History of the Geoscientific Collections in Berlin

1873: Founding of the Prussian Geological Survey; systematic expansion of the collection; handwritten notes of renowned German geologists have been preserved.

Heinrich Ernst Beyrich - Wilhelm Hauchecorne and Heinrich Ernst Beyrich were the first directors of the Prussian Geological Survey

1878: Move to new building at Invalidenstrasse 44; specimens from geological mapping and economic geology were added to the collections; a geological museum was established in Berlin.

after 1900: Acquisition of rock specimens from overseas.

1939: The Prussian Geological Survey (Preußischen Geologischen Landesanstalt) became the Geological Survey of the German Reich (Reichsstelle für Bodenforschung, renamed the Reichsamt für Bodenforschung in 1941). There were considerable losses to the collections during the war.

after 1945: Invalidenstrasse 44 was the headquarters for the State Geological Commission, later renamed Central Geological Institute of the GDR; specimens continued to be added to the collections.

since 1990:  Collection transferred to the Berlin Office of the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR); reorganization and computerized cataloging of the collections; collections centrally housed and managed.

since 1994: Opening of the collections to use by the public in cooperation with the Museum for the Natural Sciences in Berlin.

1996: The BGR Berlin Office and the collections moved into the buildings of the former Royal Prussian military stables.

"Glacial striations" in the building housing the collections:

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