"Museum am Loewentor" in Stuttgart / Germany

[postsaurischian]

I finally managed to vist the Museum of Natural Science in Stuttgart, Germany. It's called "Museum am Loewentor" which means "Museum at the Lion's Gate".
I took the camera with me and made an awful lot of pictures - this is gonna be a massive post ;D! ..... and I didn't even take pictures of everything that's there.
It's a really nice exhibition with skeletons, life-like models and fossils - mainly from the German federal state Baden-Wuerttemberg of which Stuttgart is the capital.
I also live in BW, so it felt like kind of a duty to me to see all these quite important exhibits . The most considerable finds of BW are from the Triassic, Jurassic, Tertiary & Quaternary.
Some of you might spot the species, Bullyland is making figures of for this museum. The Bully factory is not far from Stuttgart.
Some photos were hard to take (for an amateur like me) because of glass, light, distance or not enough space to take a pic of a whole large animal - forgive me for non-perfection .

..... so here's Part 1:

Arrival at the museum - brrrr - yes, it's winter in Germany. 2 Plateosaurs say welcome to me .....


I especially like the green one .....






At the entrance there's a Trike .....


Triassic landscape .....


Sclerosaurus, Lagosuchus .....


Arizonasaurus .....


Triassic sea .....


Nothosaurus .....


Placodus .....


Tanystropheus .....


Nothosaurus skeleton .....


Placodus skeleton .....


Two impressive skeletons .....


Batrachotomus .....


Mastodonsaurus .....


and Batrachotomus again .....


Belesodon .....


Paratypothorax .....


Massetognathus .....


Mastodonsaurus hunting a few smaller amphibians .....


Trematolestes .....


Gerrothorax .....


Cave Lion & Cave Bear .....


This elephantid (elephas primigenius fraasi) was huge!


upper jaw of Mastodonsaurus .....


Stenopterygius giving birth .....


Plesiosaurus skeleton .....


Platysuchus .....


hm, can't remember the name of this croc .....


Leptopterygius .....




not sure about this species, probably Suevoleviathan .....


Rhomalaeosaurus .....


Steneosaurus, Hybodus ..... (to brontodocus: It has 4 head prickles


Stenopterygius again .....


Plateosaurus skeleton .....


..... skull & head .....



..... see you at the Plateosaurus hall in Part 2 .

[totoro]

Wow, amazing postsaurischian!! Looking forward to Parts 2 and beyond. Great photos! I particularly love the Nothosaurus and Gerrothorax dioramas! Thanks for sharing these!

[sbell]

So when is Bullyland going to get around to making those other marine reptiles and the amphibians?

Seriously, they do an amazing job of recreating the full-size models.

[sid]

Very cool museum, hope to visit it sometimes!

By the way, considering Bullyland made replicas of several of the guys there (Arizonasaurus, Procynosuchus, Batrachotomus and such), do you think that, one day, we'll also have a Bullyland Nothosaurus, Placodon and all the others?

[Horridus]

Not Rhomaleosaurus! Meyerasaurus! ;D

(Did you take any pics of the mounted skeleton?)

[Griffin]

Very cool pics. I love the life size models.

[Libraraptor]

Wow Helge, it seems you had a nice trip to Stuttgart! I´ll definitely be there someday, too. But it´s harder to plan a day trip to Stuttgart from here than it is from the Karlsruhe There´s more prehistory stuff in Germany´s south than here. Okay, they found some Iguanodons only about 45 km away from us in Nehden... And the Korbacher Spalte is 70 km away. But that´s all.
And yes, I hope to see a Bullyland Placodus and Nothosaurus being released, too!

[Himmapaan]

It looks like a wonderful place! Thank you so much for the pictures.

[postsaurischian]

Thanks for the nice comments . I had a great day there!

Dec 4, 2010 21:06:18 GMT Libraraptor said:

..... they found some Iguanodons only about 45 km away from us in Nehden... And the Korbacher Spalte is 70 km away. But that´s all.
And yes, I hope to see a Bullyland Placodus and Nothosaurus being released, too!

Some Iguanodons ! That's not too bad. We can't compete with that.

Dec 4, 2010 19:47:48 GMT Horridus said:

Not Rhomaleosaurus! Meyerasaurus! ;D

(Did you take any pics of the mounted skeleton?)

Meyerasaurus? Is there a Princeton Field Guide to Marine Reptiles that I've missed ;D?
I'm afraid I missed the skeleton. As with a lot of other things .

Dec 4, 2010 19:43:13 GMT sid said:

By the way, considering Bullyland made replicas of several of the guys there (Arizonasaurus, Procynosuchus, Batrachotomus and such), do you think that, one day, we'll also have a Bullyland Nothosaurus, Placodon and all the others?

There is a small figurine section. The one on the lower left corner looks like a Nothosaurus ;D.
But I don't think that this has anything to say .

[postsaurischian]

Did you say you want some more? Well here's some more ;D .....
Here's Part 2, starting with Dinosaurs from the 'Middle Keuper (Mittlerer Keuper)' in the Plateosaurus hall. "Why so many Plateosaurs?" you might ask yourself.
That's because we Germans are very proud of our big and gentle looking Prosauropod and next to Archaeopteryx it's probably the most famous German Dinosaur .







There are also other animals in this Diorama - Saltoposuchus .....


Procompsognathus .....


Proganochelys .....


back to the Plateosaurs .....


Mother & baby .....








the amazing Liliensternus .....




