History

The roots of the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History in Görlitz date back to 1811, when the “Ornithological Society of Görlitz” was founded. However, the members’ range of interests quickly expanded, and in 1823 the society changed its name to the “Natural History Society of Görlitz.” As early as 1827, it published its own journal, the “Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Görlitz,” which continues today as the international soil science journal “SOIL ORGANISMS.” After the society was dissolved, the Natural History Museum was added to the list of museums maintained by the State Secretariat for Higher and Technical Education of the GDR in 1953 following World War II, thereby becoming a state research museum. In the wake of German reunification, the museum was granted the status of a State Museum of the Free State of Saxony in February 1991 and has been an institute of the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research since January 1, 2009, as part of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Scientific Community (WGL).