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Showing results for tags 'urzeithof'.
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I spent a week or so recently in the north of Germany, mainly to spend some time with my son and his family, but I did take them all along one day for a sidetrip to the Urzeithof, of which I had learned through an interesting article about it in the last edition of the German journal "Fossilien". I must say, I was very impressed by what Frank Rudolph and his partner Katrin Mohr along with a large number of enthusiastic and engaged volunteers have managed to create over the last few years. Katrin, an enthusiastic hobby fossil collector, started the museum over 10 years ago when a barn on her husband's farm became free. The exhibition was expanded with the support of the Hamburg Archeological Museum and the knowledgeable help and connections of Frank, a paleontologist who was among the founders of the state Ice Age Museum and also runs his own geological mail order book service. They are also supported by the members of the Geo-AG Kiel, a hobby collectors club and a good network of engaged professionals and amateurs. The collection has expanded rapidly over the years thanks to these connections. 3 years ago it was possible to move to a larger plot which provides more possibilities and there are still plans going on for expansion. Over 130 collections have been donated to the museum, which can exhibit excellent samples from all time periods. They can now proudly say that they have the largest collection of fossils in northern Germany. In the meantime they also have a café which is popular in itself with the locals, a gift shop with artwork from regional artists and artesians, programs and fossil hunts for school children, preparation workshops, excursions, seminars, etc.,etc. It turned out that one of the volunteers, Harald Lange, is also involved, as I myself am, in the internet forum community "Steinkern". He just happened to be on board on the day of our visit, so he took the time to give us a great guided tour. His wife Uschi also helps out there in the gift shop where she also exhibits her own artwork. Here are some impressions from the museum.