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HOW TO FIND US
By car
You can reach us either by taking the Kirchheim/Teck Ost exit or the Aichelberg exit. To make things easier, you can simply follow the brown museum signs. There is a free car park opposite the museum.
By public transport
You can reach us with the S-Bahn S1 from Stuttgart HBF to Kirchheim/Teck. From Kirchheim train station, take the bus to the Seestraße Holzmaden stop.
THE MUSEUM & DINOPARK
Our natural history exhibition is specialised in fossilised marine reptiles and aquatic creatures that lived 180 million years ago in an ocean that covered the landmass of today`s southern Germany.
The museum is in the middle of the world-renowned Holzmaden/Ohmden Jurassic (Lias Epsilon) fossil site at the foot of the Swabian Alb and displays the most impressive and most beautiful fossils found in the Holzmaden region over the last 150 years. On rare occasions even today, larger pieces are found and are carefully prepared in our own workshop.
The exhibition is designed to be both entertaining and of the highest scientific and palaeontological quality, with some of our exhibits forming the basis of publications in scientific journals such as 'Nature'.
In addition to the impressive original exhibits, there are multimedia stations on the geological history of the earth, with animations illustrating the formation of fossils and the life of the Jurassic Sea and the formation of today's Swabian Alb, as well as supplementary information and films.
In the museum's outdoor area, eight life-size dinosaurs-models that lived on land during the Mesozoic era can be found on the bank of a small lake among Equisetum, ginkgo and metasequoia trees.
There is also a sandpit where children can dig up a dinosaur skeleton. Shovels and brooms are available from the ticket office.
For a better understanding of the exhibition, both a short and concise written museum guide and a child-friendly audio guide in English are available at the ticket desk.
A CONDENSED HISTORY OF THE HAUFF MUSEUM
Bernhard Hauff senior (1866–1950), a fossil enthusiast, laid the foundation of the museum in 1936/37 with his private collection, which he had begun to build up in the late 19th century. He found and prepared fossils from his father's shale quarry as a byproduct of the local shale industry.
He developed and continuously improved special tools for the purpose of fossil preparation. He managed to work out how to prepare fossil soft tissue of an ichthyosaur under a microscope. In 1892, he prepared a complete ichthyosaur with its surrounding skin, considered a sensation for scientists at the time.
In the years 1967–1971 the museum was rebuilt by his son Bernhard Hauff junior (1912–1990) and is still the main building of the museum complex today.
The museum displays a remarkable, world-class collection of marine fossils from the Holzmaden/Ohmden region, including perfectly preserved ichthyosaurs with fossilised skin, plesiosaurs, a complete pterosaur, various Jurassic marine crocodiles and fishes, ammonites, belemnites, invertebrates, and the largest known and prepared colony of fossil crinoids, covering an area of 18 by 6 metres and forming the centrepiece of the museum.
Between 1989 and 1993, the founder's grandson built a large extension, complete with dioramas, multimedia stations as well as life-like models, of the typical stratigraphy and fossils of the Holzmaden Posidonia shale deposited 180 million years ago.
Today, the museum is run by the fourth generation of the Hauff family, Bernhard and Franziska Hauff, and continues to be a leading institution for fossil research and education, offering visitors a glimpse into the Jurassic world of southwest Germany.
