8 Kolobrzeska, Bydgoszcz, Poland
The Museum of Natural History (Polish: Muzeum Przyrodnicze we Wrocławiu) was founded in 1814 on the initiative of the German zoologist, professor Johann Ludwig Christian Gravenhorst. Currently, the museum is one of the units of the Faculty of Biological Sciences of the University of Wrocław. There are about 2.5 million animal specimens and about 0.5 million plant specimens, of which 3140 zoological and 600 botanical specimens are exhibited. It is the largest institution of this kind in Poland. The permanent exhibition is divided into four thematic exhibitions: „The world of animals”, „Insects and man”, „The world of plants” and „Skeletal System of Vertebrates”. The most interesting exhibits are animals that are already extinct such as the Great Auk (Alca impennis), Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius), Carolina Parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis), Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris) or Marsupial Wolf (Thylacinus cynocephalus). One of the most precious exhibits in the Museum's collection is a skeleton of the Giant Elk (Megaloceros giganteus). In addition, visitors can see the skeletons of: Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus), the skull of Aurochs (Bos primigenius).
