Hall currently stands.It was transported to Glasenbach in 1957 from the Ursuline Convent, which was erected by Fischer von Erlach in 1713-26.The dinosaur hall was created in the inner courtyard, and the side door (employee entrance) is the original section arch entryway to Gstättengasse.

Following a complete refurbishment and the development of a new scientific center in the old Museum Carolino Augusteum (local grain magazine, there since 1834, now Salzburg Museum in the New Residence).A development construction joined the CA Museum’s house, which crosses the museum square towards Franz-Josefs-Kai, to the Ursuline wing.An internal link was built, as well as a new fully glass staircase with an integrated elevator. The entry to the forecourt and “eye-catcher of the redesign is a foyer made of a free-form concrete sculpture with a walk-in roof terrace in an almost baroque style.”Fritz Lorenz, a Salzburg architect, designed the new structure.The museum reopened on June 27, 2009.

Over 500,000 people visited in 2010.

The museum was absorbed into the SS research unit ” Ahnenerbe ” during the National Socialist period and was also involved in cultural thievery activities throughout Central and Eastern Europe under Tratz’s guidance.

It gives visitors exhibitions on the most diverse topics of live and inanimate nature in over 80 halls.The museum is well-known for its numerous dioramas.The dinosaur hall, which has a moveable Allosaurus reproduction, an aquarium with over forty exhibit tanks, the space hall, the public observatory, and an ice age show are all crowd pleasers.

The House of Nature also houses various scientific working groups, including entomology, herpetology, ornithology, geology and paleontology, botany, and astronomy.The high-alpine research station in the Wilfried-Haslauer-Haus (in collaboration with the Hohe Tauern National Park) on the Grossglockner, the Salzburg public observatory on the Voggenberg near Bergheim (surroundings of Salzburg city), and the new Vega observatory on the Haunsberg are all linked to the House of Nature.

The biodiversity database at the Haus der Natur comprises around 1,400,000 data sets on the distribution of flowering plants, vertebrates, butterflies, beetles, and other animal and plant groups in the Austrian state of Salzburg and nearby territories.