From exceptional find to the heart of the museum: The German Oceanographic Museum looks back on the 200-year history of the fin whale skeleton.
It was a sensation in the rural region near the village of Lieschow on the Ummanz peninsula when a young male fin whale beached itself on April 8, 1825. The carcass, weighing almost ten tons, made its way by water first to Stralsund and then on to Greifswald. Scientists from the University of Greifswald examined and skeletonized the deceased animal. The skeleton was then placed in the university's Zoological Institute and Museum.
It was not yet possible to completely degrease the bones at the time: according to reports, it therefore dripped on the head of the institute's desk for years, so that he finally handed it over to the German Oceanographic Museum in 1986.
Reworked, completely degreased and reassembled, the fin whale skeleton took its place in the choir of the Katharinenhalle in 1974 and has been one of the centerpieces of the MEERESMUSEUM ever since.
200 years after the stranding, various activities commemorate this historic event.
Details of the program will follow shortly.