..... in the flesh




Paratypothorax .....


Belesodon .....


Lystrosaurus .....


..... another Plateo skull


..... another Batrachotomus skull


Mighty Deinotherium .....




I'm having a look outside - brrrr, poor little Deino .....


Hey , they already produced toy figures in the Ice Age .....


Micromeryx .....


Euprox or Heteroprox .....


Pleistocene Bison, male & female .....


Suddenly a T. rex bursts through the wall ! ..... Will there be a third and last part of this photo documentary ? .....

[rugops]

Wow!! these are some great photos, and the models are fascinating! My favorite so far is the Plateosaurus hall diorama.

[brontozaurus]

In all the pictures of Gerrothorax I've seen, it looked like a complete dork. In the above picture, though, it looks like nightmare fuel!

Leave it to the Germans to make everything scarier.

[brontodocus]

Brilliant photos! Unfortunately I've never been there, something that needs to be changed.

[Horridus]

Dec 4, 2010 21:24:59 GMT postsaurischian said:

Meyerasaurus? Is there a Princeton Field Guide to Marine Reptiles that I've missed ;D?

Not exactly. You've missed this: www.plesiosauria.com/pdf/smith&vincent_2010_meyerasaurus.pdf
'Rhomaleosaurus' victor was reassigned to the new genus Meyerasaurus by Adam Smith (whoever HE is) and Peggy Vincent, following a cladistic analysis made by Smith & Dyke in 2008 that established it as laying outside Rhomaleosaurus sensu lato.

Nice photos by the way.

[stemturtle]

Looking at these fantastic photos is like taking a vacation in the Triassic.

Let’s encourage sharing photos from other museums. How about a subtopic on museum dioramas?

[postsaurischian]

Thanks for the comments. I'm still not sure if I put this into the right place. If there's an already existing museum-thread, please let me know!

Dec 5, 2010 13:21:01 GMT Horridus said:

'Rhomaleosaurus' victor was reassigned to the new genus Meyerasaurus by Adam Smith (whoever HE is) and Peggy Vincent, following a cladistic analysis made by Smith & Dyke in 2008 that established it as laying outside Rhomaleosaurus sensu lato.

Aha - thanks for the info. Maybe our main admin should send the paper to the museum, so that they can change their labeling.

Dec 5, 2010 12:38:48 GMT brontodocus said:

Unfortunately I've never been there, something that needs to be changed.

It surely does! But be sure to get there by car, because you never know what happens when you're leaving the train station in Stuttgart. You might get hurt by the policemen's waterguns ;D!


Anyway - here is the final Part 3 of my museum visit!

the T. rex is dead .....


Recovering from my encounter with the Tyrannosaur, I took a break at the museum's cafe, having "Wienerle" with "Spaetzle & Linsen". That's what they eat in "Schwabenland".

At the cafe there's an Arsinoitherium skull .....


Next is a room about the 'Dinosaurs and Feathers' subject. Why they put an Allosaurus fragilis in this room - don't ask me, but the feathers above its head give me a certain christmas feeling ;D.






Deinonychus - bald & feathered .....


Caudipteryx skeleton .....


Caudipteryx, Archaeopteryx .....


Archaeopteryx .....


Sinosauropteryx .....


Compsognathus .....


Oviraptor .....


not sure about this one, maybe Compsognathus .....


More marine reptiles:
Dakosaurus hunting Geosaurus .....


Dakosaurus jaws .....




Nicrosaurus .....


Geosaurus .....


skulls of Eurhinosaurus (above), Temnodontosaurus (below) .....


Temnodontosaurus (too huge to take a pic of its whole length) .....


left: Metoposaurus, Cyclotosaurus / right: Proganochelys


Henodus .....


some Crinoids .....


That's it - and what does the Dinosaur Toy collector do after having seen all the exhibits? Right, he goes immediately to the museum shop to see if there's anything he needs ;D.
Of course they had all the Bully stuff, including some "discontinued" figures (like the Edaphosaurus or most of the mammals - unfortunately not the Deinotherium). There were boxes with dozens of the "rare" green Archaeopteryx and one funny box with about 50 Invicta Stegosaurs - no other figure from this line .
I was hoping for the Mastodonsaurus and asked, but it is definitely sold out .
Although being not a big Bully fan and because falling in love with Plateosaurus during the exhibition, I got me these . It's one of Bully's better models. Did you know that Plateo babies were yellow?

[Horridus]

Thanks very much. Some really nice models in that museum (certain anatomical details forgiven 'cos I imagine they're a few years old). The feathered Deinonychus is looking a bit tatty but at least they have one! (In your face Natural History Museum! ;D)

By the way, the 'mystery dinosaur' up there is Coelophysis. Compsognathus was smaller and didn't have such a long neck.

[Himmapaan]

Oh, I love part 2 even more. Those Plateosaurus are gorgeous! I want to go...!

I want a plateosaur family too now. ;D

[mnemosaurus]

I think I like the Bullyland figures more now I've seen these pictures of the models in the Stuttgart Museum - I wasn't really aware they were so similar!

Very nice pictures, it's like a tour through the museum, thanks so much for sharing! I sure should try to go there sometime!!

[stoneage]

Wow, I would die to go to a museum like that. I love all the Dioramas and fossils. It is incredible. Of course I agree with Bell that they should make figures of all their animals, in their exhibits. Also now you will need to go back and take pictures of all the stuff you didn't take.