- Taben-Rodt
For more than 40 years, the collector Michael Sendelbach has been collecting minerals and fossils with a passion. In the last 8 years his children have been providing him with intensive support. The collections are also jointly curated. This extensive collection is now being made accessible to the public.
For more than 40 years, the collector Michael Sendelbach has been collecting minerals and fossils with a passion. In the last 8 years his children have been providing him with intensive support. The collections are also jointly curated. This extensive collection is now being made accessible to the public.
More than 3,000 exhibits are on view in three rooms. In Room 1 there is an extensive collection of fossils with first-rate and rare exhibits as well as many petrified woods from the US and Germany. The focus in Room 2 is on minerals from Germany, sorted according to federal state and location of the find. This includes iron ores and rock crystals from the Saar valley as well as fossils from the Upper Moselle region.
Room 3 features minerals from Scandinavia and in the hall are special individual sollections such as tourmaline, garnet, feldspar, agate stones from the Saar-Palatinate region, as well as minerals from all over the world. The Sendelbachs are particularly proud of a first-hand replica in stone of the so-called “first bird”, Archaeopteryx. Comparable exhibits are only to be found in the big museums in Frankfurt and Munich. In their purpose-built storage the Sendelbachs house over 15,000 additional pieces, all precisely sorted. Here other collectors have the opportunity to swap their own finds. The Sendelbachs are represented at specialist trade shows and exchanges. Of particular importance to them is that there should be no profit motivation. On the contrary, they support schools with projects or study groups, as well as with special lessons and field trips. They also provide assistance to trainees and students with various exhibits for their work. The Sendelbachs provide excursions to the local region for both guests and locals. These include cutting, sanding and polishing the finds at cost.
New: “Outdoors Geological Department”
Opening times: daily by prior telephone appointment. The entry is free.
