Botanical Collections

The more than 45,000 objects in the botanical collection come from the fields of plant anatomy, systematic botany, plant biology, palaeobotany, archaeobotany, Egyptology, phytogeography, crop botany and ethnobotany. The collection also includes a rich treasure trove of historically valuable botanical teaching material from the past.

The botanical collection comprises one of the largest collections of fruit and seeds in Switzerland. In addition, we curate a collection of over 600 objects that are not stored dry, but in alcohol-based preservation liquids. This collection is unique in Switzerland in terms of its size and aesthetics and has a special protected status. Of outstanding international importance is the rediscovered collection of pharaonic garlands, which only a few museums in Europe and Egypt can boast.

Thanks to the support of SwissCollNet for the processing and digitisation of the natural history collections, the following sub-collections can be revised:

- "Historical Swiss alcohol collections of plants and fungi: rare and hidden treasures". In collaboration with the Herbarium of the University of Bern.
- "Digitisation of the three-dimensional dry collection and associated herbarium specimens". In co-operation with the Herbarium of the University of Bern, the United Herbaria of the University and ETH Zurich and the Naturmuseum Winterthur.