Beauty and science – imagination and research. In hardly any other group of fossils are these aspects so closely interwoven as with ammonites. A shell that is built according to the ancient law of the golden ratio – an age that exceeds even the boldest imaginations – a variety of forms of which hardly anyone has even the slightest idea.
Our special exhibition, Ammonite Masterpieces, showcases the fascination and beauty of ammonites in an impressive way. Over 120 specimens of a quality found in no museum or collection anywhere in the world.
Everyone knows them – but no one has so far been aware of the variety and elegance of these almost “everyday” fossils. The special exhibition Ammonite Masterpieces is finally awakening one of the most fascinating groups of extinct creatures from its slumber.
For over 350 million years, ammonites, a form of extinct squid, dominated the world’s oceans – much longer than the dinosaurs lived on land. It is quite possible that they were even significantly more intelligent than many of the dinosaurs.
Even 40,000 years ago, ammonites with their magical spiral shape served cultic purposes. For hundreds of years, countless scientists have been involved in researching their diversity. Almost every child has found at least a fragment of these actually so common fossils. But only recently has it become possible to extract their fossil shells undamaged from the rock using modern technology and to bring their breathtaking beauty to the fore.
To accompany the exhibition, the book “Ammonite Masterpieces” by Raimund Albersdörfer and Kristin Erdmann has been published. On more than 400 large-format pages, the authors document the fascination and beauty of ammonites in a knowledgeable, entertaining and visually stunning way.
The photo book is available in German and English.
