Museum of Natural History Vienna – The Meteorite Gallery

As one of the world’s foremost museums of natural history, the Natural History Museum Vienna looks after 30 million artefacts and specimens that form the basis of extensive scientific research. Its oldest collections date back over 250 years.

For the reopening of the world’s largest and oldest collection of meteorites on 14 November 2012, the vast collection of extraordinary exhibits is expanded by the skilful inclusion of media stations, interactive hands-on stations and animations.

In partnership with the curators of the Natural History Museum Vienna and a team of architects from Arno Grünberger/Spurwien, checkpointmedia has developed a contemporary form of knowledge transfer.

Specific aspects of general meteorite research and the unique Vienna collection, in particular, are introduced to visitors in informative video clips that contain a wealth of images. A hands-on station allows visitors to interactively control the extent of potential devastation that a meteorite impact could cause to Vienna, while an animated presentation of the birth of the solar system is guaranteed to amaze.

Particularly interesting exhibits can be studied in detail through a magnifying glass which provides additional information on a screen. In an interactive quiz, visitors are invited to guess whether a particular meteorite or stone pattern emanated from the skies or originated on Earth.