Natural History Museum at the University of Oslo
Encyclopedia
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
's oldest and largest museum of natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
, situated in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
.
It traces its roots to the University Botanical Garden, which was founded near Tøyen Manor in 1814. Museums for zoology, botany and geology were added approximately a hundred years later, when the university campus in central Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
had become too small for such purposes. Major proponents were Waldemar Christofer Brøgger and Nordal Wille
Nordal Wille
Johan Nordal Fischer Wille was a Norwegian botanist. He was a professor at the Royal Frederick University from 1893 to his death, founded the laboratory at the University Botanical Garden and co-founded the Natural History Museum.-Personal life:Wille was born in Hobøl as the son of physician Hans...
. For most of the twentieth century the museums and botanical garden were organized in five different entities; these were merged on 1 August 1999. The current name dates from 2005.
The Zoological and Geological museums are popular with families. Among the attractions is the Darwinius masillae
Darwinius
Darwinius is a genus of Adapiformes, a group of basal primates from the Eocene epoch. Its only known species is Darwinius masillae, dated to 47 million years ago based on dating of the fossil site....
fossil "Ida", a primate from Eocene.