Palaeontological Museum
A walk through Nierstein is also always a journey into the past.
Not only because of the beautiful houses and courts of Nierstein’s former nobility.
The first traces of settlement have been found here as early as 5,700 BC (!). The Celts were here around 1000 BC. And shortly thereafter, of course, the Romans – who probably also brought vine to the Rhine.
But here – at the former town hall – we have to go back in time much further:
Millions of years, namely, in a time long before mankind, when the roar of the dinosaurs echoed over the jungles. Because the building here at the Market Square Number 1 houses a prehistoric museum! Scientists from all over the world come here to examine the unique collection of thousands of fossils of all geological eras. There are plants, animals, foot- and paw prints and much more. If you just have a look to the left, next to the entrance portal, for example, you will see the petrified stump of a sequoia tree – it is 30 million years old. Right here on the Market Square in Nierstein – as a part of the exhibition.
If you are going to visit the Paleontological Museum you could admire the world’s smallest (!) ever found dinosaur – with only a few millimeters of length. And as cute as this sounds, it is in fact scientifically really unique and quire a big thing – as are many other exhibits here. The founder of the museum, Arnulf Stapf, even received the “Federal Cross of Merit” for his palaeontological lifetime achievement! – Well, and all that here, rather inconspicuous, in Nierstein. You probably wouldn’t have expected that, would you?
Our next stop is the half-timbered building just on the left.
Route to the next station:
Oldest half-timbered house
Arrived?
Palaeontological Museum
A walk through Nierstein is also always a journey into the past.
Not only because of the beautiful houses and courts of Nierstein’s former nobility.
The first traces of settlement have been found here as early as 5,700 BC (!). The Celts were here around 1000 BC. And shortly thereafter, of course, the Romans – who probably also brought vine to the Rhine.
But here – at the former town hall – we have to go back in time much further:
Millions of years, namely, in a time long before mankind, when the roar of the dinosaurs echoed over the jungles. Because the building here at the Market Square Number 1 houses a prehistoric museum! Scientists from all over the world come here to examine the unique collection of thousands of fossils of all geological eras. There are plants, animals, foot- and paw prints and much more. If you just have a look to the left, next to the entrance portal, for example, you will see the petrified stump of a sequoia tree – it is 30 million years old. Right here on the Market Square in Nierstein – as a part of the exhibition.
If you are going to visit the Paleontological Museum you could admire the world’s smallest (!) ever found dinosaur – with only a few millimeters of length. And as cute as this sounds, it is in fact scientifically really unique and quire a big thing – as are many other exhibits here. The founder of the museum, Arnulf Stapf, even received the “Federal Cross of Merit” for his palaeontological lifetime achievement! – Well, and all that here, rather inconspicuous, in Nierstein. You probably wouldn’t have expected that, would you?
Our next stop is the half-timbered building just on the left.
Route to the next station:
Oldest half-timbered house
Arrived?